Today, barring some unforeseen development, the U.S. Supreme Court will hand down its decision in the D.C. gun control case, District of Columbia v. Heller. Heller is truly a blockbuster case, and the ruling -- the Court's first major pronouncement on the Second Amendment in 68 years (or arguably ever) -- is one of the most eagerly anticipated of the entire Term.

When Heller was argued back in March, numerous people camped out overnight to secure seats in the courtroom for the historic proceedings. As you may recall, we took an ATL Field Trip to visit them (see here and here). We now revisit that day, in advance of the opinion hand-down later this morning, and pass along some photos we took of the Heller campers (and neglected to share before).

The mood among the crowd in front of One First Street was festive. The group included law students and recent alumni from Harvard, Duke, Georgetown, and GW law schools. The first seven people in line had camped out the night before our visit, meaning that they wound up sleeping in front of the Court for two consecutive nights to snag their coveted seats. There were also numerous members of the media present (e.g., a Swiss TV crew).

We took an informal survey of the first 20 campers, to find out their views on the case. Fifteen of the 20 supported Heller and an individual right to bear arms (although their views differed somewhat on what might constitute reasonable regulation). Four were in favor of the D.C. gun ban in its current form. One described himself as a "swing vote," a la Justice Kennedy.

We also took some photographs. The picture appearing at the top of this post is of Richard Hohensee, previously introduced to ATL readers here. You can see the rest of the pics, which together constitute a photo essay of sorts about the Heller case, by clicking here (or on the Picasa web album link below).

Photo Album: District of Columbia v. Heller [Picasa]

It has been a while since the last installment of Legal Eagle Wedding Watch. But fear not; the next LEWW will be appearing shortly, most likely tomorrow.

In the meantime, to tide over those of you with a hankering for lawyer wedding news, here is a photo essay about the wedding of my co-clerk, Ryan Bounds, and Bethany Ingwalson (pictured above). Ryan and I were law school classmates and clerked together for Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain (9th Cir.).

Both Bethany and Ryan are lawyers. The bride is senior counsel at the IRS, currently on detail to Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation. She graduated from Miami University of Ohio, summa cum laude, and received a law degree from Georgetown, magna cum laude. The groom is senior counsel in the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice. He graduated with distinction from Stanford and received a law degree from Yale. Congratulations and best wishes to the happy couple!

The picture album -- featuring appearances by leading conservative lawyers and judges, including our former boss -- can be accessed here. Enjoy!

P.S. I took these pictures myself. They should not (and would not) be confused with professional wedding photographs.

Wedding of Bethany Anne Ingwalson and Ryan Wesley Bounds [Picasa Web Album]

We had over 200 entries in the ATL Lady Justice caption contest. We've narrowed the field to our ten favorites, and listed them in order of posting time. You get to vote for the best one.

A. "One more push and we'll have room for that ten commandments statue..."

B. "Lady Justice, I sued my drycleaner for $5M and lost. What should I do now?"

C. After being screwed so much by the Bush administration, a doctor confirms that Lady Justice has become pregnant.

D. "I don't care who you are, nobody gets into this building with a headscarf."

E. Upholding justice, literally...

F. I'm sorry, but as the hiring partner at Paul Hastings, I have to check.

G. It's about time somebody pushed back against Justice.

H. The DC Circuit just ruled in our favor. We will soon be able to use paper money without needing everything to be in singles.

I. Attempted statutory rape.

J. I'm sorry; we don't permit justice in the Texas court system.

Earlier: ATL Caption Contest: Lady Justice

In our last caption contest, we gave you a photo without its context and asked for possible captions. We thought your submissions were pretty damn funny, so this is how we'll run caption contests from now on.

Here's your inspiration, a legally-themed photo with no context (for now), and here are the rules: Post your caption entries in the comments. Assuming sufficient response, we'll take our favorites, incorporate them into a poll, and allow you to vote for your favorite.

We will identify the man and the story behind the photo at the end of the contest.

Update: We're closing the comments and choosing the finalists. Stay tuned!

We'll be doing a more detailed follow-up on the Harvard Law Review Note controversy "in due course" (to use a favorite expression of a former boss).

There has been lots of new blog commentary on the Note that we have not yet fully digested. E.g., Volokh Conspiracy (David Bernstein, via Instapundit); Concurring Opinions (Dave Hoffman). There are also hundreds of new ATL comments that we need to catch up on. So it may be a while.

We were hoping to bring you an interview with Note author Phil Telfeyan, but he has not responded to our multiple interview requests. Perhaps he prefers to address the public through Do the Right Thing At Every Moment, which purports to be a blog authored by him.

