Election Law

* So we care about science today? Okay. Medical exemptions to school vaccinations are soaring in California, now that personal exemptions are not being offered. [Scienceblogs]

* Sam Clovis thinks that legalized same-sex marriage could lead to legalized pedophilia. Luckily, he’s just Trump’s pick to be “chief scientist for the Department of Agriculture.” He’s free to slut shame all the asexually reproductive plants he wants, they’re not going to listen to him. [CNN]

* About once a year, I feel the need to remind people that Charles Barkley is not my president. [The Root]

* Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is trying to explain to his Yale classmates why he is NOT resigning from the Trump administration. It’s not a novel argument: I’m not here for the Nazi sympathizing, but for what’s really important… tax cuts. [Vox]

* Confederate statues = bad. Voter suppression by Confederates against minorities = worse. [Election Law Blog]

* Robert Mueller’s investigation is so coming for Don Trump Jr. [BuzzFeed]

* Michael Phelps did not “race” a shark. I did not really expect Michael Phelps to race a shark, because I know that any shark “winning” such a contest would stop racing and start… eating. And yet, I tuned in kind of hoping that they found some way to put Michael Phelps and a shark in the water at the same time. What I’m saying is: I want the Discovery Channel sued for false advertising. I want to see Discovery outrun some class-action sharks, for my amusement. [Rolling Stone]

* Disrupt the Supreme Court, go to jail. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. [Washington Post]

* A court rules that a 20-day registration cutoff before the election violates the Massachusetts constitution. Given the Puritan roots of the Massachusetts constitution, I wouldn’t be surprised if it only allowed for same-day registration “by ordeal,” though. If you can grab that super-heated stone and walk 20 paces, you can vote as many times as you want. [Election Law Blog]

* The AALS is moving its 2018 conference from Austin to Chicago to protest Texas’s immigration and bathroom bills. Seems like a good move, but a little unfair to Austin. When the Northeast secedes and joins Canada, we should still let people from Austin come visit. [TaxProf Blog]

* Charges against a police officer who could not be convicted of killing a black person have been dropped. Because it is not illegal for cops to indiscriminately kill black people. [The Root]

* Technically, it’s illegal in New York City to park your ice cream truck and still play the ice cream jingle. Of course, someone who complains about the ice cream man in any situation where he is (a) selling ice cream and (b) not molesting children is the scientific definition of a terrible person. The fact that the person complaining is a white lady living in Harlem is just the cherry on top of the soft serving of poop. [Gothamist]

* Hmm… I wonder if the officer who shot and killed the unarmed white lady is going to be in a little more legal trouble than any of the officers who shoot and kill unarmed black people? [Minneapolis Star-Tribune]

* John McCain’s excellent health care is temporarily delaying his ability to take health care away from millions. May he have the same recovery that people kicked off of Medicaid can expect. [VICE]

* If you told me that R. Kelly has a Midwestern sex cult where he holds women against their will, I’d believe you. In fact, the only shocking thing to me about that statement is the modifier “Midwestern.” [Buzzfeed]

* James Comey is writing a book. I assume the working title is “How To Lose Friends And Alienate People.” [Slate]

* “Ezekiel Elliott can tote the rock tho.” — Cowboys fans who have nothing else of value in their lives. [Deadspin]

* Is the decentralization of our elections a strength, or a weakness? It’s weird, if you were only worried about a nincompoop like Donald Trump and his band of family idiots fixing the election, it’s comforting to know that our system is too complicated for them to understand. But if you are worried about a capable global villain like Vladimir Putin, suddenly I don’t feel so good. [Brennan Center for Justice]

* Where does he get such wonderful toys?

https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/887035702977933312

Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

* Ty Cobb, a former federal prosecutor, has resigned from his post as a partner at Hogan Lovells to join President Trump’s legal team as the investigation into the campaign’s possible collusion with Russia continues to expand. Cobb, who’s related to the baseball player of the same name, leaves behind more than 30 years of history at the firm to collaborate with Marc Kasowitz, which should be interesting, to say the least. Dat stache, tho… [Bloomberg; New York Times]

