Election Law
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Death Penalty, Election Law, Food, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Religion, Wall Street
Non-Sequiturs: 12.06.12
* If you swap out a menorah and put in a dreidel, does your Hanukkah display avoid violating the Establishment Clause? I know, I know, WAR ON HANUKKAH. [Huffington Post] * I wonder why Martha Minow (law dean, HLS) or Robert Post (law dean, YLS) doesn’t write an op-ed defending the value proposition of going to law school? Wouldn’t you like to hear this argument from somebody who isn’t desperate to fill their class seats? [Constitutional Daily] * Isn’t the concept of the “last meal” the best thing about death row? Granted, that’s a low bar, but still. Having a last meal sounds so civilized. No wonder Texas and Florida want to take it away. [Legal Blog Watch] * Do patent trolls have a weakness to fire, just like videogame trolls? Because, I’d like for them to get burned. [Business Insider] * The fact that voter suppression doesn’t work doesn’t make it right. [Election Law Blog] * Ignoring losses until they go away sounds like the basis of any sound financial strategy. [Dealbreaker] -
Election Law, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Parties, Politics, Racism
Non-Sequiturs: 12.05.12
* Look, I’m only one man, I can’t refute it every time the New York Times advertises going to law school using terrible arguments. I mean, Dealbook just let a law professor tell people that this is a good time to apply to law school… because all the smart people aren’t taking the LSAT. I just don’t know what to tell people who are persuaded by that. [Dealbook / New York Times] * Should kidnapping somebody and forcing them to repair your house after a dispute about the quality of their work be illegal? Or should we just call this “specific performance”? [Gawker] * Florida legislators throw down with the governor over early voting. Will Florida governor Rick Scott relent? Or is he going to double down on suppressing the vote? [Think Progress] * I’m really glad this didn’t happen at the Penn State Law School. I didn’t feel like being accused of baiting these sorority girls into having a racist party. [Yahoo!News via The Legal Satyricon] * What constitutes a sham Senate session exactly? [Huffington Post] * Are you a lawyer on a deferral or a fellowship looking for an interesting project to pick up? If so, check this out. [Idealist] * Are you looking for something fun to do in New York City tomorrow night? If so, check this out. [Above the Law] - Sponsored
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Election Law, Lawsuit of the Day, Minority Issues, Racism, Texas
Lawsuit of the Day: Texas Lawyer Argues That Minorities Were Too Stupid To Understand Ballot Initiative They Just Passed
A lawyer claims minorities in Austin are too stupid to have their votes count...
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Barack Obama, Biglaw, Deaths, Disasters / Emergencies, Election 2012, Election Law, Eric Holder, Gay Marriage, In-House Counsel, Law Schools, Marijuana, Morning Docket, State Judges
Morning Docket: 11.07.12
* “We know in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is yet to come.” Barack Obama was re-elected as president. Bring on the hope and change! No, seriously. [New York Times]
* In news that shouldn’t come as a surprise, regardless of who won the presidential race, there are still post-election voting issues that will likely be resolved in the courts. [Blog of Legal Times]
* But what we really want to know is who will be our country’s next attorney general. Because if anyone can fill Eric Holder’s shoes, it’s Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the S.D.N.Y. [WSJ Law Blog]
* In other important news, several states approved gay marriage ballot initiatives, and others legalized marijuana. But hopefully you don’t have a case of the munchies yet, because federal law still says it’s illegal. [CNN]
* They helped American citizens “ba-rock” the vote: hundreds of law students from around the country rallied around the craziness of Election Day to volunteer their assistance to worthy causes. [National Law Journal]
* Biglaw firms in NYC are still reeling after Hurricane Sandy. While WilmerHale set up temporary offices last week, both SullCrom and Fried Frank could be out of commission for weeks. [Reuters; New York Times]
* At this point, in-house counsel are kind of like the McKayla Maroneys of the legal profession, because they are seriously unimpressed with outside counsel’s efforts to improve services and fees. [Corporate Counsel]
* Judge Theodore Jones, associate judge of the New York Court of Appeals, RIP. [New York Law Journal]
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Election 2012, Election Law, Pictures, Privacy, Technology
Photographing Your Ballot: It Might Be Illegal, Y'Know
Think twice before you photograph your ballot. It might be a crIme! -
Election 2012, Election Law
The Difference Between Voter Suppression And Voter Duress
Voting might not be the easiest thing in the world, but let's not act like it's particularly hard... -
Election 2012, Election Law, Politics, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: But Isn't Voter Fraud a Myth?