Update: There have been suggestions, in the comments here and elsewhere, that Phil Telfeyan is not the author of "Do the Right Thing At Every Moment." The blog appears legitimate to us (and we note, with interest, the 5:05 PM comment on this Concurring Opinions thread). But we have contacted Mr. Telfeyan, through messages to his Harvard email address and through Facebook, to invite him to issue an on-the-record denial of authorship, if he is not in fact the author.

In other Harvard Law Review news, that august publication is taking up new quarters. Move over, Gannett House. Say hello to.... the Law Review Lounge:

Okay, no, the HLR isn't actually moving into these dumpy digs -- they're pretty far from Cambridge. For the real story behind the Law Review Lounge, read below the fold.

Some of you have wondered about the delay in choosing finalists for the ATL Caption Contest. We did not forget about it; we just wanted to save a little Easter for April, the proper month for the holiday. Easter in March is just plain wrong.

As a refresher, this is the photo of President Bush and his White House Counsel -- Fred Fielding, former senior partner at Wiley Rein (fka Wiley Rein & Fielding), dressed up as the Easter Bunny -- at the White House Easter Egg Roll last month. Without further ado, out of 200 comments, these are our ten finalists. [FN1]

A. "I left a firm with over $4 million in PPP to do THIS???" -Anonymous

B. The Mad Hatter and the March Hare discuss the legality of waterboarding the Dormouse. -Klerk

C. "Mr. President, I wanted to let you know that I put the last of those White House e-mails down the rabbit hole." -Anonymous

D. Yeah, well, nobody wants to be the guy that told the POTUS there is no Easter Bunny and Cheney said that if I play along I'll get a Supreme Court nomination. Hey, whatever happened with that Harriet woman? -Anonymous

E. I dressed up in this bunny suit and all I got was a feature on ATL. -Anonymous

F. After ignoring the rule of law for seven years, President Bush finally found a use for the White House Counsel. -Anonymous

G. "Someone please tell me that's not a wombat behind me." -Anonymous

H. I guess that answers the question of whether its better to get a JD or an MBA. -Anonymous

I. Fred (thinking): "That f-n headhunter promised me I would be supporting the President on matters of national importance. G-d D-MN it!" -Anonymous

J. George: Why do you wear that stupid bunny suit?
Bunny: Why do you wear that stupid man suit? -133t

We invite you to vote for the winner after the jump. Poll closes at midnight tomorrow.

[FN1] There were many funny comments, but we exercised a bias in favor of those with a legal connection.

Earlier: ATL Caption Contest: Mr. Easter Bunny, White House Counsel Fred Fielding
The rabbit behind the man: White House counsel Fred Fielding [Washington Post]

Here's a photo of President Bush and his White House Counsel -- Fred Fielding, former senior partner at Wiley Rein (fka Wiley Rein & Fielding), dressed up as the Easter Bunny -- at the White House Easter Egg Roll earlier this week:

Quips our tipster: "One can only hope Fielding isn't splitting hares. Or giving hare-brained advice."

Okay, you're groaning. Think you can do better? Then enter the ATL caption contest. Same rules as before:

We welcome your suggested alternative captions, in the comments. Assuming sufficient response, we'll take our favorites, incorporate them into a poll, and hold a caption contest.

We doubt we'll receive as many submissions as we did for our last caption contest. But we're going to limit the entries this time: we're closing the comments if and when we hit the 100-comment mark. So if you'd like to enter the contest, don't delay. Thanks.

Update (2 PM): Okay, we'll let it get up to 200 comments. We especially appreciate suggested captions that are in some way law-related. What makes this picture relevant to ATL is the fact that the man in the bunny suit is President Bush's chief lawyer (and a former name partner of a leading D.C. law firm).

If we just wanted to post a random, funny photo of the president with the Easter bunny, we would have used this one.

Update (4:50 PM): You seem to be having a lot of fun with this, so we will keep the comments open indefinitely. But in picking the finalists, we will focus on comments that have a connection to the legal profession (as opposed to comments that are more politically oriented or simply random).

Update (3/31/08): Thanks for all the excellent entries. The comments section is now closed.

The rabbit behind the man: White House counsel Fred Fielding [Washington Post]
Bush Hugging Bunny [Wonkette]

We're pleased to announce the winner of our recent caption contest:

Justin: "Ah, Steve, you won't believe it! You know how it was white shirt, blue tie day at the office? Well I wore a blue tie AND a blue shirt...I mean we laughed for like, hours. Seriously Steve, hours."

Alex: "F**k off, my name's Alex."

The vote wasn't very close. The winning entry had 30 percent of the vote; the runner-up was ten percentage points behind. We could have kept the polls open for longer, a la the Ohio primary, but we doubt it would have made a difference.

