Clarence Thomas
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 06.22.23
* If firms keep telling the press that everyone wants to go back to the office then maybe it’ll be true! That certainly seems to be the strategy anyway. [American Lawyer]
* Religious groups challenging abortion restrictions hoping to take advantage of the trend of courts offering exemptions to public policy to anyone who claims it offends them. Yeah… this puts a lot of weight on the idea that those opinions reflect some sort of principled Free Exercise jurisprudence instead of “we’ve found a new way to legalize discrimination, guys!” [Politico]
* KPMG dominates the bank audit space with clients like Signature, and SVB, and First Rep– oh. Uh oh. [Bloomberg Law News]
* We’re set to learn who bailed out George Santos. On one hand, public inquiry into bail sureties emboldens disingenuous attacks on bail funds, which are often critical to social justice and giving meaningful effect to the right to protest. On the other hand… George Santos is accused of misusing funds already. [NY Times]
* Insider trading conviction brings juror to tears. The prospect of sending someone to prison should give jurors more pause, but Goldman bankers making insider trades isn’t where one would expect an outpouring of empathy. [Law360]
* Clarence Thomas’s dissent in the False Claims Act case ran contrary to everything “Originalism” claims to believe. This is going to shock you, but Originalism may not be the robust, good faith interpretive strategy we’ve been told. [Dorf on Law]
* “FTC to argue Microsoft’s deal to buy Activision should be paused.” GROAN. [Reuters]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 06.08.23
* Supreme Court justices issue annual financial disclosures as required by statute (in case anyone’s confused) except Thomas and Alito. Can’t be caught making material omissions on financial disclosure forms if you don’t file any financial disclosure forms! [Reuters]
* We haven’t checked in on Lin Wood in a while… now even QAnon allies are suing him. [Daily Beast]
* Prosecutors inform Donald Trump that he’s a target in the classified documents investigation in one of American history’s greatest “duh” moments. [CNN]
* DLA Piper named in discrimination suit. [American Lawyer]
* Cooley paying associates $100K not to work. Or, phrased more accurately, “Cooley is paying associates $100K to stay afloat on their soon-to-begin student loan payments.” [Bloomberg Law News]
* Intellectual property experts testify about whether or not AI are capable of legally recognizably invention. At least we know they can invent caselaw! [Law360]
* Digital cash apps becoming a key way to distribute class action awards. No more inconvenience of having to fill out that $2.38 check! [Law.com]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 06.07.23
* Department of Justice likely to get involved in PGA/LIV merger. Weird how spending major Biglaw dollars calling one of them a monopoly might backfire when you try to merge with them. [Law360]
* After inviting thorough mocking of their legal acumen, Harlan Crow’s lawyers at Gibson Dunn back away from original “let’s just do contempt” offer and suggest a meeting with Senate staffers. [NBC News]
* Speaking of… comparing Clarence Thomas to the “lowliest” federal worker is a stark reminder that John Roberts is running a cesspool of ethical compromise. [Bloomberg Law News]
* Batman defeats Italian designer in trademark dispute. Not that it matters… that guy will break out of Arkham and be designing clothes again within a couple months. [Reuters]
* “There Is One Group the Roberts Court Really Doesn’t Like.” Take a guess! It’s fun because there’s at least three or four groups it could be! [New York Times]
* Move over law firms, legal technology vendors poised to become next fashionable cyber target. [Legaltech News]
* A dive into K-Pop and contracts. [LegalCheek]
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Podcasts
Biglaw's 4-Day Mandatory Office Week Is A Big Gamble
And the Supreme Court's ethical problems just won't go away. -
Courts
It Looks Like 2 Of The 9 Supreme Court Justices Are Willing To Let 3rd Graders Be Sent To The Coal Mines
Can't be more dangerous than the schools SCOTUS is willing to send them to. -
Courts
Justice Kagan Puts Her Money Where John Roberts's Mouth Is When It Comes To Supreme Court Ethics
Supreme Court justice shows that it's really not that hard to be ethical. -
Courts
Harlan Crow's Lawyers Tell Senate They're Going To Take Their Chances With Contempt
These are a lot of bad legal arguments just to say, 'we don't think you have the votes.' -
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Courts
Yale Law Professor Writes Weirdest Defense Of Clarence Thomas Yet
Not sure the professor is grasping the actual issue here. -
Podcasts
How Have We Not Yet Hit The Bottom Of The Clarence Thomas Scandal?
