* All may not be genetically sound with Suri babies of holoprosencephaly sufferers. (But does genetic perfection really exist?) And once again, wordplay gets us out of the woods of potential litigation by a crazy actor midget. [Overlawyered]
* Jack Abramoff has been hitting the books in the prison law library and will represent himself in two lawsuits filed against him by Indian tribes. I think “kitchen duty and carpentry” is prison-speak for “shower activities.” [Law.com]
* Off-ensive or just off-menu? Not brought to you by the people who brought you this refreshing drink. [Vivir Latino via Racialicious]
* Remember when we used to de-contract words (e.g., “does not” for “doesn’t”) to inch our way towards the minimum word requirement? [FN1] Apparently, this is the only way law school is not like high school. [PrawfsBlawg]
[FN1] Enough already! law professors lament. And yes, smart aleck, footnotes do count toward the word limit.
* Running with Scissors writer Augusten Burroughs is being sued for libel, not for his part in the adaptation of his memoir into the abysmally bad film version. [Vanity Fair]
* Any future husband of mine should be so lucky as to take on “Q” as their last name, or our combined last name. But for the record, could it be that “Buday” is pronounced “booty”? [ACLU of Southern California via PrawfsBlawg]
ACLU
- ACLU, Books, Celebrities, Crime, Defamation, Feminism, Food, Gender, Immigration, Jack Abramoff, Law Professors, Movies, Native Americans, Non-Sequiturs, Prisons, Pro Se Litigants, Weddings
Non-Sequiturs: 12.19.06
By Stella Q- 7th Circuit, ACLU, Cars, Conspiracy Theories, Crime, Deaths, Immigration, Morning Docket, Politics, S.D.N.Y., Sex, Tax Law, Videos
Morning Docket: 12.14.06
By B Clerker* The feds and the ACLU wrangle over a classified document. Is such use of the grand jury subpoena creative, or improper? [New York Times]
* A Swift (& Co.) crackdown: federal raids on meatpacking plants in six states result in over 1,200 arrests on immigration charges. [Associated Press]
* MoveOn and those Swift Boat Veterans get fined. [New York Times]
* “Seventh Circuit reinstates claim asserting that … members of the plaintiff classes have bought products or services from some of the defendants that they would not have bought had the defendants not concealed their involvement in slavery.” [How Appealing]
* Girls Gone Wild guy gets community service for filming underage women. [MSNBC]
* “College Student Gets Mother-in-Law to Co-Sign $10,000 Loan to Buy Apple Computer, Has $7,800 DOI Income When He Repays Only $2,200 After Taking High-Paying Job at Microsoft.” [TaxProf Blog]
* A British police inquiry rejects conspiracy theories concerning the death of Princess Diana, concluding that the 1997 car crash was a “tragic accident.” [Associated Press]
* Does anyone know if “ABV D LAW” is taken? [WSJ Law Blog]
No, we’re not talking about that time on “The OC” when Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) shared a girl-on-girl kiss with Alex (Olivia Wilde). Rather, we’re referring to a civil rights case currently pending before Judge James Selna, in the Central District of California.
From the L.A. Times (via How Appealing):
Two high schoolers are caught kissing on campus.
Ordinarily, such an incident would garner little attention. But for Charlene Nguon, a smattering of kisses and hugs stolen after school and in between classes led to detention, suspensions, a transfer and a lawsuit.
The reason? That’s what a federal judge in Santa Ana will soon decide.
Nguon says it’s because she was kissing a girl. Ben Wolf, who was then principal of Garden Grove’s Santiago High School, says that’s not the case at all. He insists the problem was that, regardless of whether it was a girl or boy, Nguon continued the kissing despite repeated warnings to knock it off.
And that’s just the tip of this salaciously sapphic iceberg.
Check out the rest, after the jump.
- ACLU, Anal Sex / Butt Sex, Federalist Society, Gay, Gay Marriage, Lunacy, Rudeness, Vicious Infighting, William Eskridge
An ATL Public Service Announcement: ‘The Wages of Sin Is Death!’ (Romans 6:23)
By David Lat
Apperances can be deceiving. The smiling woman above looks like a sweet old lady (or perhaps she’s middle-aged).
But don’t be fooled. This pleasant-looking woman opened a can of whoop-ass at the final panel discussion of the Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention. She rained hellfire and brimstone upon the audience, and placed at least two of the panelists on an express train to Hell.
As we mentioned earlier, that last panel “discussion” was insane. It was a no-holds-barred fight between the Federalist Society’s two major constituencies: the social conservatives and the libertarians. It was a smart move to save this intra-societal slugfest until the end of the weekend.
The nominal title of the panel: “The Role of Government in Defining Our Culture.” A more appropriate title for the panel: “Watch Libertarians and Social Conservatives Rant at Each Other About Gay Marriage.”
The combatants participants:
Moderator cum lion tamer: Hon. Edwin Meese III, former Attorney General
For the libertarians: Dr. Charles Murray, AEI; Mr. Anthony Romero, ACLU
For the social conservatives: Mrs. Phyllis Schlafly, Eagle Forum; Professor Hadley Arkes, Amherst College
Kinda in between: Professor William Eskridge, Yale Law School
Kinda irrelevant: Hon. Walter Dellinger, currently of O’Melveny & Myers and Duke Law School (and former acting Solicitor General)
A blow-by-blow account of this intellectual battle royal, after the jump.
Continue reading “An ATL Public Service Announcement: ‘The Wages of Sin Is Death!’ (Romans 6:23)”
* 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. [Cookie Magazine]
* Summer associates of 2007, start drawing up your restaurant lists. [New York Times]
* Here we go again… If the music industry can turn any old 13-year-old into a pop star, then it can also turn any old 13-year-old into a criminal. [Reuters]
* The Danish have taken the transfat out of their pastries (and everything else). [Associated Press via Drudge Report]
* Indeed, politics aside, who is more retarded in this case — the cops or the ACLU? [May It Please the Court]
* Yet again, Walmart proves that cheap has its price. [The Conglomerate]
* The United States population topped 300 million today at 7.46am EST, but just 39 years ago, the official 200 millionth baby was born, and he ended up a lawyer. (And may we objectively comment that this particular person of Asian heritage really does look young.) [Inside Opinions: Legal Blogs]
* I don’t know much about fair trade, but I know this isn’t it. And yes, I know, much more than chocolate is at stake. [Associated Press]
- ACLU, Antonin Scalia, Lynne Stewart, Morning Docket, Nadine Strossen, Sanford Levinson, War on Terror
Morning Docket: 10.17.06
By B Clerker
* Lawyer facing 30 years gets 28 months for the terrorism equivalent of passing a note in class. [New York Times]
* This guy is talking major smack about the Constitution. Where does he get off speaking his mind in a free press? And all without the fear of having the king’s soldiers quartered in his residence! [L.A. Times]
* Coming soon to a comic-con near you: ” By becoming a more skillful listener and communicator, Attorney Man masters the art of sales and develops a healthy roster of supersatisfied clients. `Wow! Look at those learned hands!’ one client gushes admiringly.” [Boston Globe via WSJ Law Blog]
* Another stock scandal for a high ranking government official. Who’d have thought the former chairman of the F.D.A. Obesity Working Group would come up with an easy way to make money. [N.Y. Times]
* Nadine and Nino go mano-a-mano this weekend on CSPAN (Washington’s ESPN). Says the mildly-worded AP article, “Scalia… generally finds himself taking the opposite position to the ACLU.” [Law.com]



