Free Speech

* A considered case for pardoning Edward Snowden by Timothy Edgar, who was on the team responsible during the George W. Bush administration for determining that most of the secret surveillance programs had a firm basis in law. [Lawfare]

* The Virginia Supreme Court denied an effort by Republican legislators to find Governor McAuliffe in contempt over an effort to restore voting rights to felons. [Richmond Times-Dispatch]

* The “Urban Cowboy” threatens to sue New York City. Most importantly, he’s lawyered up with Richard Luthmann, the Staten Island lawyer who previously sought trial by combat. This should be fun. [Gothamist]

* An omnibus look at what the election means for the courts. Beyond Justice Peter Thiel, of course. [Law.com]

* Many University of Chicago professors have denounced the “no safe spaces” publicity stunt from a few weeks ago, but the law school has largely missed the point of the dispute stayed out of the fray. [WSJ Law Blog]

* You don’t see many paeans to the Lochner era, but here’s one. [Library of Law and Liberty]

* Oregon has settled with Oracle over the state’s troubled health exchange. [Oregonlive]

* Walking meetings improve productivity. Yeah, I’ve watched West Wing reruns too. [TaxProf Blog]

* ATL Editor Kathryn Rubino talks politics on the latest Today’s Verdict. [BronxNet]

* “NEW CIVILITY WATCH: Dem Senate candidate and former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland: Scalia’s death ‘happened at a good time.'” [Instapundit]

* A Skull and Bones society for top NYC law firms? Professor Rick Swedloff discusses a secretive group whose membership includes some of Biglaw’s biggest names. [SSRN]

* A notable new petition (filed by Professor Orin Kerr and Marcia Hofmann) in a high-profile appeal about the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. [Volokh Conspiracy]

* Donald Trump’s infamous “Second Amendment” quip is protected by the First Amendment — but just barely, according to Professor Noah Feldman. [Bloomberg View via How Appealing]

* Jury consultant Roy Futterman of DOAR wonders: is concern about prejudicing jurors actually driving them to using the internet for decision-making? [Big Law Business]

* Could the ABA someday lose its power to accredit law schools? Steven J. Harper thinks its day of reckoning is coming closer. [The Belly of the Beast]

* On the importance of having your criminal clients dressed for court, not for jail. [Katz Justice]

* An eight-justice Supreme Court has inspired some fanfic! No, there aren’t any group sex scenes, it isn’t that kind of fanfic. [Medium]

* A group of law professors have now joined Massholes in supporting Tom Brady’s Hail Mary for a Second Circuit rehearing. [Profootball Talk]

* We need to protect the free speech rights of teachers too. [Bloomberg View]

* A Trump presidency will threaten the rule of law, at least according to a bunch of libertarian legal scholars. [New York Times]

* Florida banned Medicaid patients from using Planned Parenthood, and now PP is fighting back in court. [Slate]

* There seems to be more legal bad news for Uber. [Law and More]

* Ammon and Ryan Bundy still don’t think the rules apply to them, even when they are in jail. [Huffington Post]

* Will wearing makeup increase your earning potential? (Yes, they only mean for women, the patriarchy is a real bitch like that.) [Corporette]

* Ken Starr says he is resigning from his position as Baylor chancellor “as a matter of conscience.” Yup, he still plans on teaching at the law school. [ESPN]

* Donald Trump’s terrible comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel are all part of a branding exercise. [Lawyers, Guns and Money]

* Law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw is fighting to make people remember the women killed by police. #SayHerName [The Guardian]

* The cleanup after a storm can be even more challenging than weathering the storm in the first instance. [Katz on Justice]

* Has Election 2016 convinced you our electoral system is hopelessly broken? Here are the best ways to fix it. [Brennan Center for Justice]

* Reflections from Richard Levick on Peter Thiel v. Gawker (including commentary from our very own David Lat). [Forbes]

* “Say you’ll remember me, standing in a black robe, waiting for a hearing, babe. Begging the SJC, say you will confirm me, even if it’s just in my wildest dreams, ah-ha ohh.” SCOTUS nominee Judge Merrick Garland has something in common with an overwhelming number of teenage girls: he loves Taylor Swift sing-alongs. That’s cute! [People]

* “A judge does not check his First Amendment rights at the courthouse door.” Judge Olu Stevens has filed suit against the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission on free-speech grounds in an attempt to stave off an ethics sanction for publicly commenting on Facebook about all-white juries and their “disproportionate and disparate impact on black defendants.” [Courier-Journal]

* Hardly any partners leave Cravath, but a very important one just did, and his exit is making people talk. Scott Barshay, once a top M&A partner at the firm that tends to set the associate bonus scale, has defected to Paul Weiss, where he’ll become its global head of M&A. Which clients will he take to the “dream team”? [DealBook / New York Times]

* This plaintiff’s antitrust allegations against Uber’s CEO may be “wildly implausible” and representative of an “impossibly unwieldy conspiracy,” but in Judge Jed Rakoff’s eyes, they were enough to overcome a motion to dismiss that was filed by Boies Schiller. Something tells us Uber’s legal bills are going to see some surge-pricing. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Per a study by Ravel Law, in a new index that tracks federal judges by their rulings and subsequent citations to those rulings, Michigan produces the most influential judges on the federal bench, followed by Chicago, Harvard, and Yale. Harvard has finally gotten one over on Yale — but for a measly bronze trophy. [Crain’s Detroit Business]

* According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal sector gained 1,200 jobs in March. On top of that positive news, February’s numbers were revised from a loss of 1,500 jobs to a gain of 100 jobs. In any case, what with the huge discrepancy, we’re happy to see Dewey’s bookkeepers found new work. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]