Constitutional Law
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Constitutional Law, Crime
The Exception Is The Rule: How The Government's 'Good Faith' Efforts Are Destroying The Fourth Amendment
While there has been some progress towards a restoration of the nation’s Fourth Amendment rights, there have also been several steps back. -
Canada, Constitutional Law, Crime, Guns / Firearms, Murder, Politics, Violence, War on Terror
The View From Up North: Terror In Ottawa
Reflections from Canadian columnist Steve Dykstra on the recent Ottawa shooting. - Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms. -
8th Circuit, Bill Clinton, Constitutional Law, Elena Kagan, Federal Government, Federal Judges, Judicial Nominations, Politics, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
How Health Concerns Dashed A Judge's Supreme Court Dreams
Which distinguished lower-court judge came extremely close to landing a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court?
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Constitutional Law, Election Law, Jeffrey Rosen, Money, Politics, Quote of the Day, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Thinks This Is The Worst Supreme Court Ruling
There's no truth without Ruth, and she pulled no punches in this interview. -
Constitutional Law, Politics, United Kingdom / Great Britain
Constitutional Ties That Bind Also Gag: The United Kingdom Keeps Scotland
Conservative columnist Tamara Tabo shares her views on the recent Scotland independence vote. -
Constitutional Law, Drinking, Election Law, Politics, Women's Issues
Constitution Day Special: Our Favorite Unheralded Amendments
Above the Law's favorite Amendments that nobody ever talks about. -
Constitutional Law, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Supreme Court Holdings Made Simple
When you think about it, memes are the perfect medium for teaching constitutional jurisprudence: you take something established and scribble new stuff all over it. -
Constitutional Law, Federal Judges, Gay, Gay Marriage, Politics
Fast Progress, Fundamental Rights: How Much Do Changing Attitudes On Same-Sex Marriage Matter?
A federal judge in Louisiana just upheld that state's ban on same-sex marriage; was that the correct ruling? - Sponsored
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
In this CLE-eligible webinar, we’ll explore the most common accounting pitfalls and how to avoid them for your firm. -
Constitutional Law, Crime, George J. Terwilliger III, Guns / Firearms, Murder
James Brady Death Ruled Homicide 33 Years Later -- Are You Impressed Now Jodie Foster?
Can a death three decades after a shooting open the door to a murder prosecution? -
Abortion, Constitutional Law, Gay, Gay Marriage, Health Care / Medicine, Law Professors, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Technology, Women's Issues
Morning Docket: 08.05.14
* According to Patron Saint RBG, the Supreme Court has never really come around on “the ability of women to decide for themselves what their destiny will be.” Gay people are doing well, though, so good for them. [New York Times]
* Two law professors and a consultant built a model that predicts SCOTUS decisions with 69.7 percent accuracy, and justices’ votes with 70.9 percent accuracy. For lawyers who are bad at math, that’s damn near perfect. Nice work! [Vox]
* An Alabama abortion clinic statute which required that doctors have admitting privileges at local hospitals was ruled unconstitutional. Perhaps this will be the death knell for these laws. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Idaho’s Supreme Court rejected Concordia Law’s bid to allow grads to sit for the bar before the ABA granted it provisional accreditation. Too bad, since lawyers are needed in Idaho. [National Law Journal]
* Before you go to law school, you can learn how to gun with the best of them. That’s right, you can practice briefing cases before you even set foot in the door. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]
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Books, Caption Contests, Constitutional Law, Contests, Law Reviews, Law Schools, Pictures, Reader Polls
Caption Contest Winner: A Sneaky Law Student’s Hidey-Hole
That's one way to study Constitutional Law... -
5th Circuit, Abortion, American Bar Association / ABA, Anthony Kennedy, Biglaw, Constitutional Law, Gay Marriage, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Morning Docket: 07.30.14
* When it comes to bans on same-sex marriage, for Justice Anthony Kennedy, animus is a “doctrinal silver bullet” — the fact that there was no animus involved in the enactment of many of them may be problematic at the high court. [New York Times]
* Relying on some obscure Supreme Court precedent, the Fifth Circuit saved Mississippi’s lone abortion clinic after striking down as unconstitutional a state law that would have required doctors to have hospital admitting privileges. [National Law Journal]
* Given the situation over at Bingham McCutchen, people are starting to wonder about whether all the guaranteed contracts to members of merger partner McKee Nelson’s partnership helped to shape the firm’s current financial plight. [Am Law Daily]
* Hot on the heels of Cooley Law canceling its first-year class at Ann Arbor and announcing tentative plans to close the campus, the ABA approved the school’s affiliation with Western Michigan. Yay? [MLive.com]
* Here’s one way to become a lawyer without racking up massive amounts of debt: you could try to “read” the law like Abraham Lincoln, and work as a law firm apprentice. That sounds delightful. [New York Times]
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Anthony Kennedy, Constitutional Law, Politics, Quote of the Day, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Justice Kennedy Notes The Constitution Protected Slavery -- Right-Wingers Freak Out
Apparently suggesting that slavery may have been a bad thing can still get you criticized.
