Antonin Scalia
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 05.19.23
* Neil Gorsuch brands COVID-19 health edicts possibly “the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country.” While some might remind him about slavery and segregation, I’m not sure we should be giving him any ideas. [USA Today]
* Mike McKool leaves McKool Smith. Remember Garfield Minus Garfield? It’s like that. [Reuters]
* Judge rejects candy company’s motion to dismiss in case of man trapped inside hardened chocolate for hours. Willy Wonka declined comment. [Legal Intelligencer]
* Nancy Abudu confirmed to the Eleventh Circuit and all it took was a staggering 495 days or so. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
* Justice Stevens working papers released. One gem involves Scalia chiding dissenters for worrying about damaging the Court’s legitimacy. That tracks. [ABA Journal]
* As part of broader efforts to diversify the ranks of special masters, some argue for rethinking the language of “master” itself. [Law.com]
* Kari Lake’s election challenge going about as well as her election did. [Courthouse News Service]
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Courts
Federal Judge Worries Steady Rise In Virulent, Insulting Opinions Might Make Judiciary Look Bad
Shockingly, decades of lionizing a judicial writing style based on calling your colleagues stupid creates young judges who call their colleagues stupid. - Sponsored
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Law Schools
Law Professor Likens Justice Scalia To KKK Just Because He Was Cool With Killing Innocent Black People
Basically... is doing a lot of work for everyone in this story.
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 04.14.22
>* The DOJ helping to keep lower-wage conspiracies at bay? Yeah, that sounds good. [NYT]
* Kentucky just attacked Roe in a big way. [Reuters]
* Colorado makes cycling a little safer by allowing bikers to make rolling stops. They were probably doing that before the law but progress is progress. [9 News]
* Remember the suit about Elon not announcing his acquisition of Twitter shares earlier? Well, he wants it all now. [BBC]
* Looks like not everyone is the biggest fan of Scalia’s writing style. [Reddit]
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Courts
On Earth 2
On Earth 2, President Reagan just announced the nomination of Antonin Scalia for SCOTUS. Will conservatives think it is 'identity politics'? -
Courts
Justice Scalia: How Dare You Not Accept My Children To Your School
You see, man, this is why we need recusal rules. -
Law Schools
Congressman Wants George Mason Law To Change Its Name AGAIN -- This Time To Honor Ruth Bader Ginsburg
After her passing, the Notorious RBG could help shine a new light on the law school. - Sponsored
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Biglaw
Kids (Of Supreme Court Justices) Say The Darnedest Things
Eugene Scalia has a curious theory about who's to blame for the dearth of Biglaw conservatives. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 11.19.18
* “You were very busy. Wow. Wow. I always knew I liked him.” President Trump posthumously awarded the Medal of Freedom to the Justice Antonin Scalia on Friday and managed to crack a joke about the late justice’s sex life when referring to his wife and their nine children. Wow. [USA Today]
* Speaking about birth control… President Trump has proposed a new way for employers to get around the Affordable Care Act’s birth control mandate by creating a Title X loophole that would “hijack” programs that already have limited funding and send women to low-income family planning clinics to get their contraceptives. [New York Times]
* Will Biglaw be the next thing that millennials kill? Not only has Weil Gotshal shortened its partner track in order to keep its youthful talent from walking out the door, but the firm that once made a big joke out of work/life balance is now allowing associates to work from home once a week. [American Lawyer]
* The California bar exam results are out, and they’re not anything to write home about — except if you enjoy schadenfreude, that is. Nearly six in 10 failed the test, and the overall pass rate is historically horrible. More on this later. [The Recorder]
* After having already been rejected by the ABA’s House of Delegates, the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has sent its proposed 75 percent bar-passage rate within two years of graduation accreditation standard right back for another vote. Will it be approved this time around? We shall see. [ABA Journal]
* Joel Sanders, the ex-CFO of failed firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, was jailed on Thursday for failing to pay a $1 million fine associated with his fraud conviction, but he was out by the wee hours of the morning on Friday thanks to his new firm, Greenspoon Marder, which paid the entire sum on his behalf. [American Lawyer]
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Law Schools
Say Hello To This Gigantic, Lifelike Sculpture Of Justice Antonin Scalia
He'll be greeting law students at George Mason for decades to come. -
Courts
Nino And Me: An Interview With Bryan A. Garner
Nino and Me will appeal to readers who appreciate good writing on multiple levels. -
Supreme Court
Neil Gorsuch Is A Cheap Knock-Off
Neil Gorsuch wants to be just like Antonin Scalia. He's not.
