Yale Law Grad Wins "Endangered Environmental Laws" Writing Competition

Hannah Chang, a 2007 Yale Law School graduate, is the winner of the second annual “Endangered Environmental Laws” Student Writing Competition sponsored by the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and the American Bar Association.

Ms. Chang will receive a $2000 award and publication in ELI’s flagship journal The Environmental Law Reporter (ELR), the only attorney-edited law review covering environmental and natural resource issues.

Ms. Chang’s winning entry, “Foreign Affairs Preemption: The Legality of California’s Link with the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme,” examines the extent to which California and other U.S. states may enact climate change legislation and enter into international agreements, given the constitutional constraints of the dormant foreign affairs power and dormant foreign Commerce Clause.

“Her article does a terrific job of considering how states might react to climate change, despite the potential impacts of foreign affairs preemption,” said Jay Austin, Director of ELI’s Endangered Environmental Laws Program.

Co-sponsored by ELI’s Endangered Environmental Laws Program and the Constitutional Law Committee of the ABA’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, the competition invites law students to explore issues at the intersection of constitutional and environmental law. “Each of these papers on timely topics helps advance our understanding of the constitutional foundation of modern environmental law,” explained Leslie Carothers, President of the Institute.

The Environmental Law Institute is an independent, nonpartisan education and policy research center dedicated to environmental protection through improved environmental law and governance. The Endangered Environmental Laws Program seeks to defend the U.S. framework of environmental law by advancing a vision of constitutional and environmental law based on broad access to federal courts, uniform minimum federal environmental standards, and leeway for state innovation in environmental protection. More information on ELI is available online at http://www2.eli.org/pressmain.cfm.