When you list all of the revelations of the past month, it's impressive. -
Courts
Harlan Crow Decides To Play Hardball Over Record Of Gifts To Clarence Thomas
The Senate Finance Chair would really like to know the full extent of the gifts Harlan Crow gave to his favorite Supreme Court justice. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 05.09.23
* Senate Democrats ask Harlan Crow for details on all gifts granted to Clarence Thomas… or any other justice. A request that he’ll ignore and the Democrats won’t do anything about. [Bloomberg Law News]
* Donald Trump allowed limited access to evidence against him in criminal trial, only in the presence of his attorneys in a bid to prevent the defendant from causing a social media firestorm. Aw… after this many years, folks still think Trump listens to his lawyers? [Law360]
* Disney’s superior attorneys are just going to keep updating this complaint every time Ron DeSantis digs himself a little deeper. [Deadline]
* Sam Bankman-Fried asks judge to dismiss 10 of 13 charges against him because if anyone knows a worthless claim when he sees one it’s Sam Bankman-Fried. [Reuters]
* Despite doom and gloom from firms cutting headcount, the industry overall is in recovery… but Biglaw and Small Law are taking different paths back to the summit. [American Lawyer]
* An interview with Steven Thomas, a former Sullivan & Cromwell partner who started his own practice focusing on litigating against Big 4 audit firms for failing to detect fraud at their clients. [Oh My Fraud]
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Courts
Clarence Thomas Skated On Ethics Complaints In 2012... Meaning He Definitely Already Knew The Rules
You can really only use 'I didn't know' as an excuse one time.
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Courts
That Perfectly Innocent Way One Funnels Money To The Spouse Of A Supreme Court Justice While Trying To Avoid A Paper Trail
This is a real problem for the integrity of the Court... not that anything will be done about it. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 05.05.23
* Leonard Leo had Kellyanne Conway funnel tens of thousands of dollars from a non-profit to Ginni Thomas without a paper trail and with the explicit direction “No mention of Ginni, of course.” Totally normal and above-board thing to do! [Washington Post]
* Ed Sheeran prevailed in his copyright case as sharing chord progressions don’t make songs similar. [Law360]
* If a whistle blows in the woods and the bank can retaliate without repercussion, does it make a sound? The Supreme Court seems hopeful that the answer is no. [Bloomberg Law News]
* Ivanka Trump targeted by NYAG over discovery obligations with investigators leery of “why her volume of emails dropped from 1,200 per month in 2014 to 37 in 2016.” Yes, what could have happened in 2016 that inspired some urgency to curtail the digital paper trail? [Huffington Post]
* Google and Sonos head to trial in patent dispute over smart devices. Hey, Alexa? Why are you laughing? [Reuters]
* Biglaw financials are strong… so of course everyone’s talking about layoffs because America is going to gaslight itself into a recession one way or another. [American Lawyer]
* Court issues more sanctions over false voter fraud claims, tagging Arizona gubernatorial loser Kari Lake. Which probably makes her the front-runner for Trump’s running mate. [The Hill]
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Courts
Sonia Sotomayor Ruled On Copyright Cases While Disclosing Book Fees Which Is Sort Of Like Years Of Covering Up Yacht Trips And Private School Tuition
This is not the defense of Clarence Thomas that these folks think it is. -
Courts
It's Going To Be A Lot Harder For Clarence Thomas To Justify The Most Recent Ethics Scandal
The latest Clarence Thomas ethics scandal. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 05.04.23
* Harlan Crow paid for Clarence Thomas to send his kid to private school?!?! Honestly, I’m starting to think ProPublica brilliantly slow-played all these stories to give the Wall Street Journal and Fox maximum opportunity to embarrass themselves by going all in on “personal hospitality exception” before dropping this. [ProPublica]
* Now Trump says he will probably attend his own rape trial. But his legal team has yet to amend its prior position that it would not call any witnesses so he’s just planning to hang out. [Reuters]
* CFTC Inspector General suspended pending investigation into squelching whistleblower complaints. [Law360]
* DeSantis selling merchandise designed to invoke the Disney trademark because he hasn’t given them enough to sue him over. [Bloomberg Law News]
* And because no one in Florida government understands that admitting to abusing public office is a problem for its legal claims, the legislature is passing bills to crackdown on the Disney Monorail. [Forbes]
* Lewis Brisbois chair steps down following mass exodus. [The Recorder]
* McDonald’s franchise caught employing 10-year-olds. [NPR]
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Courts
Okay, Even Lindsey Graham Knows Something Needs To Be Done About The Supreme Court
You know things are bad when the GOP is warming up to concept of Supreme Court ethics.