Stanford Law School just issued a press release announcing that Judge Michael McConnell of the 10th Circuit will be joining the school’s faculty in the fall. McConnell hails from Utah and was on Bush’s Supremes short list in 2005. From the press release:

McConnell will step down from his role on the bench to rejoin the legal academy and direct the Stanford Constitutional Law Center.

McConnell is widely regarded as one of the nation’s top judges and most distinguished constitutional law scholars. He has written broadly on many aspects of the Constitution but is best known for his work on freedom of religion—a critical area of constitutional law that he effectively redefined before ascending the bench. McConnell was appointed to the Denver-based Tenth Circuit in 2002 by President George W. Bush.

This is great news for Stanford, but surprising news from McConnell, who had already lined up his clerks for 2009-2010. McConnell is a highly-regarded judge who is reputed to be great to work for and has been known to feed clerks to SCOTUS in the past. This must come as a big disappointment for the four clerks who had been slated to work with him. David Tighe, the 10th Circuit’s spokesman, says he’s unsure of the would-have-been clerks’ plans. Well, it’s easy to get a job nowadays, right?

In a press release [PDF] from the 10th Circuit, McConnell says:

“The opportunity to serve on the Tenth Circuit has been a great privilege and one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I will especially miss working with my colleagues on the court, whose friendship, collegiality, and commitment to upholding law and justice are a model and an inspiration. But my first love remains in teaching and scholarship. Especially at this time of grave international and domestic challenges and transformation, I want to contribute more openly to debate, scholarly analysis, and public understanding of the governing principles of the American Republic.”

Unsaid is that a Stanford salary trumps that from the 10th Circuit. And that McConnell’s SCOTUS dreams died along with Obama’s winning the election.

After the jump, we’ve got McConnell’s resignation letter to President Obama.

* “Are we headed for another Great Depression?” [McClatchy]

* Quelle surprise: Bear Stearns shareholder lawsuit (filed in S.D.N.Y. by Coughlin Stoia). [Bloomberg; WSJ Law Blog (PDF of complaint)]

* Speaking of Bear Stearns, here are some law firms losing out on BSC business. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Tenth Circuit reverses convictions of former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio. [AP]

* Harvard Law School will pay the 3L tuition of future students who agree to work for nonprofit organizations or government for five years following graduation. [New York Times via Tax Prof Blog; Harvard Law School (news release)]

* Settlement in Paul McCartney-Heather Mills divorce (more on this later). [Legal Week]

* SCOTUS to hear Second Amendment / D.C. gun control case today (more on this later too). [New York Times; Reuters]

Last week, an investiture ceremony was held for Judge Neil Gorsuch, recently confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. And it was a star-studded affair. From the Denver Post:

Seven-year-old Emma and 5-year-old Belinda helped their father, Neil Gorsuch, into his judge’s robes Monday after the newly appointed 10th Circuit Court judge was sworn in.

Munching on cookies after the formal ceremony, Emma said she thought it “was nice.”

Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who was in Denver to administer the oath, spoke directly to the little girls before Gorsuch raised his right hand. “He’s doing it to remind all of us that the first obligation any American has is to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States,” he said.

Justice Kennedy’s pedagogical impulse is admirable. We suspect, however, that Emma and Belinda were thinking more about cookies than the Constitution.

Some supplementary coverage, from an ATL tipster:

The entire en banc 10th Circuit was present. Justice Kennedy administered the oath. Attorney General Gonzales read the commission. Both Colorado Senators made remarks, as did Mark Hansen of Kellogg Huber (the insanely prestigious appellate shop from which Gorsuch rose). Half of the Justice Department was there: Rachel Brand, Elisebeth Collins Cook, Brett Gerry, Wan Kim, Gregory Katsas, among others.

The Gorsuch clerks showed everyone around Denver and got trashed on consecutive nights. Good times were had by all.

Article III groupies, Judge Neil Gorsuch is one to watch. He’s brilliant, he’s young, and he’s incredibly well-connected. Look for him to rise through the ranks of Supreme Court feeder judges in the years to come — and, perhaps, to be nominated to the Court himself someday.

(Judge Gorsuch is taking the seat of Judge David Ebel, who has been the Tenth Circuit’s resident feeder judge for quite some time now. Guess that’s the 10th Circuit’s designated “feeder seat.”)

Update: Would someone be able to locate and/or send us a good photo of Judge Gorsuch for our files? Our quick Googling didn’t produce anything useful.

