June 2012

Barack Obama

Morning Docket: 06.28.12

* Today’s court session is business as usual for SCOTUS, because the justices always seem to save the “best” for last. And now I’ll have that stupid Vanessa Williams song stuck in my head all day. Sorry if I got it stuck in yours, too. [National Law Journal (reg. req.)] * Meanwhile, over at the White House, the air was thick with the sound of silence on the eve of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act. More than willing to bet that President Obama probably didn’t sleep too well last night. [Los Angeles Times] * “If she dies and Romney wins, the Supreme Court will be the most conservative in history.” Oh, please. Stop giving Ruth Bader Ginsburg flak for being too old, and learn to respect your elders — she’ll quit (or she’ll croak) when she damn well feels like it. [New York Times] * Peter Madoff will plead guilty to two federal charges at the end of the week. He’ll probably serve ten years in prison. In the long run, that’s nothing compared to big brother Bernie’s 150-year sentence. [Bloomberg] * Reason #11ty-billion why we <3 Flori-duh: a judge rejected the DOJ's request to block Florida's voter purge, and Governor Rick Scott, of course, was pleased as punch, calling it a "common-sense decision." [POLITICO] * Megaupload wins again: a New Zealand court ruled that the search warrants used to raid Kim Dotcom’s mansion were illegal because they failed to “adequately describe the offenses to which they related.” [Reuters] * Loan debt will allegedly make you do some pretty crazy sh*t. Jason Bohn, the law school grad featured in an NYT article about the perils of law school, now stands accused of murdering his girlfriend. [New York Post] * The ABA Journal wants to know if you think your law school’s name and reputation affected your career path. Well, the first comment on my first post was “the what what school of where now,” so you tell me. [ABA Journal]

By Staci Zaretsky
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 06.27.12

* Tom Goldstein of SCOTUSBlog believes that the individual mandate will be upheld tomorrow. I’m on record as saying that if so, it’ll be the greatest moment of Chief Justice Roberts’s tenure. It would be a message that the Court was above politics, something that the Court has struggled to prove since Bush v. Gore. Obviously, I expect them to strike down the mandate, laugh at the other two branches of government, and then have a big sex and coke party because they can’t be fired. [SCOTUSblog] * Back in the day, I went to Lollapalooza and caught a performance of Courtney Love’s band Hole, and it was great and she was great and then she did a cover of Come as You Are that blew the doors off and I remember just hoping she’d stay just clean enough to make great music. Things didn’t work out that way. [Hollywood Reporter] * Social media. Data breach. Lawsuit. This happens so often now I don’t know that it’s news, it’s just the way things are. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight] * NYU Law Professor wants to ban hate speech. Gosh, I hardly think the government should be able to prevent me from saying things like “this stupid freaking argument would never be tolerated at Columbia.” [Bloomberg Law] * SEC is suing Phil Falcone, which is fun but might not make the most sense. [Dealbreaker] * The Ninth Circuit is trying to look down the rabbit hole of just what border agents can do to your laptop, and how long they can keep it. [Law Technology News]

By Elie Mystal