Abortion

What does it say that the state with the strictest abortion law also institutes one of the most cruel, constitutionally violating mass incarceration systems and is among the lowest in education levels?

Speaking of the systematic destruction of women's rights

The Supreme Court sent a clear signal on abortion. Alabama completely missed that signal.

* Alabama’s new abortion law takes aim at a Supreme Court that just all but junked stare decisis. How’s that “no drama” Court looking, Mr. Chief Justice? [NPR]

* Law firms are in the midst of a decent financial run, so obviously they’ve stopped innovating because self-relection is for losers. [American Lawyer]

* John Dowd has registered as a lobbyist eschewing the customary diplomatic game of pretending not to be a lobbyist for a couple years after leaving the service of the president. [National Law Journal]

* Trump pardoned Conrad Black, a fraudster who has taken to calling the Mueller probe a sham… which appears to be a criminal’s ticket to exoneration these days. [Law360]

* SEC enforcement actions are reaching a fever pitch and they’re making sure they stay out of court. [Corporate Counsel]

* “I considered crashing my car just to take a week off….” [Legal Cheek]

* Donald Trump Jr. has reached an agreement for “limited” testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, where he’ll discuss no more than a handful of topics for no longer than two-to-four hours. But will he plead the Fifth? [New York Times]

* Just when you thought Georgia’s fetal heartbeat law was too extreme, Alabama shows up with a near total abortion ban like it’s some race to see which state can get Roe v. Wade overturned the quickest at the Supreme Court. [NBC News]

* Can President Trump actually can block his accountants from complying with a congressional subpoena? Based on the way Judge Amit Mehta skeptically grilled Trump’s lawyer during yesterday’s hearing, we’re not too sure things will go the president’s way. [National Law Journal]

* Claire Murray, a former partner at Kirkland & Ellis, has been appointed by AG Bill Barr as principal deputy associate AG, the Justice Department’s third in command. The Biglaw firm seems to be taking over Main Justice. Congratulations! [Big Law Business]

* In case you missed it, this global law firm is reportedly facing a “cash flow crunch” that’s causing it to struggle to pay its partners and think about cutting ties with “substantially underperforming partners.” [American Lawyer]

* Professor Ron Sullivan of Harvard Law, the soon-to-be former faculty dean of an undergraduate house at Harvard, has stepped down as a member of Harvey Weinstein’s criminal defense team, claiming that the case will “conflict with his teaching responsibilities.” [CNN]

* Tired of remaining silent, Jones Day is now defending itself against a $200 million gender bias class-action lawsuit, saying that the firm is “proud of its success in promoting a diverse group of outstanding lawyers.” [Law.com]

* Meanwhile, MoFo is seeking sanctions against the attorneys at Sanford Heisler Sharp who filed the “mommy track” lawsuit against the firm, as well as against one of the anonymous plaintiffs, alleging that the claims made were “knowingly baseless.” [American Lawyer]

* As it turns out, during his testimony yesterday before the House Financial Services Committee, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin acknowledged that his legal department had already been in touch with the White House Counsel’s Office over the release of President Trump’s tax returns — an exchange that’s “deeply troubling and certainly violates the spirit of the law” meant to prevent such communications. [Washington Post]

* In case you missed it, Michael Cohen is no longer as useful to the House Intelligence Committee as he once thought. Chairman Adam Schiff seems to have no interest in helping Cohen to delay his upcoming prison sentence. [CNN]

* Senator Lindsey Graham has once again again introduced the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks. He’s proposed this bill since 2013 and it gets slapped down each time, but this time… things could change. [CBS News]

* Two Wisconsin lawyers claim that being required to pay bar dues to practice in the state is unconstitutional because it requires them to participate in the state bar’s advocacy. You can look forward to more lawsuits like this thanks to the Janus ruling. [Big Law Business]

Why is prohibition the main focus of the pro-life movement when it often causes more harm than good and other, better methods exist to achieve their goals?

News outlets have reported that this is the first estate ever opened for an unborn aborted embryo.

* Irina Manta, a recent addition to the roster of Volokh Conspirators, assesses some of the attacks leveled against D.C. Circuit nominee Neomi Rao. [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

* In other nomination news, Thomas Jipping explains why conservatives should temper their excitement over those 44 judicial nominees who just got reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. [Bench Memos / National Review]

* Michael Dorf’s take on Chief Justice John Roberts joining the four liberals on the Supreme Court to put the Louisiana abortion law on hold: the right to an abortion is “not in quite as much immediate danger as one might have thought. And that’s not nothing.” [Take Care]

* Lawyer to the stars Alex Spiro, partner at Quinn Emanuel, talks about how he’s approaching the representation of his latest celebrity client, rapper 21 Savage. [Complex]

* On the occasion of his 15th blogiversary (congratulations!), Rick Garnett reflects on the past and future of blogging. [Mirror of Justice via PrawfsBlawg]

* Jean O’Grady chats with Pablo Arredondo of Casetext about the platform’s newest features. [Dewey B Strategic]