* In other news, yet another member of President Trump’s legal team, Jay Sekulow, appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press and CBS’s Face the Nation yesterday in an attempt to solidify claims that his client, the commander-in-chief, had no knowledge of Don Jr.’s emails and meeting with the Russians, and that “there was nothing illegal to cover up” anyway. [Newsweek]

* Meanwhile, it looks like Trump’s lawyers knew about Don Jr.’s emails and meeting with the Russians more than three weeks ago, which makes the president’s assertion that he’d learned of it “a couple of days ago” all the more far fetched. In fact, per a recent FEC filing, President Trump’s reelection campaign paid $50,000 to Don Jr.’s criminal-defense lawyer, Alan Futerfas, on June 26, two weeks before the email scandal was made public. [Yahoo News; Daily Beast]

* “I think a politician or a public figure of note can have a Twitter account of public note which would not be deemed to be a public forum. But in the Trump Administration, what he says on his tweets are as much public in nature as a press conference.” Renowned First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams explains why the litigants who sued President Trump for blocking their Twitter accounts might just have a shot when it comes to winning their case. [Big Law Business]

* “I wouldn’t rent to u if u were the last person on earth. One word says it all. Asian.” An Airbnb host has been taken to task by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing after canceling a UCLA School of Law student’s cabin reservation based on race. Airbnb must also develop a discipline system for discriminatory hosts. We may have more on this later. [The Recorder]

* “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.” An anonymous government official has said that Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller will be taking a hard look at the emails disclosed by Donald Trump Jr. and the meeting discussed within them in his investigation into any possible collusion with Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. [CNN]

* President Trump has a rare opportunity to reshape the federal judiciary, and with close to 150 vacancies, he’s attempting to do just that. That being said, many people are understandably worried about the prospect of Trump’s judicial picks because “[w]e’re seeing nominees, including Gorsuch, who are going to turn back the clock on hard-fought rights and liberties.” [Bloomberg News]

* Demand for legal services may be sluggish at best, but that’s not stopping law firm leaders from making bullish projections for the future. According to the latest report from Citi Private Bank, law firm managing partners are cautiously confident in the outlook for their businesses. We may have more on this later today. [Am Law Daily]

* In what seems to be an effort to catch up with modern times, the American Bar Association’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is considering adding gender identity and ethnicity to existing law school accreditation rules regarding diversity, nondiscrimination, and equal opportunity. [ABA Journal]

* Notes from the weed line: In this op-ed, former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura says that if President Trump decides to somehow reverse state laws that have legalized marijuana, then not only would those states be potentially bankrupted, but such action could also trigger another economic collapse across the entire nation. [CNBC]

* Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit is soon expected to publicly announce her retirement, and once she takes senior status, President Trump will have the ability to appoint another conservative judge to one of the nation’s most powerful courts — one that often serves as a training ground for future Supreme Court justices. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]

* Shortly after his father became the Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump Jr. reportedly met with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer who had Kremlin ties, after he was allegedly promised damaging information about then Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. For his part, Trump’s eldest son has denied any Russian collusion having to do with the 2016 presidential election. [New York Times]

* When it comes to the AT&T / Time Warner merger, “[t]he business community is watching intensely to see what an antitrust D.O.J. will look like in the Trump administration and how much of the rhetoric from the campaign trickles down into policy.” Meanwhile, Makan Delrahim, President Trump’s nominee for antitrust chief, hasn’t had his Senate hearing yet. [DealBook / New York Times]

* Marc Kasowitz has moved to dismiss a sexual harassment suit filed against the president by former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos, claiming that thanks to the SCOTUS ruling in Bill Clinton’s sexual harassment case, presidents cannot be sued in state court for personal conduct while in office. If this flies, will it give rise to more federal filings against the president? [The Hill]

* “These are dedicated people doing very difficult work and not paying them is like not paying teachers, cops, social workers, or firefighters. The public should be outraged.” Court-appointed lawyers in Massachusetts who represent the indigent are struggling financially thanks to the state’s budget woes. Some of these attorneys are owed thousands of dollars. [Boston Globe]

* Are you taking the California bar exam? Would you like to know what subjects they’ll be testing on this time around? [Law School HQ]

