Food

* Michael Avenatti arrested on domestic violence charges. There’s not a lot of detail yet — initial reports indicated his ex-wife made the call, but when reporters talked to her, she debunked that. [Vox]

* We should be seeing a CNN case ruling today. Does anyone else feel like Don McGahn’s absence looms over all of this? Like, he’d have put a stop to this nonsense out of the gate, wouldn’t he? [National Law Journal]

* This was, literally, a sitcom. [The Recorder]

* Law firms aren’t up to snuff when it comes to cybersecurity. [Law360]

* Jeff Flake says he’ll block all judicial nominees until he gets some guarantees about the sanctity of the Mueller probe. We’re all looking forward to watching him cave on this like he has everything else. [Courthouse News Service]

* You can’t copyright a cheese. In case you were wondering. [Washington Post]

* Papa John has filed suit against his former company in a bid to protect his legacy as America’s foremost “racist guy who makes bad pizza.” [Wall Street Journal]

* While everyone prattles on about Trump’s tapes, the government just blew another deadline to reunite the children they kidnapped with their parents. [Courthouse News Service]

* Troubled law school Arizona Summit trying to get ASU to take its students if or when it loses accreditation. By the way, if you want to hear an in-depth discussion about the problems with Arizona Summit and its sibling schools, check out this. [AZ Central]

* Speaking of independent law schools, the landscape for these programs — for-profit or not — is getting harder. [Law.com]

* Lawsuit seeking to desegregate Minneapolis schools is moving forward. [MinnPost]

* Government argues that Evan Greebel deserves 5 years for his role in aiding Shkreli. [Law360]

* Former Biglaw associate accused of ripping off Harlem church. [New York Law Journal]

* President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, claims that he used his home equity line to pay off Stormy Daniels out of the goodness of his heart, and while people have been focusing on the fact that he may have violated campaign finance laws, not many have mentioned that he likely violated New York’s ethics rules, would could get him disbarred. [Slate]

* Remember the time that Judge Katherine Forrest ruined the internet with a single ruling? Several media outlets are preparing to appeal to the Second Circuit, saying the copyright decision could change the internet as we know it. [Big Law Business]

* Dean Andrea Lyon of Valparaiso Law — the school that’s not closing, per se, but will stop accepting students and is hoping to merge with another school or move locations — will be resigning on June 1. No one knows what will happen to the school, and soon there won’t even be a dean. These poor students… [Indianapolis Business Journal]

* Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a foodie, and in honor of her upcoming birthday — and because “[s]he eats real food and plenty of it” — here are a few of the Notorious One’s favorite places to dine in her hometown of New York City. [am New York]

* The February bar exam has come and gone, and with it, hundreds of jobs across the entire legal services industry. According to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 200 fewer people were employed in the legal sector last month than in January. Hopefully things improve before graduation. [American Lawyer]

* “Katy Perry represents everything we don’t believe in. It would be a sin to sell to her.” Sister Catherine Rose Holzman, 89, who had been locked in litigation with the singer and the archdioces for several years over the sale of her former convent, collapsed and died in court on Friday during a post-judgment hearing. [NPR]

* President Donald Trump rejects reports that he’s considered firing special counsel Robert Mueller, while offering a less-than-ringing endorsement of his relationship with Attorney General Jeff Sessions: “It is what it is.” [New York Times]

* Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, whose house was the subject of a predawn raid by the FBI, parts ways with WilmerHale and goes back to his former lawyers at Miller & Chevalier. [National Law Journal]

* Meanwhile, the Trump administration files its opening brief in the Supreme Court in the travel ban litigation. [How Appealing]

* Georgetown Law launches a new con-law center, the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, led by star SCOTUS litigator Neal Katyal, former National Security Council official Joshua Geltzer, and former Justice Department official Mary McCord. [ABA Journal]

* Some Democratic senators claim that the White House isn’t consulting them enough about judicial nominations. [Politico]

* The hype may exceed the reality on alternative-fee arrangements — but not at pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline, which takes an aggressive and innovative approach to AFAs. [Am Law Daily]

