9th Circuit

Sanity restored when Ninth Circuit reverses itself.

Dear SCOTUS, You Had Me At "Hovercraft-Owning Moose Hunter."

A federal judge uses a cartoon character's famous exclamatory catchphrase to announce the court's unanimous ruling.

* Daily lawyer tips is just killing it. The latest is on the perils of actually becoming a senior associate. [Daily Lawyer Tips]

* Lawyers can’t be getting dumber if no one (hyperbole alert) is passing the bar exam. [Bloomberg BNA]

* A kickstarter our readers are sure to love: a new board game that combines Would You Rather?, Poker, and Rock, Paper, Scissors with arguing. What’s not to love? [Kickstarter]

* Pile-on-the-SEC-week (the securities kind, not the football kind) continues. This time, Judge Berman is taking a crack. [Dealbreaker]

* The civil justice system is riddled with inequities, especially if you happen to be a plaintiff. [Mighty]

* Is a new pro-worker law in the works? [Lawyers, Guns & Money]

* The NFL field that is the subject of lawsuits is getting changed… not that they’re admitting any wrongdoing, natch. [Deadspin]

* The Ninth Circuit? Not a fan of Sheriff Joe. [AZ Central]

The Dancing baby win is huge for internet users circa 2007, but in 2015 it's a whole different fight.

* “We’re going to the Jersey Shore, bitch!” This probably isn’t the kind of marketing that Jackson Lewis had in mind when the firm announced it was going to be opening an office north of Seaside Heights. Associates, you better get ready for some very serious GTB (gym, tan, billable hours). [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* Kim Davis may be back to work at the Rowan County Clerk’s Office in Kentucky, but that doesn’t mean she’s done with her fight to not do her job. She’ll be suing Gov. Steve Beshear for failing to provide her with a religious accommodation. [Talking Points Memo]

* Some progress has been made in the infamous “dancing baby” case thanks to a recent Ninth Circuit decision. As it turns out, “copyright law does not authorize thoughtless censorship of lawful speech.” Prince would’ve wanted it this way. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Public interest problems: When you work in Biglaw, performing a high number of pro bono hours may keep you from “doing the amount or quality of billable that it takes to advance in the firm, because there’s only 24 hours in the day.” [Crain’s Chicago Business]

* Necrophilia is apparently still legal in several of our fine states, but a lawmaker in Massachusetts is trying to get a law on the books that would make sex with the dead illegal. It’s already illegal for Massholes to have sex with animals, so it’s only fair. [Metro]

* Here’s a tip to grab a few minutes of down time at a law firm. [Daily Lawyer Tips]

* 9th Circuit makes a move to save the honey bee. [Earth Justice]

* More July bar results are in, and… they aren’t good — just like Erica Moeser predicted. [Bar Exam Stats]

* A trio of lawsuits suggest that Trump University (basically a bunch of seminars, so one day you can declare bankruptcy just like Donald Trump) is nothing but a scam. Kinda like a certain presidential campaign I know. [The Slot]

* Supreme Court clerk feeder judges: still white and male. [Slate]

* How can you work the trend and be an un-lawyer? [Law and More]

* The Juice is not loose. The Nevada Supreme Court rejected O.J. Simpson’s latest appeal. [CBS News]

* Governor Huckabee explains that Dred Scott is still the law of the land. To recap, Donald Trump thinks he can unilaterally overturn the 14th Amendment while Huckabee just thinks it never happened. Elie will have to explain this whole thing to his old friend when Huckabee gets his show back. [The Hill]

* Jesus wept. Then celebrated his Ninth Circuit victory. [Lowering the Bar]

* Sanctions for foul-mouthed judge. I wonder what she said when she heard that? [Daily Business Review]

* Wanton endangerment charge for a law student who crashed a drone into Kentucky’s football stadium. Take solace kid: you’re not the most embarrassing legal news item out of Kentucky this month. Thanks Kim Davis. [WLKY]

* David explains that more “shakeout” is coming for Biglaw. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

Ed. note: Due to the Labor Day holiday we will be on a reduced publication schedule today, and observing the holiday on Monday. Hope everyone has an enjoyable, restful and long weekend.

* Oh yay! An attorney hits something with his car, doesn’t stop, and uses the “I’m an attorney!” line, complete with F-bombs. And he was drinking, because of course he was. [Legal Profession Blog]

* You shoot for the stars Utah! Utah Law announced a new initiative to have 100 percent bar passage and 100 percent professional employment. [Tax Prof Blog]

* Burn! Not only did the Ninth Circuit overturn Judge Robert Jones’s decision, they reassigned the case. [Election Law Blog]

* A war between Harvard Law professors! Okay, it’s just a war of words, but Cass Sunstein really takes it to former Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren and law prof turned presidential candidate Larry Lessig. [American Thinker]

* Lessons on being a lawyer you can get from watching Peggy Olson. [Careerist]