One can argue about its prevalence, but voter fraud does happen, at least some of the time.... -
9th Circuit, Death Penalty, Election 2012, Election Law, Gay, Gay Marriage, Non-Sequiturs, Politics, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Non-Sequiturs: 10.29.12
* A Hurricane Sandy survival guide. Key components? Food, water, booze, and prophylactics. Who’s ready for a hurricane Halloween party? [FindLaw] * California’s longest serving death-row inmate just got his sentence set aside by the Ninth Circuit. [WSJ Law Blog] * A few days before Thanksgiving, SCOTUS will decide whether to hear the Prop. 8 and DOMA cases. Happy holidays? [American Foundation for Equal Rights] * Sometimes the most effective self-defense weapon isn’t a gun, it’s a pot of soup. [Consumerist] * Harold Koh, former Yale Law School dean and current legal adviser to the State Department, sits down for a Legally Speaking interview at UC Hastings. [California Lawyer] * Additional thoughts, this time from Professor Eugene Volokh, on employers urging employees to vote a certain way. [Volokh Conspiracy] - Sponsored
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Biglaw, Divorce Train Wrecks, Election 2012, Election Law, Gloria Allred, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, Politics, Secretaries / Administrative Assistants
Morning Docket: 10.26.12
* Gloria Allred’s “October Surprise” for Mitt Romney didn’t exactly go according to plan, but that’s probably because she never filed the appropriate motions related to the gag order in this decades old divorce case wherein Mitt Romney testified. [Bloomberg]
* This Election Day, 16 Biglaw firms in offices across the country will be manning an Election Protection hotline to field questions, because despite the bad jokes about the legal profession, “lawyers can play a really valuable civic role.” [Am Law Daily]
* “We never make decisions to eliminate positions with any discriminatory conduct.” In other news from the CYA Department, Paul Hastings really doesn’t like getting sued by former legal secretaries who were laid off. [JD Journal]
* The assistant dean of academic support at TSU’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law claims the school discriminated against her based on her skin color. Did we mention she’s white? [Courthouse News Service]
* Apparently the allegations of false reporting levied against TJSL are a “crock of crap” because the school claims the ex-employee who told on them never alerted the dean. Hmm… [Thomas Jefferson School of Law]
* A nice pipe dream: now that “the twilight of the generalist law degree is here,” perhaps law schools will move to a two-year model, with an optional third year for specialization purposes. [DealBook / New York Times]
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Abortion, Election 2012, Election Law, Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 10.18.12
* For the first time in history, both major party presidential candidates are graduates of Harvard Law School. When reached for comment, Yale Law School said, “President, that’s one of those jobs that you don’t get for life, right?” [Harvard Law Bulletin] * Please tell me our election technology has at least caught up with 1996 by now. [Election Law Blog] * Uruguay legalizes abortion — subject to a panel review, a five-day waiting period, and getting the father’s opinion on the matter. Yay? [Salon] * Twitter censors a user! But it was a Nazi group, so nobody is going to freak out too much. [Slate] * If this freaking idiot makes it even harder for young, intelligent students to come here on student visas, then his thwarted attack will have caused real damage to American interests. [WSJ Law Blog] * Abraham Lincoln would have gotten tort reform done. [Futility Closet] -
American Bar Association / ABA, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, California, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Election 2012, Election Law, Harvard Law Review, Law School Deans, Law Schools, LeBoeuf Lamb, Morning Docket, Nude Dancing, Partner Issues, Politics, Texas, Weddings, William Birdthistle
Morning Docket: 10.11.12
* Everyone’s happy about the Dewey & LeBoeuf settlement except the Ad Hoc Committee and its LeBoeuf retirees, who called Judge Martin Glenn’s attempt to slap them down an “insult to injury.” [WSJ Law Blog]
* While South Carolina’s voter ID law wasn’t found to be inherently discriminatory, its enforcement was still blocked because people will be unable to get their sh*t together in time for the election. [Bloomberg]
* VP debate moderator Martha Raddatz’s 1991 wedding guest list has come under fire because Barack Obama was invited. Clearly there’s a conflict of interest worth arguing about here. [Washington Post]
* This man is nobody’s “butt boy”: Tom Keefe, the interim dean over at Saint Louis Law School, will be footing a $14,212 bill for his students in the form of ABA Law Student Division memberships. [National Law Journal]
* Strippers in California, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Texas, and Nevada will be making it rain, because they just scored a $12.9M class action settlement. That’s a whole lot of “college tuition”! [Courthouse News Service]
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Conferences / Symposia, Election 2012, Election Law, Free Speech, Law Professors, Lawrence Lessig, Money, New Yorker, Politics, Seth Waxman, Ted Olson
Politics and Money: Imperfect Together?
What should be done - if anything - about the influence of money in politics? Some thoughts from Larry Lessig, Cleta Mitchell, Ted Olson, and Seth Waxman. -
Election Law, Politics, Texas, White-Collar Crime
Pol Dancing: Tom 'The Hammer' Delay Preparing To Get Hammered
Former Congressman Tom DeLay awaits appeal of his conviction for corruption and money laundering. Before he goes away for three years in the "other" Big House, let's look back at his story.
