Relax, folks. We are aware that the 2009 law school rankings of U.S. News & World Report have leaked, in advance of their official Friday publication date. They're all over the blogosphere and the message boards (links collected below).

We've been sitting on this item for a little while -- coordinating with our other posts this morning, taking into account our traffic patterns, etc. There is a method to our madness.

Ideally we'd hold this item even longer (which would allow us to do a more detailed write-up). But it's clear that you're all dying to talk about the rankings RIGHT NOW. And we don't want to get any more emails and comments of the "why aren't you writing about U.S. News" variety.

So here you go. Rankings and discussion, after the jump (i.e., click on the "Continue reading" link below).

Courtesy of Professor Dan Solove, "a sneak peak at this year's rankings, as well as some amazing secrets about how US News ranks law schools."

The Official Leaked US News Law School Rankings, Plus Ranking Secrets Revealed! [Concurring Opinions]

As we mentioned in passing on Friday, we've been mysteriously banned from Facebook, the popular social networking website. Our account was disabled without notice or explanation. We have not been informed of the allegations against us that led to the suspension of our account, nor have we been given the opportunity to confront our accusers.

To be sure, the Bill of Rights does not apply to Facebook. But being kicked off the FB still makes us sad. We're going through their appellate process now, but they're taking their sweet time in disposing of our appeal.

Professor Dan Solove has some interesting thoughts on Facebook and due process over here. Also, if you use Facebook, you might want to check out this interesting post, which lists some reasons people get banished from Facebook. Some of the rules are so vague that you could end up violating them without even knowing it.

Update (1:25 PM): Yay!!! We've been reinstated. More details, after the jump.

Further Update (3/5/08): We wrote more about our Facebook expulsion for the New York Observer.

* John Carney on backdating: "Although it was billed as the latest financial crime of the century, backdating is turning out to have some very minor results. Few prosecutions, stalled or failed lawsuits..." [DealBreaker]

* Glenn Reynolds on the Omaha mall shooting: "[W]e've reached the point at which a facility that bans firearms, making its patrons unable to defend themselves, should be subject to lawsuit for its failure to protect them." [Instapundit]

* Ann Althouse on Hillary Clinton: "The resistance I feel toward Hillary has to do do with her advancement under the aegis of a powerful man — a powerful man who seems to have diminished quite a number of women." [Althouse]

* Dan Solove, author of The Future of Reputation, on breaking up with someone via Facebook. [Concurring Opinions]

* Michael Dimino on SOC: "Justice O'Connor's status as the first woman on the Court makes it easy to praise her. I cannot imagine that she would be receiving the praise that she gets from the country if she were male." [PrawfsBlawg]

* Valerie Plame, whose exposure as a CIA agent launched lengthy legal proceedings, on the prospect of posing in Playboy: "I'm a mother of twins, are you kidding me?" [Washington Examiner / Yeas and Nays via Gawker]

* Are you in DC and looking for something cool to do later tonight? Attend the talk and book signing for Professor Daniel Solove's latest work, The Future of Reputation (previously discussed here). [Concurring Opinions]

* Are lawyers really a**holes? Or are they just doing their jobs? [WSJ Law Blog]

* Some thoughts on possibly increased bank regulation, from our colleague, John Carney: "Resistance to a new wave of banking regulation requiring bank breakups and dividing Wall Street according to regulatory fiats rather than market demand is likely to be weak in an era when many think the financial supermarket model has failed.... No one expends much time, money or energy defending a right to do something they don’t want to do anyway." [DealBreaker]

* Don't forget to vote for ATL! Even if you did so before, you can do so again -- once every 24 hours, ending November 8th. [2007 Weblog Awards]

David didn't expect me to get the scoop. No doubt, he's been reading the reviews of Dan Solove's new book, The Future of Reputation Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet.

I downloaded a free copy of Chapter 1.

Don't know if Lat has read this review by PajamasMedia's culture critic, David Freeman, who writes:

Shame and gossip and questions of personal reputation have been with us for millennia. In our time, however, they’ve gone electronic. The resulting change in the way the world communicates with itself is as significant to speech as anything since the invention of moveable type.

David probably noticed that Frank Pasquale posted a mini-review of the book he calls "a fun read that also manages to be a scholarly work on cyberlaw."

