Arguments were heard today in the Supreme Court for the case involving a Muslim woman who said she wasn't hired by Abercrombie & Fitch because she wore a black headscarf to her job interview. Also, former LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is out of the Senate race. Then, would you vote to ban plastic bags in the 2016 election?
Debating Supreme Court case against Abercrombie & Fitch over religious attire
Lawyers for Abercrombie & Fitch were grilled today by both liberal and conservative justices during arguments before the Supreme Court.
The case involves a Muslim woman who wasn't hired by the clothing retailer because she wore a black headscarf to her job interview. The company says that conflicted with the company's dress code, which doesn't allow employees to wear anything black. The court is being asked to decide how far an employer must go to accommodate the religious beliefs of a job applicant or worker. Legal scholar Ilya Shapiro of Cato Institute says labor law "[leaves] it to the employee to determine when a company policy conflicts with his or her religious practice and then to request an accommodation," and the young woman Samantha Elauf failed to state her needs.
Michael Helfand, Pepperdine University law professor, points out that the company's hiring manager testified she believed Elauf wore a headscarf for religious reasons. Helfand believes "to establish artificial distinctions that place obstacles before those who seek to bring their religion into the commercial sphere is to fundamentally misunderstand the comprehensive nature of religious experience." Who has a more convincing argument? Should employers accommodate employees with religious garb?
With files from the Associated Press.
Guest:
Michael Helfand, Associate Professor of Law, Pepperdine University; Associate Director , Diane and Guilford Glazer Institute for Jewish Studies, Pepperdinel; USA Today "Religion & Commerce Can Co-Exist" by Professor Helfand.
Ilya Shapiro, Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute and Editor-in-Chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review; Shapiro joined an amicus brief filed with the Court in support of Abercrombie & Fitch, details here (link).
Understanding the burden of proof for insanity claim in American Sniper trial
Former Marine and Iraq War vet Eddie Ray Routh was found guilty of killing “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield. The jury took less than three hours to reach its verdict. The case highlights how difficult it is for the “reason of insanity” defense to work in court.
What is the threshold for the determination of “legal insanity” in Texas? Is it different in California? Would the outcome of the so-called “American Sniper” case be different if it was tried in California?
Guest:
Laurie Levenson, Professor of Law, Loyola Law School
‘Father of cognitive neuroscience’ explains two brains, one body research
The patient sits in front a partitioned screen so that only the left eye can see the word "car" and only the right eye can see the word "key." When asked to say what he can see, the patient says, "car." When asked to choose the object, the patient picks up the key with his right hand. What is going on here?
Welcome to the world of split-brain patients.
Almost entirely discontinued except for extraordinary cases, neurosurgeons in the mid-20th century split the corpus callosa (singular: corpus callosum) of patients who suffered from severe epilepsy in order to stop the seizures from spreading to both sides of the brain. By cutting this section of the brain, the left and right hemisphere of the brain could no longer communicate with each other as they used to. The operation, while almost always successful in lessening the severity of the patient's epilepsy, had an unintended consequence: it created two functionally independent brains in one head.
In his new book, "Tales from Both Sides of the Brain: A Life in Neuroscience," Professor Michael Gazzaniga recounts his lifelong study of split-brain patients. Part layman's guide to split-brain patients and part memoir, Gazzaniga merges life with scientific inquiry to tell the story of split-brain research. His discoveries over half a century of studies cover the ways that one hemisphere can "self-cue" the other to help it find answers it otherwise would not know to demonstrating that the left hemisphere has a propensity to act as an "interpreter" for the events one experiences throughout life.
As seen by the complexity of split-brain patients, can we ever fully understand the brain? Is there something about split-brain patients that makes you question how you view your subjective experiences?
Professor Gazzaniga will be at Vroman's tonight at 7pm for a discussion and book signing
Guest:
Michael Gazzaniga, author of “Tales From Both Sides of the Brain: A Life in Neuroscience (Ecco, 2015) and director of the SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind at the University of California, Santa Barbara
Laying out safety lessons learned from Oxnard Metrolink crash
A day after the Metrolink crash in Oxnard that turned a passenger train into a twisted, mangled pile of metal, we’re looking into the latest on what we know about the driver of the truck that was on the tracks at the time of the accident, the safety implications from the collision, and what might be done to make this particularly dangerous rail crossing in Ventura County less prone to accidents.
To read the full story, click here.
Guest:
Julia Brownley (D-Westlake Village), Congresswoman representing California’s 26th district, which includes Oxnard and most of Ventura County.
Keith Millhouse, member of the Metrolink Board of Directors and the Mayor Pro Tem of the city of Moorpark, CA.
Peter Goelz, former Managing Director of the NTSB and currently is the Senior VP with the lobbying firm O’Neill and Associates.
Handicapping the field for Senator Boxer’s seat
Former LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is out, former California Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro has formed an exploratory committee, and other Republicans are hoping against hope that Condoleezza Rice will throw her hat in the ring.
Would that make a difference in California’s top-two primary system? And will any other Democrats step up to challenge Kamala Harris?
Guest:
Carla Marinucci, Senior Political Writer, San Francisco Chronicle
California’s plastic bag ban on hold
California’s soon-to-be statewide ban on plastic bags won’t be taking effect unless voters endorse it on the ballot in November 2016.
That’s because plastic bag manufacturers represented by the The American Progressive Bag Alliance have gathered enough voter signatures to force a statewide vote via referendum at the next general election. The referendum won’t affect citywide laws already in effect in places like Los Angeles and Long Beach, but it could permanently put the brakes on the nation’s first ever statewide ban on plastic bags. Supporters say surveys show strong support for banning plastic bags.
Guest:
John Myers, Senior Editor of the California Politics & Government Desk at KQED
As office space shrinks, workers make do with less... privacy
Hiring is finally picking up in California seven years after the Great Recession, and one problem facing companies wanting to expand is where to put all the new bodies.
Instead of moving to a new and bigger office, some employers have opted to squeeze more people in an existing space. In the 1970s, 500 to 700 square feet per employee was thought to make an ideal office environment. That number, according to a projection from 5 years ago, would shrink to about 50 square feet in 2015.
What kind of office environment do you work in? How do you deal with noise and distraction?
Guests:
Peter Miscovich, Managing Director of Strategy and Innovation at JLL, a professional services firm that manages over 1 billion square footage of commercial real estate globally
Christine Congdon, Director of Research Communications at Steelcase, an office design firm. She is based in New York City.