Antonin Scalia

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 06.29.15

* The Dissent World: This is what happens when justices start being real... and stop being polite. Conservative SCOTUS justices weren't interested in playing nice last week in their dissents. Just how much "personal dissension" is there among their ranks? [POLITICO] * "I knew I was a workaholic and law wasn't for me, but the circus is." A law school graduate who only goes by Paz is now working as a world-class juggler. Law school career services officers would really like to know if this is considered a J.D. Advantage position. [Grand Forks Herald] * A new nickname is being bandied about for John Roberts: "Umpire in Chief." During his confirmation hearings, he said judges should be more like baseball officiants, and you could say that last week, all he was doing was calling balls and strikes. [New York Times] * SCOTUS may have issued a landmark ruling on gay marriage, but that doesn't mean the fight is over as far as gay rights are concerned. Protip: Next time you make a historic decision, let lawyers know what level of scrutiny is being applied. [National Law Journal] * Some think what SCOTUS did with gay marriage was "simply putting its imprimatur on a practice that was already legal in more than two-thirds of the states." People wonder whether the highest court will do the same with marijuana legalization. [24/7 Wall St.]

By Staci Zaretsky
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 06.26.15

* Oh, the Onion... what would I do without you? Their take on gay marriage is masterful, as always. [Onion] * Conservatives, troubled with the Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, vow to move to Canada. There's only one teeny, tiny problem with their plan... about a decade in the making. [BuzzFeed] * Of all the arrogant, jiggery-pokery, pure applesauce, Putsch! Find out exactly how Justice Scalia would mock you in this fun insult generator. [Slate] * Some Alabama counties have come up with a crackerjack way to avoid marrying same sex couples. [Vox] * The only way to get to today's historical gay marriage case was to defeat the nomination of Judge Robert Bork, and Reagan aides always suspected this would happen. [Roll Call] * For marriage equality fans with a sweet tooth. [Ben & Jerry's] * Surely you jest! Justice Scalia? Intellectually inconsistent to fit a political agenda? Pshaw. [BloombergView] * A handy guide to today's landmark SCOTUS decision. [Legal IO] * News you can use: what is the legal status of cursing at cops? [The Marshall Project]

By Kathryn Rubino
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 06.25.15

* Some people are very, very happy with today's Obamacare ruling. [Constitutional Accountability Center] * And some people aren't. Ah, Sesame Street conservatism: single words must be sounded out in complete isolation. Forget all those sentences and what not. [Breitbart] * But this is the best quip at Justice Scalia's newly dubbed "SCOTUSCare." [The Faculty Lounge] * Law student cleared of hit man murder of ex-boyfriend. [Legal Cheek] * What the hell is going on in Massachusetts? Bar exam passage rates are in from February: 56.6 percent overall, and only 66.7 percent for first-time takers. That's pretty bad when you consider that last year, those numbers were 80 percent and 87 percent, respectively. [Massachusetts Court System] * It's been a while since we checked in on the weird and wild "Judge Bill Pryor and Gay Porn" kerfuffle. Now there's speculation on the man who brought the pictures to the fore. [Legal Schnauzer] * It's hot out there, man. [What About Clients?]

By Joe Patrice
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 06.17.15

* You cannot make this stuff up. The curious case of Rachel Dolezal, the former leader of the NAACP Spokane, Washington branch who resigned in disgrace after her parents made the revelation that Dolezal was white, gets weirder. The Smoking Gun has unearthed a lawsuit Dolezal filed (then known as Rachel Moore) against Howard University for, inter alia, racial discrimination. Yup, Dolezal claimed she just couldn't make it as a white women.  [The Smoking Gun] * Fresh off of the tragedy of Kalief Browder, the man who was held in Rikers for three years awaiting trial for stealing a backpack before the charges were dismissed, comes the case of Carlos Montero. Montero, arrested as a teenager, has been in Rikers for SEVEN YEARS waiting for his day in court. [New York Post] * I mean, they've only worked together for 21 years and 10 months. Justice Antonin Scalia apologized from the bench yesterday after calling Justice Ginsburg Justice Goldberg. The apology seemed sincere, but Scalia played it cool with a quip about Justice Arthur Goldberg. [Supreme Court Brief] * The Colorado Supreme Court ruled yesterday that an employer can fire an employee for medical marijuana use, legal under state law, since the use is still illegal under federal statutes. [Huffington Post] * If your company finds themselves the victim of trade secret theft, is there an alternative to costly civil litigation? There just might be if you get the police involved. [Corporate Counsel]

By Kathryn Rubino
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 06.15.15

* Hank Greenberg won his lawsuit against the government for illegally seizing insurance giant A.I.G. as part of a bailout. But the court awarded no damages, finding that shareholders weren't harmed by the takeover. So, to translate this, the court basically said to Greenberg, "You were so bad at running your business that a cabal of bureaucrats acting illegally did better for shareholders than you." That's... gotta sting. [New York Times] * Lost in the excitement of today's Baker Botts decision was the Supreme Court declining to save North Carolina's struck-down abortion law that would have required doctors to bend over backwards to dissuade women from getting an abortion. Over the dissent of Justice Scalia, the Court killed the law without giving it a chance. [Jezebel] * If you're going to Richmond, California, make sure you've left your Ultimate Nullifier at home. [Lowering the Bar] * Something finally goes wrong for wealthy people moving into Brooklyn. SPOILER: it's other wealthy people moving into Brooklyn. [Brownstoner] * Justice Ginsburg tells the crowd at the annual ACS Convention that Natalie Portman held up the upcoming RBG biopic, On the Basis of Sex, demanding that the film have a female director. Men's rights activists can take heart that a man will be directing the inevitable porn version. [The Week] * Alan Dershowitz worries that the Zivotofsky decision gives the White House too much power over foreign policy as opposed to some myopic former water commissioner awash in lobbyist money from AIPAC and apocalyptic-minded Evangelicals Congress. [The Blaze] * Do you hate patent trolls? Good. Consider supporting this feature comedy film trolling patent trolls. [Indiegogo] * If you're in D.C. Thursday morning, come hear our own David Lat discuss the future of the Roberts Court with some other people who are nowhere near as important. Like congresspeople and former federal judges and such. [Politico]

By Joe Patrice