10th Circuit judge’s oath a family affair [Denver Post]

North Korea now has nukes. Happy Columbus Day!

A number of you — e.g., federal government employees — are probably enjoying a day off right now. But for those of you who are stuck in the office and looking for distraction, you can always count on us to provide it.

* A California appeals court has ruled that prosecutrix Joyce Dudley must be disqualified from a rape case that may have served, at least in part, as the basis for a crime novel she wrote. If you can judge a book by its cover, Dudley’s book — Intoxicating Agent — is kinda schlocky. Current Amazon sales rank: #1,591,294. [New York Times; The Recorder]

* For more highbrow reading by a lawyer-turned-writer, check out Brad Snyder’s new book, A Well-Paid Slave: Curt Flood’s Fight for Free Agency in Professional Sports — just reviewed quite favorably by David Margolick for the New York Times. Current Amazon sales rank: #2,235 (and climbing). [New York Times]

(Disclosure: Brad Snyder, who manages the impressive feat of being simultaneously brilliant and super-cool, was our law school classmate. He’s also a former Ninth Circuit clerk, for Judge Dorothy Nelson.)

* Some advice for aspiring federal judges (at least as long as the Senate stays Republican): Steer clear of those lesbian commitment ceremonies. [Grand Rapids Press via How Appealing]

* Paula Rieker — the attractive, Starbucks-savoring former Enron-ista (see photo) — gets a break at sentencing: two years of probation, instead of ten years in prison. Caramel macchiatos all around! [Associated Press]

* Tenth Circuit Chief Judge Deanell Reece Tacha — who is a woman, and whose last name is pronounced ” TAH-ha” — has been appointed to the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States, a top policy-making body for the federal courts. [Topeka Capital-Journal via How Appealing]

* More details emerge about the Robert Wone murder in Washington, DC. Wone was a prominent, promising young Asian-American attorney — general counsel at Radio Free Asia, and a former Covington & Burling associate — who was murdered under highly suspicious circumstances this past summer. [Washington Post]

* “Bless him Father, for he has sinned”: Msgr. John Woolsey made some unauthorized withdrawals from his church’s collection plate, which he blew on golf vacations and Rolex watches. (Monsignor: A Rolex is so unoriginal. Why not, say, a nice Patek Philippe?) [Judicial Reports]

* Newly confirmed Tenth Circuit judge Neil M. Gorsuch — a member of the Elect, former partner at the super-elite Kellogg Huber firm, and former Principal Deputy to the Associate Attorney General — has a new book out. It’s entitled The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia. We have no idea what it says; but it was probably smart of him to get confirmed before it was published. [How Appealing]

* Planning a trip to Ireland? Law professor William Birdthistle has some recommendations for you. [Forbes]

* Gov. Jon Corzine’s picks for the New Jersey Supreme Court have cool names: James Zazzali, nominated to be the next Chief Justice, and Helen Hoens, nominated to fill Zazzali’s vacated seat. We support Judge Hoens’s nomination, ‘cause we’re suckers for alliteration. And assonance, too. [New York Times]

* This is a long and juicy article; we’ll probably blog more about it later. For now, some key terms to whet your appetite: insider trading, ballroom dancing, trips to Cuba, BMWs, strippers. Oh, and a forklift operator. Don’t forget the forklift operator. [Fortune via WSJ Law Blog]

How Appealing reports that the Senate has just confirmed Jerome A. Holmes to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, by a vote of 67-30. The Tenth Circuit, a moderate and quasi-boring appellate court, hears appeals from six underpopulated states in the heart of flyover country.

So why is the Holmes confirmation newsworthy? For those of you who haven’t been following this story, Holmes is a highly respected, exceptionally well-credentialed attorney. Who happens to be extremely conservative. Who happens to be African-American. And who happens to be quite outspoken on a number of issues, including affirmative action — which he strongly opposes.

One of our Hill sources describes Holmes as “the next Clarence Thomas,” who has liberals running scared. Our source opines: “They [Senate Democrats] would have loved to have stopped the Holmes confirmation. But given his credentials, and the fact that he’s black, there was nothing they could do. [Sen. Arlen] Specter scheduled several hours of floor debate, basically daring the Democrats to speak out against him. This is a fight the Republicans wanted to pick.”

And in the end, it’s a fight that they won. We’ll be keeping an eye on Judge Holmes. At the young age of 45, he has at least a decade left of possible viability as a Supreme Court nominee.

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Jerome A. Holmes [How Appealing]