Benjamin Wittes

The people who brought us Brett Kavanaugh need to atone for their mistakes before they're trusted again.

Benjamin Wittes offers a detailed and regretful assessment of the nomination.

* Ben Wittes on James Comey’s prepared testimony (which he’ll deliver tomorrow): “the most shocking single document compiled about the official conduct of the public duties of any President since the release of the Watergate tapes.” [Lawfare]

* Could the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program be eliminated — retroactively? Thoughts from Professor Gregory Crespi. [SSRN]

* The California Supreme Court appears less than enthused about a ballot measure that would compel the courts to decide death penalty cases more quickly. [How Appealing]

* Behind every great bestseller is… a tiger mother? How Amy Chua mentored J.D. Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy (affiliate link). [The Atlantic]

* Picking up on Shannon Achimalbe’s post from earlier today, here’s additional financial advice for young lawyers. [SoFi]

* Legal technology is a godsend — but what do you do when problems arise? [Reboot Your Law Practice]

* Mark your calendars: one week from today, on June 14 in San Francisco, it’s the Battle of the (Law Firm) Bands! [Family Violence Appellate Project]

* The Village Voice is stepping away from Backpage due to its ties to sex trafficking. “This so unfair! Everyone loves online prostitution!,” said no one ever (okay fine, a lot of people probably say that). [paidContent] * Cybersecurity, drones, and smackdowns, oh my! [Lawfare] * Right now, millions of taxpayer dollars fund legal scholarship. Considering how expensive law review articles seem to be, it’d be nice if law professors could techcite their own material before turning it over to law review peons associate staff members for further review. [PrawfsBlawg] * We actually needed 25 volumes of things you can’t do on a plane? Apparently common sense is a relic these days. [Legal Blog Watch] * Should you go to law school? That’s apparently the question on everyone’s mind, so Professor Deborah Merritt of Ohio State Law and Kyle McEntee of Law School Transparency are here to help you out. [NerdWallet] * Wherein the five worst law partners known are discussed. Oh, whatever, partners should be able to act however they want to anyone. [Greedy Associates / FindLaw]

When you stop smoking, the cigarettes don’t get together to figure out how to kill you anyway. — Benjamin Wittes, on a panel at the National Lawyers Convention of the Federalist Society, responding to the observation that smoking and traffic accidents cause more deaths in a year than 9/11. (Julian Sanchez discusses what the web […]