6DCA Oral Argument - 2026/07/09 Afternoon Session - Jul 09, 2026

argument

6DCA Oral Argument - 2026/07/09 Afternoon Session

California Sixth District Court of Appeal 3h 18m 1 speaker 8 chapters transcribed 10 days ago official recording ↗

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What opening remarks and procedural directions does the court give at the beginning of the session?

Unknown 5:36

Thank you. Good afternoon and welcome to the Sixth District Court of Appeal for oral argument. Please be seated.

Unknown 5:49

So we have a busy calendar this afternoon and we're starting with a case that's going to take a significant amount of time. So we have three respondents and one appellant. And there will be panel changes after each case, actually, so there's going to be a lot of movement today. So bear with us and be patient, and we'll make our way through the cases today, and we're interested to hear, of course, everyone's comments this afternoon on these interesting cases. Let's start with number one, HO52804, Habitat and Watershed Caretakers et al., plaintiffs and respondents versus the regents of the University of California at all defendants and appellants and appearing for appellant today.

Catherine Olschlager 6:43

Your Honor, if I could ask the court for clarity on timing, my understanding is it would be 15 minutes per side. Is that correct?

Unknown 6:50

No. Each respondent's entitled to 15 minutes. So, yes, we can address timing, but first let's get your name and then we'll

Catherine Olschlager 7:00

talk about timing. Sure. Good afternoon. My name is Catherine Olschlager. I'm here for appellant to the Regents of the University of California.

Unknown 7:07

Yes, so I was anticipating that you were probably going to have a question about how much time you were going to have, and I don't want you to be concerned about that. I don't know how much time each respondent is going to take, but we will allow you additional time. I think the justices are going to have quite a few questions for everyone today, so take a breath and we'll be fine. But you had indicated 10 minutes and five because you thought you had 15 minutes. Yes. Yes. You will have at least 10 minutes in rebuttal, at least, and maybe more, depending on what develops in their arguments. Terrific. That's wonderful. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. And then I'll hear from – I'm going to get appearances from Respondents Council, and then I'll call you back up.

Unknown 7:48

Great. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Appearing for the City of Santa Cruz. Good afternoon. Holly Whatley on behalf of the City of Santa Cruz. All right. And appearing for the County of Santa Cruz.

Justin Graham 8:04

Good afternoon. Justin Graham, Assistant County Counsel for the County of Santa Cruz.

Unknown 8:08

All right. And appearing remotely for Habitat and Watershed Caretakers.

Stephen Volker 8:15

Good afternoon, Your Honor. Stephen Volker for Habitat and Watershed Caretakers.

Unknown 8:19

All right. Thank you. So to Respondent's Counsel, You each have 15 minutes. Are you each anticipating that you will use that time? Let me start with Ms. Whatley. I predict my comments will probably be around 10 minutes. All right. It sounds like there may be a lot of questions. We'll see. Mr. Graham.

Justin Graham 8:39

Your Honor, I think we could move our comments to 10 minutes unless the clerk has additional

Unknown 8:44

questions. All right. Mr. Volker.

Stephen Volker 8:46

It appears I will need 15 minutes. Thank you.

Unknown 8:50

All right. Thank you. And for the benefit of those in the audience, Mr. Volker is peering remotely. It's our pleasure to allow this. And you can hear him, but you will not be able to see him. Everybody else can. So if you want to see him, you can follow out in the waiting room. We also post oral argument after on our website, and you'd be able to obtain the video as well as audio there. All right, so let's hear from the Regents of the University of California. Interested to hear your comments today.

Catherine Olschlager 9:25

And is there a timing indicator somewhere that I should be aware of?

Unknown 9:30

Me? So I can let you know when you have two minutes left.

Catherine Olschlager 9:34

How about that? Excellent. I appreciate that. Good afternoon. My name is Catherine Olschlager. I'm here for the Regents of the University of California appellants in this action. The respondents in this case challenge the UC Regents' approval of a long-range development plan for the UC Santa Cruz campus and the environmental impact report was prepared by the University to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act. The LRDP is a long-term physical campus planning document akin to a general plan. It plans for buildings and physical construction. It exists so that if a campus decides to develop it will do so in a thoughtful, deliberate, holistic way.