October 2006

* If you can’t actually call it marriage, can you really be as miserable? [New York Times via How Appealing] * Intentional infliction of religious distress? [AP via Yahoo! News] * Bong hits 4 the Constitution! [Legal Times] * What’s the deal with Georgia and lazy funeral home directors? [AP via Online Athens] * Making […]

We love supermodels around here. Based on their fabulosity, we’d let them get away with murder. Okay, not literally — which is why something must be done about Naomi Campbell. Past brushes with the law have not deterred the ebony-skinned beauty. She has moved beyond the point of being entertaining Page Six fodder; she now […]

Not much explanation required. This is just the flip-side of our recently concluded Favorite Supreme Court Justice poll (in which Justice Scalia easily prevailed). Now we want to learn which of the Nine Robed Ones is your LEAST favorite jurist. We’ll keep the polls open until we get at least 1,000 responses, so that the […]

* If this were illegal, then Hollywood would have more criminals than Compton. But Vincent Gallo claims he has never had sexual relations with this woman girl. He also uses the word “Negro.” Your call. [New York Post] * Ever the gentleman, Cheney tries to compensate for Uglygate in a big way. He’s also been […]

The court rules that the State of New Jersey must provide for some way for gay couples to enter into legally-recognized unions. * Committed same-sex couples “must be afforded on equal terms the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples under the civil marriage statutes.” * The 4-3 ruling rests upon the New Jersey […]

Last Friday, we asked you to vote for your Favorite Supreme Court Justice. Over 1,300 votes were cast. Here are the results: Interesting! Thanks to everyone who participated in the poll. And thanks to SCOTUSblog and Professor Althouse for linking to the poll, which generated many votes. Update: Vote for your LEAST favorite Supreme Court […]

Unchallenged by offering customers the choice of paper or plastic, one young store clerk has decided to venture into copyright law. From Punknews.org: Paul McPike, a 32-year-old grocery store employee in Medford, OR, has sued Green Day, claiming he wrote the lyrics and composed the melodies for the band’s highly acclaimed 2004 album, American Idiot. […]

Our little throwaway post from yesterday afternoon — about three nuke-protesting nuns, who previously served prison terms for their protests, and who may be returning to prison for refusing to pay restitution to the military — prompted several reader comments. The discussion turned dangerously substantive. The law of restitution was discussed; actual statutes were cited. […]

The Ninth Circuit may be getting slapped around by the Supreme Court lately. (Yeah, what else is new.) But they continue to go about their business. Keep on truckin’, Your Honors! One of you was kind enough to attend a recent Ninth Circuit sitting — not just any old sitting, but the one graced by […]

As previously rumored, megafirms Dewey Ballantine and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe are heading for the altar. From Nathan Koppel’s article for the Wall Street Journal: Yesterday, the executive committees of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP of San Francisco and Dewey Ballantine LLP of New York approved the main terms of a merger. The combined firm, […]

We can’t wait for the 1983 action. From the Associated Press: The principal of Park High School returned to school Tuesday after a six-day suspension for giving a student a “wedgie.” The Livingston School District Board held a special meeting Monday and approved Superintendent Hannibal Anderson’s recommendation that Principal Eric Messerli be allowed to return […]

* New Jersey couples anxiously await word on whether they will have the legal right to be as miserable as everyone else. [Newark Star-Ledger via How Appealing; New York Times] * 23,999 problems, but an overweight smoker ain’t one of ’em. [WSJ Law Blog] * People are dying for you to catch me. [CNN] * […]

Some of you think we give Dahlia Lithwick, the legal affairs writer for Slate, a hard time. And it’s true that we often disagree with her (even if we always acknowledge her writerly talent). But we do find ourselves agreeing with much in her latest piece, criticizing recent critiques of the news media by several […]

* While I was not exactly clued into the significance of 1L year, you know, if it ain’t broke… although I sure am ready for an updated version of Scott Turow’s One L. [Law School Innovation Blog] * The ACLU may be on to something. My mom still doesn’t know how to use email attachments. […]

This strikes us as a bit unreasonable: A federal judge has rejected the community-service plans he requested 10 months ago from three nuns convicted of hurting national defense when they protested U.S. nuclear policies at a missile silo. That means Dominican Sisters Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert and Jackie Hudson could face more time in jail […]

Last week was marked by a flurry of celebrity legal woes. And the trend continues — even if the latest “celebrity” to get busted is pretty C-list. [Rapper] Foxy Brown was sentenced Tuesday to three years’ probation for a fight with two nail salon employees, finally ending an assault case that dragged on for more […]

Lateral Moves: * Four litigation partners, and possibly a dozen associates, are leaving White & Case to join the New York office of Linklaters — a “Magic Circle” firm (insert squeal of delight here). The group’s practice focuses on white-collar criminal, antitrust, and other regulatory matters. The four partners are Lawrence Byrne, a former assistant […]

The Dow is hitting record highs — and after a month of softness, the lawyer wedding market is bouncing back too. In addition to Supreme Court superstar Ted Olson, a number of attorneys got married last weekend. And several of them made it into the wedding pages of the New York Times (although not Olson […]

We’re all in favor of innovation in criminal sentencing. But this struck us as a little weird: After a judge convicted him of sexually abusing a 15-year-old student, teacher Malcolm Watson was offered two punishment options: an American jail cell or exile to Canada. Mr. Watson chose Canada. The unusual sentence, which has immigration lawyers […]

Over the weekend, we drew your attention to an interesting article from the Legal Times, written by Nathan Carlile. We found it interesting because, well, it was mainly about us and ATL. We also described it as “exhaustively reported, colorfully written, and a genuine pleasure to read.” We mentioned we had a few “quibbles” (which […]