CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
October 2, 2009 | Eric Bailey
Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown has launched an investigation into the brouhaha over videotapes of a conservative group's sting operation against ACORN, the community organizing group credited with helping push Barack Obama to the presidency. Brown's office plans to look into circumstances surrounding both the making of the videos and any possible misdeeds by ACORN employees in California caught on tape. In what has become a staple of TV and radio talk shows in recent weeks, ACORN workers in several states were shown allegedly offering advice on tax evasion, human smuggling and child prostitution.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
September 30, 2009 | Michael Finnegan
State Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown dropped the fiction that he was seeking reelection and filed papers Tuesday to explore a run for governor, a job that he first won in 1974 and has for months been fighting hard, if quietly, to recapture. Brown's move was born of necessity: Contributions to candidates for attorney general are capped at $6,500 per election for individual donors, but gubernatorial contestants can accept up to $25,900. "If he chooses to run, it will make him more competitive against a deep-pocketed Republican opponent," said Steven Glazer, a senior advisor to Brown, a Democrat.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
December 24, 2008 | Victoria Kim and Jack Leonard
California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown's decision to throw the weight of his office behind same-sex marriage has sparked debate over whether his arguments will actually do more harm than good for those hoping to overturn the initiative. Brown's request that the California Supreme Court overturn the state's ban on same-sex marriage -- arguing that it undermines fundamental liberties -- has been widely hailed as a victory in the fight for gay rights.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
December 20, 2008 | Jessica Garrison and Maura Dolan
California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown asked the state Supreme Court on Friday to invalidate the voter-approved ban on gay marriage, declaring that "the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification." Brown's argument on Proposition 8, contained in an 111-page brief filed at the last possible moment before the court's deadline, surprised many legal experts.
BUSINESS
August 3, 2007 | Elizabeth Douglass, Times Staff Writer
California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown asked a bankruptcy judge to toss out Calpine Corp.'s "fatally flawed" debt-repayment plan because it would nullify a large electricity contract the San Jose power producer signed with the state during the 2000-to-2001 energy crisis.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2007 | Marc Lifsher, Times Staff Writer
Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, escalating California's legal war with the federal government over global warming policies, was in federal court Monday to challenge U.S. auto mileage standards. Joining other states, cities and environmental groups, California is suing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration saying it violated U.S. environmental laws by making only a "trivial" increase in auto mileage standards for model years 2008 through 2011.