* And in other legal technology news, congrats to legal AI innovator Luminance on securing another $10 million in funding (reflecting a total valuation for the company of $100 million). [Artificial Lawyer]

* Last Thursday, Alabama executed Domineque Hakim Marcelle Ray and did not allow his imam to be present (even though Christian inmates can have the prison chaplain present) — a manifest injustice, according to Stephen Cooper. [Alabama Political Reporter]

* In the latest installment of his ongoing series offering advice to trial lawyers, David Berg sets forth an essential rule of cross-examination. [YouTube]

* Earlier this week, Justice Samuel Alito blocked a Louisiana abortion law, and now a divided Supreme Court has done the same, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining with the Court’s liberals to protect women’s right to choose without undue burdens. Justice Brett Kavanaugh penned the dissent — so much for “precedent on precedent.” [USA Today]

* After some back and forth over the threat of a subpoena, Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker has agreed to testify publicly on the Mueller probe before the House Judiciary Committee bright and early tomorrow morning. [Washington Post]

* “There’s no doubt that the talent wars in tax have definitely heated up.” As it turns out, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is really living up to its name in that it’s creating a lot of new jobs — for tax lawyers and accountants, that is. [Wall Street Journal]

* “I always thought of him as a good lawyer. I’m not so sure I think the same thing about him today.” Now that he’s serving as Trump’s counsel, New York lawyers simply “don’t understand” who the new and improved(?) Rudy Giuliani is. [Law.com]

* Students at Harvard Law really want the school to continue its support of a pilot federal clerk hiring program that prevents judges from offering clerkships until applicants have completed their second year of school. [Harvard Crimson]

* Lawyers representing Nick Sandmann, the Covington Catholic student who went viral after his run-in with a Native American elder during a D.C. protest, have sent an evidence-preservation letter to CNN prior to suing for defamation. [Daily Report]

* During an interview on “Face the Nation,” President Donald Trump was wishy-washy as to whether he’d be comfortable with special counsel Robert Mueller’s full report being released to the public, saying, “I don’t know. It depends. I have no idea what it’s going to say.” He was really comfortable saying it was time to “get rid” of the probe, though. [New York Times]

* Speaking of the special counsel’s Russia inquiry, a former federal prosecutor predicts that Mueller will indict Donald Trump Jr. to get leverage over his father. After all, “[w]e’ve seen Mueller use people’s kids to get to folks in the past.” Will his son’s actions be President Trump’s undoing? [Newsweek]

* Here’s a headline we bet you thought you’d never see: “Justice Alito Temporarily Blocks a Louisiana Abortion Law.” The sad part here is that this case may place a burden women’s abortion rights if the full Court hears it. [New York Times]

* “I can’t do this for the rest of my life. I can’t sit in a room and look at documents. I won’t get into what that is, but it’s deadly. Deadly. Document production.” Doc review might have been “deadly” in Michelle Obama’s day, but has it improved? [American Lawyer]

* Remember Bruce Reilly, the convicted murderer who went on to become a student at Tulane Law? He’s since graduated, and while he’d like to take the bar exam to practice as a lawyer, he doesn’t think he’ll be able to overcome his character and fitness issues. [New York Times]

* Earth’s finest lawsuit? The #FijiWaterGirl (aka Kelleth Cuthberg née Kelly Steinbach), the model who inadvertently photobombed celebrities on the red carpet during the Golden Globes, has filed suit against Fiji Water for allegedly using her likeness to promote its brand without her permission. [CBS News]

* With Ben Brafman off the case, Harvey Weinstein is going with the Casey Anthony/Aaron Hernandez/Kobe Bryant defense team. For a New York courtroom. [New York Law Journal]

* And some of these new Weinstein lawyers previously represented Rose McGowan on an unrelated matter. She is… less than pleased with this development. [Yahoo]

* Reed Smith facing $500 million malpractice claim from Zombie Bear Sterns. [American Lawyer]

* Deutsche Bank neck deep in global money-laundering inquiry. At least there’s no way this could ensnare any major political figures. [Law360]

* Federal judge strikes down Iowa’s “we’re banning abortion but not calling it that” law. [Jurist]

* What will happen to the legal profession during the next recession? Well, it could well be quite the reckoning. [Forbes]

* A deep dive into the crackdown on law schools that can’t get graduates past the bar exam hurdle. [AZ Central]

Although both sides utilize the principle of individual liberty on narrow issues, embracing it generally remains difficult.

Enjoy these kind of rational court decisions while they last.