* Here’s a horrifying fact: “Defendants who can’t make bail, regardless of their crime, are four times more likely to be sentenced to time in prison.” [Pacific Standard]

* This is fun! A 1947 anti-union propaganda comic put out by General Electric. [Lawyers, Guns and Money]

* Food in exchange for legal advice. Seems like a good deal. [Brooklyn Daily Eagle]

* Moving ever closer to the day when a marriage license for a same sex couple is just a matter of paperwork — even in Kentucky. [Huffington Post]

* ABC News chief legal analyst Dan Abrams is suing his neighbors over his lawyerly lair — and one of the defendants is a Biglaw partner at a top firm. Expect more on this later. [New York Post]

* Speaking of Biglaw, a familiar tale of financial performance: gross revenue at Am Law 100 firms grew by 4 percent in the first half of 2015, but driven by rate increases rather than demand growth. [American Lawyer]

* If you want the Supreme Court to hear your case, try to steer your cert petition clear of the “long conference,” known as the place “where petitions go to die.” [New York Times]

* Speaking of SCOTUS, the Court won’t come to the rescue of the Kentucky county clerk who refuses to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples — time to issue those licenses or quit, Kim Davis. [How Appealing]

* But the justices did come to the (temporary) rescue of former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell, allowing him to remain free until SCOTUS acts on his petition for certiorari. [SCOTUSblog via How Appealing]

* Are criticisms of the S.E.C.’s administrative-law procedures correct? Here’s a study from Professor David Zaring. [New York Times]

* The Show-Me State leads when it comes to showing defendants to their deaths: Missouri has displaced Texas as the “epicenter of the American death penalty.” [The Marshall Project]

* Speaking of capital punishment, I predicted that these particular Ninth Circuit judges wouldn’t be too sympathetic to this challenge to the death penalty — and based on yesterday’s oral argument, it seems I was right. [How Appealing]

* Ugh, you throw one stinkin’ party that infringes on the Pokemon copyright and the lawyers shut you down. Buzzkills. [Vice]

* You know what Ryan Phillippe loves to do? Run around without his shirt on and talk about how his Stanford Law girlfriend is awesome. Dontcha love it when a piece of man meat has respect for the T-14? [Daily Mail]

* Are you gambling in Vegas attending the ILTA conference today? Come Hear Legal Bytes play favorites of the legal industry like Old Technology Blues and Lawyers Love Lexis. [Business of Law Blog]

* Just in time for OCI season — what should you do if your Biglaw dreams go pop? [Underdawg Law]

* You’re not alone feeling the Biglaw burnout after a few years, but maybe technology can help? [Bloomberg BNA]

* Greeeeeaaaat… Now employers can deny employees birth control for non-religious reasons. [Think Progress]

* Opening lines to opinions can really set the tone. Take a look at this forceful start from an old Ninth Circuit decision. [Volokh Conspiracy]

* Podcast with the curmudgeon of the legal profession, Mark Herrmann. [Hsu Untied]

John Oliver gets cited in an appellate decision.

Was the "Valley Girl Prosecutor" video funny or very disturbing?

If this doesn't end the argument in favor of cameras in the courtroom, then nothing will.

Whether you agree or disagree with his views, you must admit that Judge Kozinski has a way with words.

After a "liberal" term, progressives continue to lament the ideological bent of the Roberts Court, but have fewer answers when it comes to changing course.

The Ninth Circuit believes that anti-whaling activity is piracy. Might the Supreme Court disagree?

How can we address the threat of overly broad criminal statutes?

This past weekend, the Ninth Circuit held an open house in which it welcomed members of the public to its beautiful courthouse in Pasadena, California.

* Congratulations to Loretta Lynch, who later today should be confirmed as the first African-American woman to serve as attorney general. [CNN]

* And congrats to baseball star Barry Bonds, whose obstruction of justice conviction just got overturned by the Ninth Circuit. [How Appealing]

* Dewey turned DLA Piper partner John Altorelli, alleged former paramour of Russian spy Anna Chapman, is back in the news — JP Morgan Chase accuses him of lying about his assets in his pending personal bankruptcy case. [American Lawyer]

* The many debaters-turned-lawyers out there might enjoy this look at the college debate career of presidential hopeful Ted Cruz. [New York Times]

* A satirical “killing Jews is his jihad” ad can’t be kept out of New York mass transit, per Judge John Koeltl (S.D.N.Y.). [ABA Journal]

* Retired General David Petraeus is expected to plead guilty later today to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling Paula Broadwell classified materials. [Washington Post]

* U.S. Supreme Court justices are getting grumpier, according to interesting research discussed by Paul Barrett. [Bloomberg View via How Appealing]

* With the U.S. Supreme Court about to decide the constitutionality of gay-marriage bans, what’s next for opponents of marriage equality? [New York Times]

* Standing up for “religious freedom” bills, for one thing — which is what Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is doing, telling corporations that plan to “bully[]” his state, “Save your breath.”
[New York Times]