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Supreme Court
Justice Gorsuch: As Nasty As Justice Scalia Without The Charm
If you listen closely, you can hear Justice Scalia on the Court from beyond the grave. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 03.16.18
* Vanessa Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, filed for an uncontested divorce against Donald Trump Jr. Apparently Jr.’s controversial tweets destroyed their marriage. At least they’re not destroying a country. [Page Six]
* Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was forced to plead with senior officials at the Justice Department not to fire him just days before his expected retirement. This man has a pension, and he wants to keep it, even if he has to beg. Let’s see if he was able to change anyone’s mind. Cross your fingers… [Washington Post]
* The late Justice Antonin Scalia’s judicial legacy is being quietly erased each time members of the Supreme Court examine legislative history. The legal legend absolutely, positively hated using legislative history to interpret laws, and it’s been happening more frequently since his death. [New York Times]
* Never could’ve seen this coming: Mossack Fonseca, the law firm behind the Panama Papers, will be closing by the end of the month. “The reputational deterioration, the media campaign, the financial siege, and the irregular actions of some Panamanian authorities have caused irreparable damage” to the firm. [American Lawyer]
* If you haven’t been following @LadyLawyerDiary on Twitter, you should start. It’s a community for women lawyers to talk about exactly what’s going on behind closed doors in the legal profession by “outing stupid sexist stuff” and celebrating women’s successes. It’s a great place to find support, so join up soon. [Big Law Business]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 02.14.18
* “Plaintiffs’ claim to being the only ones in the world who can refer to players playing and haters hating is frivolous.” Taylor Swift has successfully shaken off an absurd copyright infringement lawsuit thanks to her lawyer’s player-hating. [THR, Esq. / Hollywood Reporter]
* President Trump has nominated 87 judges thus far, and of those nominees, 80 are white, five are Asian-American, one is Hispanic, and one is African-American. Trump’s nominees are 92 percent white, which “turns the clock back on years of work and effort that went into promoting judicial diversity.” [USA Today]
* Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! What better way for a law firm to celebrate the special occasion than to offer a free divorce? We may have more on this later. [UPI]
* Yesterday was the second anniversary of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, and [t]hanks to [his] disruption, the Supreme Court may never be the same.” Admirers, critics, and clerks share their memories of the man, the myth, the legend. [National Law Journal]
* Elizabeth Rose, a former employee of Vice Media, has filed a proposed class-action suit against the company, alleging that women were “systemically and intentionally” paid less than their male counterparts in violation of equal pay laws in New York and California, as well as in violation of the Equal Pay Act. [Los Angeles Times]
* Judge Sandra Townes, the first African-American woman to be appointed to the Eastern District of New York, has died of cancer at 73. RIP. [New York Law Journal]
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Courts
Scalia Wasn't Afraid To Criticize His Fellow Justices, Even When Advised Not To
That advice was just a bunch of argle-bargle. -
Courts, Law Schools
The Most Popular Supreme Court Justices -- In Law School Casebooks
Yes, the late Justice Scalia is up there -- but he has some surprising company. -
Supreme Court
Clarence Thomas Speaks In Rare Media Interview
Justice Thomas really enjoys Ayn Rand because of course he does. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 10.09.17
Ed. note: In honor of Columbus Day (and Canadian Thanksgiving), Above the Law will be on a reduced publication schedule. We’ll be back in full force tomorrow.
* Justice Neil Gorsuch’s arrival as a member of the Supreme Court hasn’t been the most graceful, and word on the street is that some of his new colleagues on the bench may bear some ill will towards him. A rift might even be developing between Gorsuch and Chief Justice Roberts. [CNN]
* Because Gorsuch is the Supreme Court’s newest justice, he has to share his office with Leroy. He’s being hazed by Scalia from beyond the grave. [Associated Press]
* As part of its new legal strategy in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian election interference investigation, the Trump administration has decided to — gasp! — be cooperative. Trump’s lawyers think that maybe if they play nice, Mueller will publicly clear the president’s name a little more quickly, or at all. [New York Times]
* In other news, President Trump took to Twitter this weekend to invoke the Federal Communications Commission’s equal time rules because he’s sick and tired of “unfunny” late-night TV hosts making fun of him without an opportunity to respond in kind. Perhaps you ought to stick with Twitter, Mr. President. [Fox News]
* Much like what happened with Traci Ribeiro’s case against Sedgwick, Winston & Strawn is trying to push Constance Ramos, a partner who left the firm amid allegations of gender bias and discrimination, into arbitration. [Am Law Daily]
* Lisa Bloom has been criticized left and right for taking on Harvey Weinstein as a client. Even her own mother, Gloria Allred, objected. Because mother knows best, Bloom resigned as counsel. Lanny Davis has also left the producer’s legal team. Down two lawyers, Weinstein was fired from his own company. [New York Times]
* A Michigan judge recently awarded joint legal custody and parenting time to a rape victim’s attacker. The child involved in this case is an 8-year-old boy, and the fellow who sexually assaulted his mother also happens to be a convicted sex offender. According to the victim’s attorney, “[t]his is insane”; she’s not wrong. [Detroit News]