American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

  • Non-Sequiturs: 04.19.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 04.19.17

    * An interesting look at the life and career of Gloria Allred — who has litigated groundbreaking civil rights cases as well as TMZ fodder. [Coverage Opinions]

    * Lawyer Jose Baez intends to investigate the death of his client Aaron Hernandez, who was found dead in his prison cell after apparently hanging himself. [Deadspin]

    * Footnote of the day (gavel bang: Raffi Melkonian aka @RMFifth Circuit). [Twitter]

    * Professor Jonathan Adler still has doubts about the Emoluments Clause lawsuit against President Trump (although it’s much stronger now, thanks to some additional plaintiffs). [Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]

    * Professor Glenn Reynolds has some doubts about diversity (although I suspect he strongly supports intellectual diversity). [Instapundit]

    * Professor Ann Althouse has her doubts about… Democrats (even though she has voted for more Democrats than Republicans over the years). [Althouse]

    * And Professor Eugene Volokh has his doubts about the constitutionality of this order. [Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]

    * In honor of national haiku poetry day, here are some verses from Dean Dan Rodriguez of Northwestern Law. [PrawfsBlawg]

    * Congrats to the ACLU of Massachusetts, the national ACLU, the state public defender’s office, and Fick & Marx LLP on a huge and historic win! [ACLU]

  • Morning Docket: 03.14.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 03.14.17

    * Happy Pi Day to all of you who entered this profession to get away from math. [Pi Day]

    * Alabama will decide Chief Justice Roy Moore’s ethics violations case sooner than expected because this guy just won’t go away. [AL.com]

    * Profile of David Cole, the new national legal director at the ACLU. He had very different expectations for this job. [NPR]

    * Burford set to make 91 percent return on bankruptcy investment. No one’s come out of a bankruptcy this good since Donald Trump. [Am Law Daily]

    * Cozen O’Connor is likely getting out of the $900 million RICO suit brought against it and Full Tilt Poker. [Law360]

    * Feds look to let Ammon Bundy’s lawyer off the hook for his comical outburst. [Oregon Live]

    * Can you fly with legal weed? Sure. For now. [Salon]

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  • Morning Docket: 11.16.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 11.16.16

    * Plaintiffs in the Trump University fraud class-action lawsuit are sick and tired of waiting for their claims to be heard. They want the trial to proceed as scheduled, the defendant’s presidential duties be damned, writing, “The court has been more than generous in accommodating defendants’ multiple delay requests, but after 6 1/2 years of waiting, plaintiffs cannot afford any further delays.” [Big Law Business]

    * Poor Merrick Garland: After more than 243 days of waiting for a hearing as President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, he’ll return to his seat as the chief judge of the D.C. Circuit, the second highest court in the land, in January 2017. The man is a true gentleman, an “example of how to act with dignity and class and character.” [CNN]

    * “If president-elect Donald Trump follows through on his campaign promises, people’s rights will be in jeopardy.” Since Donald Trump’s victory in the election, the American Civil Liberties Union has raised a record amount — more than $8.2 million poured in from more than 100,000 donors in the span of less than a week. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Much to LSAC’s chagrin, the LSAT may not be the only admissions testing prerequisite in town for prospective law students anymore. Law schools seem particularly eager to allow would-be students to take the GRE, which is offered throughout the year, as opposed to the LSAT, which is only offered four times a year. [National Law Journal]

    * Michael Fine, the Ohio lawyer who was disbarred for hypnotizing his female clients and sexually assaulting them, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to five counts of kidnapping with sexual motivation and one count of attempted kidnapping. Fine must register as a sex offender. We’ll have more on this later. [Reuters]

  • Morning Docket: 09.23.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 09.23.16

    * Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby has been charged with first-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Terence Crutcher. In the charging documents, prosecutors said she “reacted unreasonably by escalating the situation.” If convicted, she faces between up to life in prison. [AP]

    * Thanks to millennials in the workforce, some Biglaw firms are doing away with corner offices, since those corner offices can be intimidating to young associates. Rainmakers at a few firms were pretty pissed: “Some partners said, ‘We earn this — It’s a right of passage. It’s where we work.'” [Big Law Business]

    * “We should really hold the Department of Justice’s feet to the fire here. Will they pursue individuals and not just the underlings?” Many are hoping that the Department of Justice will use Wells Fargo’s misconduct as its test case for getting tough on corporate executives responsible for corporate crime. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * ACLU attorney Ahilan Arulanantham won a $625K MacArthur “genius grant” for his legal work performed on behalf of immigrants facing deportation, which has set “vital precedents to expand the rights of non-citizens.” He’s the second immigration attorney to win the award in three years. Congratulations on this achievement! [WSJ Law Blog]

    * “If things slow down and I had time, I really want to go to law school.” Despite the fact that she hasn’t even gone to college, Kim Kardashian West wants to follow in her late father’s footsteps and become a lawyer. Which law school do you think would be willing to accept the queen of reality TV? Would she be able to bring Kanye? [Daily Caller]

  • Morning Docket: 07.15.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 07.15.16

    * “No one I know likes law school. It was a bad experience. I wouldn’t wish it on a dog I didn’t like.” Indiana Governor Mike Pence, Donald Trump’s likely vice-presidential running mate, is an attorney whose law license is listed as “inactive in good standing,” and though he had a B average, he apparently hated law school — just like the vast majority of law students. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Faiza Saeed, who on January 1, 2017, will not only become Cravath Swaine & Moore’s first female presiding partner, but the first female to manage any Wall Street firm, will be joining a “sorority” of about 25 women who lead or serve as co-heads of some of the nation’s largest law firms. Congratulations on this historic appointment! [Law.com]

    * Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg may have issued a “mea culpa” with regard to her remarks about presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, but legal scholars say her non-apology “does not unring the bell.” At the very least, she may be forced to recuse if Election 2016 turns into a Bush v. Gore situation. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * The American Civil Liberties Union has pledged to file constitutional challenges to many of Donald Trump’s would-be political policies should be be elected president and try to enact them. Specifically, the ACLU finds Trump’s stances on immigration, American Muslims, torture, and freedom of speech to be problematic. [ABA Journal]

    * The University of Houston Law Center and the Houston College of Law (formerly the South Texas College of Law) will face off in court today to resolve an emergency motion. The original Houston Law seeks to ban the new Houston Law from using its name or logo on merchandise, brochures, and promotional materials. [Houston Chronicle]

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