Above the Law

Morning Docket: 03.04.26

* Judge Breyer calls out Elon Musk’s lawyer for giving “false impression” to the jury in Twitter case, but she was just staying on brand as a Grok representative. [Law360]

* More states consider alternative licensure paths. [ABA Journal]

* Supreme Court seemed unconvinced that defendants can waive their rights to appeal and then be stuck with an arbitrary sentence. [National Law Journal]

* With its sparse decision striking down California law preventing schools from outing students, the Court drapes itself in dangerous power. [Vox]

* A refresher on the Court of International Trade, the folks deciding all the tariff refunds. [New York Law Journal]

* Homeland Security probes alleged comments Greg Bovino made about Jewish lawyer. [Guardian]

The Trump Administration Can’t Even Give Up Properly — See Also

The DOJ Necromances Back Their Biglaw Executive Order Case: Good luck unringing the $940M bell.

Remember To Bring Booze To Con Law: Gorsuch put the alcoholism back in the Founding Fathers.

Skadden Gets Sanctioned In Multimillion-Dollar Case: The court found bad faith in their Virginia Action filing.

White House Gets Moral Talking To From Kesha: She doesn’t want her music associated with ‘mak[ing] light of war.’

Pro Bono Is Great, But How Bono?: Paladin and PLI help pro-bono-minded law students find their path.

Autonomous AI In Law Firms: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

This is not an argument against the use of AI agents. It is an argument for discipline.

Exclusive: Confido Legal Raises $9 Million To Expand Embedded Payments And Disbursements For Law Firms

The announcement combines the current round, which closed in November, with the seed round from 2024, which Confido’s co-founder and CEO Emery Wager said totaled a little over $2 million.

With 100 Days Until FIFA World Cup 26, Congress Should Be Concerned

When funding freezes threaten readiness, lawmakers should be asking whether the financial architecture matches the security burden.

How Some Law Departments Are Winning Law Firm Rate Negotiations

Join us on March 18th at 1 p.m. ET to explore what actually drives outside counsel pricing outcomes in today’s market. CLE credit is available.

The Audacity Of AI Incompetence

Priceless and appalling. The gift that keeps on giving.

Tackling The Overlooked Obstacle To Pro Bono Work: Not Having A Clue How To Do It

Paladin and PLI announce partnership to give pro bono-minded law students more resources.

Health Gorilla Calls Epic Lawsuit ‘Attack On Interoperability’ In Motion To Dismiss

The case highlights ongoing questions about governance and standards for national health data sharing, with Health Gorilla arguing the dispute should be handled through interoperability networks’ internal processes rather than in federal court.

Morning Docket: 03.03.26

* The DOJ’s long-awaited antitrust trial against Live Nation-Ticketmaster kicked off Monday. If you want tickets to the hottest trial of the year, then good news! It’s free (plus applicable surcharges). [NBC News]

* Supreme Court’s conservatives issue another pair of unexplained shadow docket rulings predicated on the legal principle of “Republican political priorities.” [One First]

* Though the Court denied an appeal in the AI-generated art case that could have massive economic implications soon. [Courthouse News Service]

* Ben Crump writes legal thriller. [ABA Journal]

* Climate science chapter removed from manual for judges. [Reuters]

* Trial alleges Musk publicly trashed Twitter in effort to influence stock price. [Law360]

* Latham partner leads deal rankings. [Law.com International]

Looking Stupid Has A $940M Price Tag! — See Also

DOJ Drops Defense Of Biglaw Bullying Executive Orders: See what happens when you’re actually willing to fight in court?

Political Appointments For Law Students? Political purity tests for law jobs!

The Early Bird Gets The Litigation Finance Knowledge: Make the most out of the Certum Group Litigation Finance Fellowship!

Trump Leads Judicial Appointments With His ASS: He’s picked more judges from George Mason than Harvard and Yale.

West Virginia Judges Skewer “Operation Country Roads”:They’ve run out of patience for rogue government action.

Biglaw Firms Prepare For Conflict: Middle eastern firms prepare evacuation plans and work from home work-arounds.

Threats Toward Judges Jump: Protecting the Constitution has become risky business.

Moving The Needle On Judicial Equity

Change comes slow to the federal bench.

Law School Tells Students, ‘You MUST Be Aligned Politically With President Trump,’ For Summer Job

'GPA is not a strong factor.' No kidding.

West Virginia Is Not Here For Authoritarian Cosplay

Federal judges torch “Operation Country Roads” as assault on the Constitution.

Federal Judges Threatened For Doing Their Jobs Speak Up

Dangerous working conditions.