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Affirmative Action, Constitutional Law, Election Law, Elena Kagan, Gay, Gay Marriage, Minority Issues, Paul Clement, Politics, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Texas, Thomas Goldstein
A Preview of the Upcoming Supreme Court Term (OT 2012)
Here's a preview of the upcoming Supreme Court Term, featuring the insights of Paul Clement and Tom Goldstein. -
Biglaw, Crime, Department of Justice, Election 2012, Election Law, Gay Marriage, Law School Deans, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, Partner Profits, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Violence
Morning Docket: 09.25.12
* Will the members of the Supreme Court announce which gay marriage issues they’ll be hearing this term any time soon? With Proppsition 8 appeal and several DOMA appeals on hand, there’s certainly a lot for them to choose from. [CNN]
* It’s beginning to look a lot like Biglaw, everywhere you go: lawyers are miserable, clients are unhappy, and apparently profits per partner are all to blame. Gee, thanks for those rankings, Am Law, they were really helpful. [DealBook / New York Times]
* Instead of arguing over font size, the Department of Justice argued law yesterday during closing arguments in its attempts to convince a three-judge panel to strike down South Carolina’s voter ID statute. [National Law Journal]
* Unlike Elizabeth Warren, he’s no “Fauxcahontas”: Kevin Washburn, the dean of the University of New Mexico Law School, has been confirmed by the Senate to oversee the Bureau of Indian Affairs. [Washington Post]
* If you’re going to allegedly slash someone’s face in an attempt to defend your honor, at least do it with class like this Columbia Law grad, and use a broken champagne flute as your weapon of choice. [New York Post]
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Antonin Scalia, California, Drugs, Election Law, Fashion, Fashion Is Fun, Gay Marriage, Marijuana, Non-Sequiturs, Politics, Richard Posner, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Technology
Non-Sequiturs: 09.21.12
* You can kiss your dreams of seeing Prop 8 being taken up by the Supreme Court goodbye if the justices decide to proceed with “more cautious DOMA challenges.” [Slate] * Well, at least one person is getting annoyed by the endless back and forth between Posner and Scalia. But that’s just one person. We’ll continue to beat that horse until it’s extra dead. [Althouse] * Is this like the new WebMD, but for law? With prompts like, “Can that crazy neighbor buy a gun?,” it looks like a suitable place for legal hypochondriacs to call home. [myRight] * Oh yay, I don’t like to get into election law and politics, so it’s a good thing that The Simpsons did all my work for me on this one: “Stopping all Americans from voting is for the protection of all Americans.” [PrawfsBlawg] * Kat over at Corporette wants to know what your top five tailoring alterations are — because after all, it’s pretty hard to dress for success in Biglaw if your pants are dragging on the floor. [Corporette] * You’d have to be super-dee-duper high to think that disguising your pot plants as Christmas trees in the middle of the desert to throw the police off your tracks would actually work. [Legally Weird / FindLaw] -
A. Raymond Randolph, D.C. Circuit, Election 2012, Election Law, English Grammar and Usage, Harry Edwards, Janice Rogers Brown, Politics
Pol Dancing: D.C. Circuit Plays Words With Friends
Campaign finance statutes? Ha! The D.C. Circuit blows off your pesky "plain English" as an illusion. -
Election 2012, Election Law
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Says Not So Fast On Controversial Voter ID Laws
Pennsylvania's controversial voter ID isn't a done deal yet... -
Biglaw, Election 2012, Election Law, Law Schools, Morning Docket, New Jersey, Paul Bergrin, Prostitution, Real Estate, Summer Associates
Morning Docket: 09.13.12
* The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear arguments today over the state’s voter ID law. But at this point, who cares? Come on, Election 2012 is probably going to be decided by a court anyway. [Bloomberg]
* Sedgwick’s New York office is relocating to Two World Financial Center. This won’t be just any office; no, it’ll be an “office of the future.” They don’t need roads where they’ll be reviewing documents. [Real Estate Weekly]
* Paul Bergrin, the Baddest Lawyer in the History of Jersey, will be tried on all 26 counts in his racketeering case in one fell swoop. Not to worry, because this badass thinks he’s going to be acquitted. [The Record]
* This year’s summer associates didn’t want to be wined and dined. They wanted to be put to work, because “[m]andatory social events can be physically and mentally taxing.” Aww, boohoo, social skills sure are tough. /sadface [Am Law Daily]
* Another day, another law school lawsuit tossed out: Team Strauss/Anziska’s case against DePaul Law was dismissed because it’s pretty hard to blame a law school for the effects of a bad economy. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Anna Gristina, the alleged Millionaire Madam, vowed that she’d never spill the beans on a mystery man from her little black book. Could it be the “prominent Manhattan lawyer” mentioned earlier? [New York Daily News]
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Brett Kavanaugh, Department of Justice, Election 2012, Election Law, Federal Government, Federal Judges, Politics, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: Size Matters
Instead of arguing the law, the DOJ is arguing over font size...