* Shorter version of this Justice Stevens interview — Justice Gorsuch is great as long as you assiduously avoid learning anything about his jurisprudence. [Law360]

* Rob Kardashian leaked explicit photos of his former fiancée, Blac Chyna, on social media and she’s considering legal action. When you wonder why America is in decline, consider that this is what ABC News is covering. [ABC News]

* The Trump administration’s efforts to get its hands on all voting records has already ticked off state officials across the country, and now it has an opportunity to tick off a federal judge too! [National Law Journal]

* Former DOJ fraud lawyer Hui Chen describes what it was like to prosecute under the Trump administration. Spoiler: Not good. [NPR]

* Appellate attorney on a Jeopardy winning streak. I guess appellate lawyers are all about explaining what questions are being presented. [Law.com]

* Budgets are down, but in-house IP counsel are working harder, which seems patently unfair. [Corporate Counsel]

* What you can learn from Tiger Woods’s DUI arrest. [Versus Texas]

* Are we in the new age of monopolies? [Salon]

* This is reading an awful lot into unanimous Supreme Court decisions. [Washington Post]

* New York isn’t the liberal utopia you might think it is. [Jezebel]

* The election law gap between red states and blue states. [Election Law Blog]

* In NYC? Then join WNYC’s All Things Considered host Jami Floyd for a conversation about Loving v. Virginia on June 12th. [The Greene Space]

* Call off the lawyers. [Law and More]

* What’s the opposite of banning something? [Huffington Post]

* Theorizing over Jared Kushner’s motivation. [Slate]

* Not that I have any sympathy for lawyers who agree to represent Trump, but he must be the world’s worst client. [Levinson and Stefani]

* Somebody sent a mailer trying to shame people into voting. The letters included the names of their neighbors and whether or not they voted. Nobody knows who sent the letters. Other than that, no concerns. [Los Angeles Times]

* Being “color blind” to race is unhelpful, except in hiring. [Slate]

* Bill Cosby lawyers are pissed that only two black people are on the jury for his trial. That probably means they’re planning some kind of elaborate race-based defense that will piss me off. “Women are lying about being raped because there are too many funny black men. Dave Chapelle is next.” [TMZ]

* To be honest, I forgot that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau existed. [Wall Street Journal]

* Playboy model Dani Mathers pleaded no contest to misdemeanor invasion of privacy for body-shaming a woman at her gym. The system worked, I believe. [Eyewitness News]

* Not legal, but there’s a chance some people working late haven’t seen this yet and, well, seems to me that your clients can spot you the two minutes.

* The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has extended a deadline to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request asking who the director of the agency is. That’s all they want. And the PTO asked for more time to respond! The absurdity of this reminds me of Apocalypse Now. [IP Watchdog]

* You’ve heard about Justice Ginsburg’s workout regimen. Well, Politico sent a reporter to do it and… it nearly broke him. [Politico]

* Divorce judge sued for allegedly spitting on a former Mintz Levin attorney. The New York legal community keeping it classy. [Law360]

* In totally unsurprising move, guy who thought the KKK was cool until he found out they smoked pot withdraws the government’s objection to Texas efforts to suppress minority voting. [NY Times]

* More law firms are changing their partner compensation models to create an even more competitive environment. There’s no way this can backfire and create a woefully dysfunctional partnership. Nope. [Law.com]

* The Jeffrey Wertkin case puts a spotlight on the whole whistle-blower unit. [Bloomberg]

* Winston & Strawn are going after laterals pretty hard. [Am Law Daily]

* Now might be a good time to make a donation to legal aid. [Litigation Daily]

* The United States has been downgraded to a “flawed democracy.” [New York Daily News]

* The irony is too much. [Washington Post]

* Rick Hasen on how a voter fraud investigation should really go. [Slate]

* The ACLU wants Jeff Sessions back before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. [ACLU]

* Trump’s election changed a lot of things. [Medium]

* Get ready for insurance to be disrupted. [Law and More]

* Wait, where the heck _is_ Staci?

https://twitter.com/stacizaretsky/status/824339825063055364