* Could this be the year that law firms break out of their cycle of tepid growth? [American Lawyer]

* In ordinary times, Roy Moore’s laughable lawsuit against Sacha Baron Cohen would be bigger news. We do not live in ordinary times. [Law360]

* One would have thought “independence” would be “having a lifetime job with no oversight and an impossibly onerous removal process.” But, “independence” really means “only answering hypotheticals that don’t raise potentially serious questions about a guy’s fig leaf of a judicial philosophy.” This is why it’s so important to be a textualist! [Courthouse News Service]

* It makes for a nice, vapid buzzword, but there actually is an “I” in “Team of Nine.” [National Law Journal]

* A federal judge has banned the Texas “bury your zygote” law. Don’t worry Texas, your boy Brett’s will make sure you don’t have to worry about this ever again. [NPR]

* Shocking no one, lawyers think Brexit was a bad idea. [Legalweek]

* Oh, and we’re going to “open up libel laws” now. [CBS]

* Trump blamed Jeff Sessions for not covering up suspected criminal activity by Republican legislators. We’re running out of taboos to break here. [CNN]

* Brett Kavanaugh will have that abortion right eliminated at lightning speed. [National Law Journal]

* But the Senators will have access to 42000 pages of documents released a couple hours before the hearings. It’s a move that wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny in bumbledick local court but for reshaping the Supreme Court for two to three decades it’s just fine. [Washington Post via OregonLive]

* We may be seeing serious cracks in the wall against outside law firm ownership. And when that happens… send in the accounting firms. [American Lawyer]

* Because there’s no end to the Trump legal news, Giuliani is now telling people that the White House will block Mueller’s final report from ever going public, which is absolutely what innocent people say. [The Hill]

* After the first full weekend of college football, is there really a reason to keep Kansas on the field? [TaxProf Blog]

* The first in a series on law firm office moves. [Law360]

* The slogan “Ask Sherwin-Williams” my bite them in the ass as lawyers lay out the company’s old ads bragging about its lead paint. [Law and More]

This essay compares abortion to the Holocaust -- and concludes freedom of choice is worse.

* Which lawyers write the best Supreme Court amicus briefs? Adam Feldman uses Ross Guberman’s BriefCatch tool to find out. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* In advance of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s SCOTUS confirmation hearings, Carrie Severino has this handy roundup of eight important Kavanaugh opinions. [Bench Memos / National Review]

* Speaking of which, Professor Steve Vladeck raises some good possible questions for the nominee about the interaction between Morrison v. Olson and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. [Lawfare]

* I don’t think Roe is getting overruled — but if it were to be overturned, what would happen to state abortion prohibitions that have not been officially repealed? [Josh Blackman]

* On that same subject, Professor Michael Dorf wonders: could Justice Thomas save abortion rights? [Take Care]

* Wherein Jonathan Adler and James Ho (now Judge James Ho) agree with Elie Mystal on the wrongness of that recent Washington Post op-ed about birthright citizenship. [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

* Is your legal department a “goat rodeo”? You’re not alone, according to Casey Flaherty. [3 Geeks and a Law Blog]

* What will happen if SCOTUS were to overturn Roe v. Wade? For one, abortion wouldn’t automatically become illegal across America — that would be up to each individual state. In fact, some states have “trigger laws” ready to go to ban abortion if Roe is ever overturned. Hopefully this won’t happen any time soon, or ever. [BuzzFeed]

* The University of Illinois at Chicago is moving forward with its planned merger with John Marshall Law School to to establish the UI Chicago John Marshall College of Law. Dean Vikram Amar of Illinois Law wants to make very sure that everyone knows this is “not a joint enterprise in any way.” [News-Gazette; Chicago Tribune]

* Bless their hearts, but it looks like Winstead won’t be taking Troutman Sanders to the rodeo after all. According to inside sources, this Texas-sized merger was simply not meant to be due to billing rates and preferred clientele. [Texas Lawyer]

* All rise for new royalty at Dechert, for Sheila L. Birnbaum, the “Queen of Torts” is here! Her Majesty left Quinn Emanuel and brought 28 other lawyers and staff with her to form a product liability and mass torts team at the firm. [Big Law Business]

* The White House has named Steven Dillingham as its nominee to direct the U.S. Census Bureau. In case you weren’t aware, Dillingham has a law degree from the University of South Carolina. No word yet on whether he’s still practicing. [NPR]

* After the D.C. Circuit, which circuit has produced the most justices who have joined the Supreme Court after 1900? The answer might surprise you. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Here are thoughts on the SCOTUS shortlisters from my colleague Joe Patrice — who explains why it’s unlikely we’ll get another Souter. [The Takeaway / WNYC]

* Here are where the leading Court candidates stand on issues of admin law, courtesy of Chris Walker and company. [Notice & Comment / Yale Journal on Regulation]

* And here’s a response to my argument that liberals shouldn’t panic about SCOTUS, from San Francisco litigator Gordon Renneisen. [Law360]

* Leah Litman believes that the new justice spells trouble for Roe — but the specific reasoning for undermining Roe could take different forms. [Take Care]

* Josh Blackman explains why court packing would be neither feasible nor wise. [National Review]

* Veronica Root uses law clerk hiring as a jumping-off point to explain why diversity and compliance are deeply intertwined. [PrawfsBlawg]

* “Mysterious men and women in wizard-like robes make decisions in private that profoundly shape our lives.” Are we talking about SCOTUS, or… The Incredibles? [Gizmodo]