L.A. Times: UC-Irvine Trying to Rehire Chemerinsky

From today's L.A. Times: UCI Reportedly Working on Deal to Rehire Chemerinsky, by Garrett Therolf & Maura Dolan:

UC Irvine officials on Friday were attempting to broker a deal to once again hire liberal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky as dean of its fledging law school, just three days after its chancellor set off a national furor by dumping him. Prominent Orange County attorney Tom Malcolm, a participant in high-level university discussions, said: "I think we are satisfied that if [UCI Chancellor Michael V. Drake and Chemerinsky] have a meeting, they can come to some understanding, and [Chemerinsky] can become a good dean."

Chemerinsky, who would have been the school's first dean, was noncommittal about whether he would still take the UCI job. "I have nothing to say about it. I haven't thought about it," he said. An agreement would be an extraordinary development after Chemerinsky contended this week that Drake succumbed to political pressure from conservatives and sacked him because of his outspoken liberal positions. The flap threatened to derail the 2009 opening of the law school and prompted some calls for Drake's resignation.

Also Friday, details emerged about the criticism of Chemerinsky that the university received in the days before Drake rescinded the job offer, including from California Chief Justice Ronald M. George, who criticized Chemerinsky's grasp of death penalty appeals. Also, a group of prominent Orange County Republicans and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich wanted to derail the appointment.

From Witness L.A.:

Making Chemerinsky the head of the law school “would be like appointing al-Qaida in charge of homeland security,” Michael Antonovich, a longtime Republican member of the county Board of Supervisors, said in a voicemail left with The Associated Press.

Prior Chemerinsky-UC-Irvine coverage:

• Chemerinsky-UC Irvine, Part III
• More on Firing of Erwin Chemerinsky, UC-Irvine's Inaugural Dean
• UC-Irvine Hires, Then Fires, Chemerinsky as Inaugural Dean

Other recent commentary:

• ABA Journal:  UC Irvine Official on Hot Seat in Dean Case, by Matha Neil
• Althouse, by Ann Althouse:
  • The Erwin Chemerinsky Mystery
  • The Erwin Chemerinsky Mystery, Part 2
• Associated Press:  GOP Politician Sent Email Asking How to Stop Naming of Dean, by Gillian Flaccus
• Balkinization:  Why Did Drake Fire Chemerinsky? He Still Won't Say, by Jack Balkin
• Brian Leiter's Law School Reports: 
  • The Irvine Law School Fiasco, Part III
  • Irvine Law School Fiasco, Part IV: Will They Undo the Damage?
• Dorf on Law:  O.C. Goes P.C. on E.C., by Michael Dorf
• Feminst Law Professors:  That U.C. Irvine Law School, by Ann Bartow
• Jurist:  Erwin Chemerinsky and the Post-9/11 Attack on Academic Freedom, by Marjorie Cohn
• L.A. Times:  Right-Wing Bogeymen Located! Influence and Power over Chemerinskygate Undetermined
• MoneyLaw:
  • Politics:  Let's Claim Not to be Surprised, by Jeff Harrison
  • Thoughts from a Former Anteater on the Chemerinsky Debacle, by Belle Lettre
• Orange County Register:  An F in Contract Law (editorial)
• The Volokh Conspiracy:
  • If This Isn't Sabotage, Then What Is?, by Stuart Benjamin
  • May California Employers Avoid Politically Controversial Employees?, by Eugene Volokh
  • The Chemerinsky Matter and the California Constitution, by Eugene Volokh
• Warren Reports on the Middle Class:  Conservatives Welcome, Liberals Not, by Elizabeth Warren
• Wall Street Journal Law Blog:
  • L’Affaire Chemerinsky: A Battle in the LA Times, by Amir Efrati
  • Report: Chemerinsky Wanted Back Posted, by Peter Lattman
• Washington Post:  Scholars Decry Law School's About-Face on New Dean, by Sonya Geis