* Settling the “pink slime” litigation cost Disney/ABC how much? [How Appealing]

* Also not cheap: the costs of bad-faith discovery spoliation. [Big Law Business]

* As I noted in my last nominations roundup, the Trump administration is actually ahead of the Bush and Obama administrations when it comes to judicial appointments — especially with yesterday’s confirmation of Kevin Newsom to the Eleventh Circuit. [How Appealing]

* With Republicans in charge of the presidency and Senate, could breaking up the Ninth Circuit return to the agenda? [Law360]

* And here’s an interesting argument against a split, from the Republican point of view (by Wyatt Kozinski, following in his father’s footsteps). [SSRN]

* Capital punishment: yet another issue where it’s all about Justice Kennedy. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Thoughts from Joel Cohen on the Trump/Sessions troubles. [The Hill]

* How NOT to escape from your law school loans. [Gizmodo]

* If a pizza party isn’t your thing, here are some other ideas for what to eat when working hard at the law firm. [Cater2me]

* Litigation that lawyers can love: Mel Gibson files suit over a dictionary (okay, actually a movie about a dictionary — the Oxford English Dictionary). [Deadline]

* Congratulations to Judge Lorna G. Schofield (S.D.N.Y.) on receiving the Liberty Award from the ABA! [American Bar Association]

* Can the president be indicted? You betcha! “It is proper, constitutional, and legal for a federal grand jury to indict a sitting president for serious criminal acts that are not part of, and are contrary to, the president’s official duties. In this country, no one, even [the president], is above the law.” [New York Times]

* According to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the most notorious grandma of them all, the Trump administration was a little heavy-handed when it came to the travel ban from majority-Muslim countries, and its definition of close family was simply “too restrictive” for the high court to abide by — which is why the “grandma ban” no longer exists. [Associated Press]

* Why did Ty Cobb decide to join President Trump’s legal team for the Russian election collusion investigation? Here’s what he said, in his own words: “If the president asks you, you don’t say no. I have rocks in my head and steel balls.” Well, that certainly explains it! [National Law Journal]

* As the Supreme Court’s junior justice, Neil Gorsuch has the unenviable task of serving on the cafeteria committee. It’s a “truly disheartening assignment,” especially since the vast majority of the people who are forced to eat there thanks to a lack of other options have described the food as poor, at best. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]

* A Cravath associate once said that Anthony Scaramucci, the Harvard Law grad who now serves as President Trump’s new communications director, isn’t one to “humble brag.” But that won’t stop him from helping the president with a few second-hand humble brags. During the press conference where he introduced himself to the world, he said Trump could “throw a dead spiral through a tire,” “hit[] foul shots and swish[] them,” and “sink[] 30-foot putts.” This is all totally believable(?). [Law.com]

* Leary Davis, founding dean of Elon Law and Campbell Law, RIP. [Roanoke Times]

* Congratulations to John K. Bush, who won confirmation to the Sixth Circuit despite his controversial undercover blogging. [How Appealing]

* Team Trump is digging into the backgrounds of special counsel Robert Mueller’s all-star team of attorneys, looking for discrediting dirt. [New York Times]

* DLA Piper swallows up Liner LLP, a California-based boutique with 60 lawyers — so, DLA’s idea of breakfast. [Law.com]

* Justice Alito defends his tenure on the Supreme Court cafeteria committee (in this hilarious piece by Jess Bravin). [Wall Street Journal via How Appealing]

* Ex-Dentons associate Michael Potere, represented by a public defender, pleads not guilty to charges that he tried to extort his former firm. [Law360]

* Is the relationship of President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions damaged beyond repair? [New York Times]

* Is Charles Miller’s move to Tarter Krinsky & Drogin the beginning of a partner exodus from Kasowitz Benson — one possibly driven by the debacle of the Donald Trump representation? [New York Law Journal]

* Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law gets censured by the ABA in the wake of sex-discrimination allegations. [ABA Journal]