SFALP Members Publish Essay on The Reach of Local Power in the Yale Law Journal Forum

Two SFALP members have teamed up to defend localities’ power to bring broad-based consumer protection suits. In an essay published by the Yale Law Journal Forum, James Horner ’19 and former SFALP Fellow Christine Kwon ’17 explain why efforts to curtail city-led affirmative litigation are misguided. Their analysis of California’s Unfair Competition Law shows that its text, its legislative history, case law, and public policy considerations all support continuing to allow municipalities to enforce the statute statewide. The pair also wades into debates surrounding the bounds of modern federalism, arguing that it is inappropriate for courts to apply national constitutional norms to state-versus-local conflicts. The full essay is available on the Yale Law Journal website.

The San Francisco Affirmative Litigation Project (SFALP) is a partnership between Yale Law School and the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office. SFALP students work with San Francisco Deputy City Attorneys to conceive, develop, and litigate some of the most innovative public-interest lawsuits in the country—lawsuits that tackle problems with local dimensions but national effects.