Thanks to everyone who submitted captions and everyone who voted. If you see a photo of lawyers that you think might be good fodder for a future caption contest, please send it our way, by email.

Slide show: Blackout, havoc in South Florida [Miami Herald]

Earlier: ATL Caption Contest: The South Florida Blackout (Final Round)

Some of you may be tired of our little Miami blackout caption contest. But we agree with the commenters who suggested that a contest with 20 entries was unwieldy. We'd like to get it right this time.

Here's what we've done. We've taken the top five vote getters -- there was a clear drop-off after #5, with all other choices polling under 10 percent -- and pitted them against each other in a final round.

If you feel like it, you can review the contenders, and vote for your favorite, after the jump.

We have not forgotten last week's promise of an ATL caption contest. To refresh your recollection, here's the photo:

Here's the actual caption:

Lawyers, from the left, Alan Lash, Justin Fienberg, and Alex Mendez, not lawyer, working on a project at Greenberg Traurig, on 27th floor of 1221 Brickell, went to lunch and found the building out of power.

Check out the suggested alternative captions, and vote for your favorite, after the jump.

Here's a photo of lawyers affected by the south Florida blackout, from the Miami Herald:

Here's the actual caption:

Lawyers, from the left, Alan Lash, Justin Fienberg, and Alex Mendez, not lawyer, working on a project at Greenberg Traurig, on 27th floor of 1221 Brickell, went to lunch and found the building out of power.

ATL readers, we think you can do better. We welcome your suggested alternative captions, in the comments. Assuming sufficient response, we'll take our favorites, incorporate them into a poll, and hold a caption contest. Thanks.

Update (2/29/08, 10 AM): New entries for the caption contest are no longer being accepted. We are reviewing the current submissions and will post a poll next week. Thanks.

Update (3/3/08): You can vote on the nominees over here.

* NFL Union president prepared for strike. [ESPN]

* Microsoft offers to acquire Yahoo for $44.6 billion to compete with Google. [MSNBC]

* Times reporter subpoenaed over "State of War" source. [New York Times]

* French President and supermodel girlfriend sue over pictures. [Washington Post via WSJ Law Blog]

* HLS grad Obama and YLS grad Clinton make nice, sort of, during debate. [MSNBC]

* SCOTUS stays Alabama execution, maintaining de facto moratorium on death penalty. [CNN]

* Roy Tolles and Arthur Kramer, of Munger Tolles and Kramer Levin, respectively, RIP. [WSJ Law Blog]

The men pictured above are not gay lov-ahs. But their relationship may be too close for comfort. On the left: Chief Justice Elliott E. Maynard, of West Virginia, and today's Judge of the Day. On the right: Don L. Blankenship, chief executive of Massey Energy. The setting: exotic Monaco.

From a piece by Adam Liptak in today's New York Times:

A justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court and a powerful coal-company executive met in Monte Carlo in the summer of 2006, sharing several meals even as the executive’s companies were appealing a $50 million jury verdict against them to the court.

A little more than a year later, the justice, Elliott E. Maynard, voted with the majority in a 3-to-2 decision in favor of the coal companies.

Insert West Virginia joke here.

Justice Maynard, who is now West Virginia’s chief justice, and Don L. Blankenship, the chief executive of Massey Energy, were “vacationing together,” according to a motion seeking Justice Maynard’s disqualification, which was filed on Monday.

A spokesman for Massey Energy disputed that characterization.

“Both Blankenship and Justice Maynard were separately vacationing in the Monte Carlo area,” said the spokesman, Jeff Gillenwater. “They were not vacationing together. They did meet occasionally for meals — lunches and dinners.”

And maybe on other occasions, too?

The motion included photographs showing the men together. The time stamps on the photographs, apparently taken by someone who had joined the men during their time together, indicated that they met on July 3, 4 and 5, 2006....

Ten of the photographs attached to the motion were filed under seal. They showed, the motion said, “two females apparently traveling with them as companions.” The men are single.

Motion Ties W. Virginia Justice to Coal Executive [New York Times]

Our latest legal celebrity sighting: Justice Antonin Scalia, spotted at Georgetown University Law Center. He is believed to have been at GULC to speak to a con law class.

Of the current justices on the Supreme Court, Justice Scalia clearly inspires the greatest amount of fanatical devotion. How many other justices have their own fansite?

(Okay, Justice Thomas has one too. And with his new, bestselling memoir, My Grandfather's Son, he's definitely building a fan base. But we still think that Justice Scalia has the most groupies of any member of the SCOTUS.)

And how many other justices are asked to sign students' laptop computers? This student, who had his laptop autographed by AS, was proudly displaying his computer to his classmates, saying that he felt Scalia had "blessed" his laptop for the upcoming exams.