Solove draws us in with the old classics of humiliation–South Korea’s infamous “dog poop girl,” Jessica Cutler’s embarrassed paramour, and the Star Wars kid. Each sparked an avalanche of comedy, critical comment, spoofs. . . . and, like hope at the bottom of Pandora’s box, a tiny bit of sympathy as we wonder: will we be next?

Pace Andy Warhol, that’s not likely, but Solove uses the titillating stories to explore a deeper question: do we have any right to control true information about ourselves? Or influence the way we are portrayed? If somebody posts a vicious lie, they can be liable for defamation. But what about disclosure of private facts–should we have any right to stop that?

Okay--titillating stories--we'd buy the book to read more of that, but when do we get to read about David Lat?

"The parts about David have not been excerpted or discussed elsewhere," teased Solove, in an exclusive interview with Above the Law. "It basically tells his story – then the rest of the chapter launches into a discussion on the good and bad aspects of anonymous blogging! In the same chapter I also discuss the legal protections on anonymity, Wikipedia, the trade-off between anonymity and accountability, how anonymous bloggers can be unmasked if not careful, and the clash between privacy and free speech."

"If only I could get the poop on David Lat, I'd be able to write a preview for the book," I cajoled, "It's a tough audience! Gimme something to placate the fanboys."

Okay, after the jump...the excerpt about David Lat...

The blogosphere is ablaze with discussion of the AutoAdmit lawsuit. We collect and summarize the commentary in this linkwrap.

(We read all the blogs, so you don't have to! You can thank us later.)

1. Students File Suit Against Ex-AutoAdmit Director, Others [WSJ Law Blog]

If you haven't done so already, read this post first. It contains the most detailed factual background about the case. You can also access the Complaint itself by clicking here (PDF).

2. Yale law students sue over "the scummiest kind of sexually offensive tripe" at AutoAdmit [Althouse]

Professor Ann Althouse has her doubts about this lawsuit:

So this is the 21st century? Where courts award punitive damages for offensive words and pictures? Isn't "the scummiest kind of sexually offensive tripe" exactly what we always used to say people had to put up with in a free country? Man, that was so 20th century!

3. Suing Autodmit [Instapundit]

Professor Glenn Reynolds -- who kindly links to our post, by the way -- largely agrees with Professor Althouse. He sarcastically observes: "Stuff that offends dumb hicks in the heartland is constitutionally protected. Stuff that offends Yale Law Students must be stamped out!"

More links, after the jump.

Some proof that Wednesday night's law blogger party at Cloud wasn't a total sausagefest.

Left to right: Laura I. Appleman, of Willamette; Usha Rodrigues, of the University of Georgia; and Rose Cuison Villazor, of SMU.

Trivia: Laura Appleman, a transplanted New Yorker, lives with her husband in Salem, Oregon (but makes regular trips up to Portland, which she enjoys). Usha Rodrigues's first name is pronounced OO-shuh, and she's the former editor-in-chief of the Virginia Law Review. Rose Villazor is Filipino-American (and so is her husband, who's also a lawyer).

This is a continuation of our earlier photo post, Legal Bloggers + Law Professors = One Bitchin' Party. You can access that post, which includes some background about the festivities, by clicking here.

Our remaining party photos, plus trivia, appear after the jump.

Last night, in Washington, DC, the coolest place to be was Cloud. This restaurant, bar and lounge, located on Dupont Circle, hosted a fantastic party of law professors and legal bloggers. Morton's after the Oscars ain't got nothing on this scene.

The festivities were co-sponsored by two fiercely competitive legal academic blogs: Concurring Opinions and PrawfsBlawg. Because of the big AALS annual meeting here in D.C., many law professors -- and leading legal bloggers -- were in attendance.

(Note to Dan Markel: In the preceding paragraph, we listed Concurring Opinions before PrawfsBlawg based solely on alphabetical order. We realize, of course, that PrawfsBlawg existed well before Concurring Opinions. And that, like, half of Concurring Opinions traffic comes from Google searches for nude photos of Jennifer Aniston. So we intend no disrespect to PrawfsBlawg.)

We took several pictures of legal geniuses lubricating their intellectual gears with alcoholic beverages. The first batch of our photographs appears after the jump.