Sponsored
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
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Books, Constitutional Law, D.C. Circuit, Drinking, Health Care / Medicine, Non-Sequiturs, Patents, Sexual Harassment, Television
Non-Sequiturs: 07.24.14
* Have you all called the Breaking Bad law firm number yet? Because it works, so go for it! [Legal Cheek] * How to make airlines more profitable: make everyone sit on bicycle seats! [Lowering the Bar] * Ilya Somin explains why the D.C. Circuit’s interpretation in Halbig isn’t absurd. And it’s not absurd. It just reflects the hilariously cynical conservative opposition to giving their own citizens tax breaks. [The Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post] * Ohio State fired its band director amid sexual harassment allegations. To fire a guy, Ohio State must have dotted every “i” in this investigation. [USA Today] * Speaking of sexual harassment, the Navy’s Blue Angels are the subject of a sexual harassment suit. And somehow it involves a blue and gold penis seen from space. [Slate] * The Chevron battle over Ecuador continues. Turns out the star witness Chevron paid upwards of $1 million to testify took 50 days of prep to finally get his ever-shifting story straight. [Huffington Post] * There’s a new book out called Kate’s Escape from the Billable Hour (affiliate link). We haven’t read it, but apparently this tale of “a burnt-out, second-year attorney working in the dysfunctional world of Big Law” mentions ATL. So they definitely did their research. [Amazon] * Watch a drunk guy give cops a lesson in Con Law. Video after the jump…. [Barstool Sports] -
California, Celebrities, Cellphones, Constitutional Law, Death Penalty, General Counsel, In-House Counsel, Law Schools, Military / Military Law, Money, Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 07.17.14
* There’s a very good chance that if you go in-house, you could wind up making more money than even the wealthiest of Biglaw partners. But how much more? Take a look at the latest GC compensation survey. [Corporate Counsel]
* GM has hired outside counsel to review the way the company handles its litigation practices. Since we’re not sure which, we’ll take bets on whether this “well-respected outside law firm” is Wachtell or Jenner & Block. [WSJ Law Blog]
* A federal judge in California ruled that the state’s death penalty was unconstitutional. A defendant living with the “slight possibility of death” violates the Eighth Amendment. Damn appeals! [New York Times]
* “He hasn’t been charged with anything at the moment and we’ll deal with the charges when they’re filed.” Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl hired Yale Law lecturer Eugene R. Fidell, a military law expert (and husband of noted legal journalist Linda Greenhouse). [New Haven Register]
* We all know that George Clooney’s fiancée, Amal Alamuddin, has both beauty and brains. What we didn’t know is that she poses for incredibly embarrassing pictures, just like the rest of us. [Us Weekly]
* How do Americans feel about the Supreme Court’s recent cellphone privacy ruling, Riley v. California? [Digital Constitution / Microsoft]
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Constitutional Law, Health Care / Medicine, Politics, Religion, Samuel Alito, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Women's Issues
Who Do You Take Seriously In The Hobby Lobby Debate?
Conservative columnist Tamara Tabo offers her reflections on the Supreme Court's ruling in Hobby Lobby. -
Books, Colbert Report, Constitutional Law, David Boies, Gay, Gay Marriage, Quote of the Day, Ted Olson, Television, Videos
A Lesson In Constitutional Law From Stephen Colbert
How would Stephen Colbert interpret the Equal Protection Clause? -
Antonin Scalia, Cars, Constitutional Law, Federal Judges, Music, Religion, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Since When Does Justice Scalia Ride The Bus?
Are Supreme Court justices just like us? -
Bankruptcy, Biglaw, California, Constitutional Law, Contract Attorneys, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Document Review, Drugs, Education / Schools, Marijuana, Morning Docket, Partner Issues
Morning Docket: 06.11.14
* This failed firm’s drama is the Biglaw gift that keeps on giving: Dewey & LeBoeuf’s bankruptcy trustee filed an amended complaint against Steve DiCarmine and Joel Sanders seeking the return of more than $21.8 million. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Norton Rose Fulbright elected someone who “love, love, love[s] the law firm” as U.S. managing partner, and she’s the first woman to ever serve as U.S. chair of its management committee. We love, love, love this news! [National Law Journal]
* According to a California judge, tenure laws are unconstitutional and are depriving students of the high quality of education they deserve. The end is nigh, law professors. Enjoy it while it lasts. [New York Times]
* Not all states have legalized the recreational use of marijuana, but it’d be a lot cooler if they did. The tide is turning across the United States, and we’ll soon see which states’ drug laws go up in smoke. [Slate]
* “Document review attorneys are in demand now but the demand will gradually decrease.” Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the one job you were able to get soon won’t need or want you. [InsideCounsel]
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Bill Clinton, Constitutional Law, Elena Kagan, Federal Government, Federal Judges, Judicial Nominations, Politics, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, SCOTUS, Senate Judiciary Committee, Solicitor General's Office, Stephen Breyer, Supreme Court
4 Top Tidbits From The Latest Batch Of Clinton Papers
What juicy revelations about Justices Breyer and Ginsburg appear in the latest set of presidential papers?