With such a large and devoted following, we have a feeling that Justice Scalia's forthcoming book -- Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges, a guide to persuasive legal writing and oral advocacy, which he's writing together with legendary legal writing teacher Bryan Garner -- will sell pretty well too.

Scalia to Join Supreme Court Book Club [Legal Times]

A photo op with two of the nation's most distinguished jurists: Ninth Circuit Judges Stephen Reinhardt and Alex Kozinski!

(Judge Reinhardt seemed a bit skittish about the taking of this picture, but Judge Kozinski's enthuasism was infectious. Or maybe it was just hard for Judge Reinhardt to say no to the incoming Chief Judge of the court.)

At the Federalist Society festivities: Ryan Bounds, Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy; Deputy Associate Attorney General John O'Quinn; and Susanna Dokupil, Assistant Solicitor General for the Office of the Attorney General of Texas.

Last week, the Federalist Society celebrated its 25th anniversary, with a black-tie gala at Union Station. The official ATL report, by Laurie Lin, is available here; the account of the Washington Post appears here (via the WSJ Law Blog).

Since we were there also, we figured we might as well add our two cents. Some random tidbits about the evening, along with a few more photos, after the jump.

We now yield the floor to Laurie Lin. Who better to report on one of the year's biggest social events than the writer of Legal Eagle Wedding Watch? Over to you, Laurie.

****************
Ambition and Old Spice wafted sweetly through the air last night at the Federalist Society's 25th Anniversary Gala at Union Station -- a kind of right-wing Golden Globes. Nearly two thousand G-ed up conservative lawyers packed the main hall to hear President George W. Bush blast the Senate on judicial confirmations:

"Today, good men and women nominated to the federal bench are finding that inside the Beltway, too many interpret 'advise and consent' to mean 'search and destroy,'" Bush said.

Tickets to the black-tie affair were $250 -- actually $249, because there was a new $1 Madison coin at every place setting -- but that was a small price to pay to breathe the same oxygen as Ted Olson, Antonin Scalia, and Laura Ingraham.

More on the conservative legal fabulosity -- including pictures of the people who didn't hide when they saw us coming -- after the jump.

While we anxiously await word of new associate bonus announcements, it is in the meantime a quite slow news day. For those of you tired of talking about the New York Bar Exam Results, here is a brief diversion in the form of full-length attorney bio photos from the firm Fox Rothschild. Our tipster quips:

It's back-to-school-photo time for law firms. What's up with this Fox Rothschild's cruel and unusual full-body photos?

We had a look at a few of the sampling of photos provided by the tipster and we totally get what he's saying (Samantha Evans, pictured at right, is an exception). Interesting experiment, but stick with the head shots next time guys, alright? You don't want opposing attorneys sizing you up that much.

Any other firms doing wacky things with attorney photos? Maybe some more artsy-fartsy stuff, a la Gibson Dunn's Peekaboo? Send us anything strange that you come across.

Links to a few more examples of the full length photos are after the jump.

Samantha Evans attorney bio [Fox Rothschild]
Playing "Peekaboo" with Debra Wong Yang of Gibson Dunn

"There she is... Miss S&C Bonsai!"

Just to close the loop on last week's contest, the bonsai tree pictured at right is the winner of our Sullivan & Cromwell bonsai beauty pageant. Congratulations, Bonsai #2!

Of course, as with any matter of taste, there was disagreement. Some viewed Bonsai Two as tawdry:

Bonsai Contestant 2 is a pageant patty: the garish lighting, the big contestant badge, the pose. Bonsai Contestant 6 is fresh, unscripted, and beautiful, and therefore gets my vote.

But in the end, more voters agreed with these views:

"The lighting for Number two makes it classy, and yet ever so slightly risque. It gets my vote hands down."

"The garish lighting makes it. So stark, so ironic. Number two (the existential bonsai) has it all the way."

Wait a sec -- is the lighting scheme "classy," or "garish"? Eh, who knows! All we know is that you like it, you really like it.

For anyone who cares, the full tally appears after the jump.

Earlier: An S&C Bonsai Beauty Pageant!

After the jump, you'll see six photographs of Sullivan & Cromwell bonsai trees. Some of these pics have been previously featured in these pages, and some are new. Based on subtle differences between the plants, it appears that S&C may be using different florists around the country to disseminate these gifts to its offerees.

We will now hold a bonsai beauty contest, allowing you to vote for your favorite example of S&C bonsai porn. The differences in the photos are interesting. Just like real pornography, some bonsai porn aims to titillate, some aspires to art, and some just looks fuzzy and low-budget.

Check out the bonsai pics, and cast your vote, after the jump.