Free Speech

Trump's latest argument in the Stormy Daniels case is laughable... and terrifying.

* Trump’s now claiming that Stormy Daniels is impinging on his right to free speech because weaponizing that right’s worked so well so far, why not extend it to this? [NBC]

* In the same breath, we’re now talking about censoring Google to “own the libs.” [Recorder]

* And the First Amendment now protects sharing food with homeless people, because apparently we needed a rule to cover being a decent human being.

* Don McGahn may be on the way out after spilling the beans to Mueller. Trump insists on Twitted that McGahn is not a “rat” like John Dean, but just as this whole administration is “Nixon, but dumber” McGahn probably didn’t realize what he was doing while he did it. [Business Insider]

* People are up in arms over Lanny Davis being an anonymous source for CNN, but really what was CNN supposed to do? They couldn’t say, “Davis refused to comment on the record” because that would prove he was the anonymous source. It’s where dumb journalism rules hang people up because the right answer would be to make no mention at all of Davis, but journos feel they have to indicate that they tried to talk to principal figures in any given story. Anyway, Glenn Greenwald has thoughts on this and he used to be a real journalist before he went batshit crazy. [GQ]

* California ends money bail! California, man. They’re ahead on everything. Getting rid of bail, legal weed, regretting Reagan…. [Washington Post]

* One of the actions Trump is “most proud of” is one he never accomplished. Sounds about right. [Axios]

* Vermont changes its laws in bid to become a blockchain hub because it’s all about bad ideas. [VT Digger]

* Charles Glasser proposes replacing “Trump Derangement Syndrome” with “Trump Obsession Syndrome” — which might be more accurate, but isn’t nearly as fun. [Daily Caller]

* Speaking of anti-Trump sentiment, here’s an interesting new ranking — from Adam Bonica, Adam Chilton, Kyle Rozema, and Maya Sen — showing just how liberal certain law schools are. [TaxProf Blog]

* Trying to date in law school? You’re looking for love in all the wrong places, according to 3L Korey Johnson. [Black Girl Does Grad School]

* Speaking of law school, here’s Kat Griffin’s roundup of the best blogs for women law students (with a shoutout to ATL; thanks, Kat!). [Corporette]

* An “Abolish ICE” t-shirt might not be very fashionable — but it is constitutionally protected speech, as Eugene Volokh explains. [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

* Joel Cohen wonders: should more states ban secret recording of conversations — and could the odious Omarosa be the catalyst for such change? [The Hill]

* Neha Sampat discusses the problem of “imposter syndrome” — and what we can all do to address it. [Attorney At Work]

* “Sex pigs halt traffic after laser attack on Pokémon teens.” Yeah, you know you wanna click…. [Instapundit]

* Where does your law firm fall along the AI adoption spectrum? Jean O’Grady lays out the stages. [Dewey B Strategic]

Spoiler: It does.

The 'weaponization' of free speech is no longer a metaphor.

Honey Badger don't give a sh*t about anything -- except trademark law.

* It’s the first day of the bar exam in a number of jurisdictions. These young lawyers have suggestions for your last month of freedom. [Young Lawyers Advisory Board]

* Jeff Sessions is withholding funding from local law enforcement. Just the latest example of Dummy the House Elf’s curious interpretation of being “tough on crime.” [NJ.com]

* Now Trump will meet with Mueller? Oh, he’ll talk to Mueller about anything but obstruction. So I guess they could discuss the weather. [Time]

* Stormy Daniels is getting a divorce. [NY Times]

* After a dicey back and forth with the ABA, NCCU has retained its accreditation. [News & Observer]

* The EU keeps fining American companies. American companies keep right on monopolizin’. [The Economist]

* Jonathan Turley goes all “get off my lawn” about Millennials and free speech. Magistrate Judge James Donohue points out that Millennials might appreciate free speech more if they had any reason to believe people like Turley weren’t trying to turn it into a pay-to-play right. [Courthouse News Service]

* What’s it like to take the California bar exam as a 46-year-old law professor? Orin Kerr enlightens us. [Reason / Volokh Conspiracy]

* Charles Glasser points out the dangers involved in holding a speaker responsible for actions taken by listeners. [Daily Caller]

* In the Term that just ended, the Supreme Court tackled technology issues in a big way — and the implications are far-reaching, as J.P. Schnapper-Casteras explains. [Take Care]

* Elizabeth Slattery and I joined Laurence Colletti, guest host of the Lawyer 2 Lawyer podcast, to discuss Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s SCOTUS retirement and the nomination of his successor, Judge Brett Kavanaugh. [Legal Talk Network]

* There has been a lot of speculation about how a Justice Brett Kavanaugh might move the Court to the right; Adam Feldman digs into the cases to make some educated guesses. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* What lessons could losing the Court teach the Democrats? Here are some thoughts from Seth Lipsky and David Leonhardt. [New York Post via Instapundit]

* And what lessons can lawyers learn from Judge Kavanaugh’s excellent writing? Ross Guberman identifies five of them. [Legal Writing Pro]

* Joel Cohen and Dale Degenshein explore what happens when a citizen “flips the bird” at the police (hint: it’s not a good idea). [Law and Crime]

* Congratulations to Thomson Reuters on the launch of Westlaw Edge, the latest version of its industry-leading legal research platform — which boasts a slew of new, artificial-intelligence-driven features, helpfully explained by Jean O’Grady. [Dewey B Strategic]

* And speaking of AI, congratulations to Fenwick & West on cutting the time for contract review in half, with the help of technology from Kira Systems. [Artificial Lawyer]

In defense of Juli Briskman

Do you expect the other person to change their values and how they vote in order to protect their livelihoods?

I get that Nazis need good lawyers, but good lawyers don't have to like it.

Take note of this proper application of free speech, you Tiki Torch waving Nazis

* Having placed Justice Anthony Kennedy’s Supreme Court retirement in political context, let’s now put it into historical context. [Retropolis / Washington Post]

* This makes some folks quite upset, but there’s no denying it: the Roberts Court is now truly the Roberts Court (and he probably isn’t thrilled about it either). [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Kathryn Haun — a former Kennedy clerk, by the way — has parlayed her expertise in Bitcoin, developed during her years as a federal prosecutor, into a new position leading Andreessen Horowitz’s $300 million fund focusing on cryptocurrency-related startups. Congrats, Katie! [Axios]

* Let’s not forget about President Trump’s transformation of the lower federal courts — because it’s not just about SCOTUS. [The Takeaway / WNYC]

* Check out Susman Godfrey’s new mandatory retirement policy — could this become the industry standard? [Texas Lawyer]

* Yes, the First Amendment is awesome and all — but is it also encouraging errors in news reporting, as Charles Glasser suggests? [Daily Caller]

* Speaking of mistakes, Ed Whelan sets Ben Shapiro straight on Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a leading contender to replace Justice Kennedy. [Bench Memos / National Review]

* President Trump says he wants to pick a SCOTUS nominee who could serve on the Court for 40 years or more — and if you take the five youngest names on his list of 25, it’s entirely possible. [Althouse]

* This should come as no surprise, but now law firms are joining the chase after data scientists. [Artificial Lawyer]

* Congratulations to the Practising Law Institute (PLI) and Fastcase, innovators in their respective spaces, on their new alliance. [Dewey B Strategic]

In Janus, the Supreme Court dealt a body blow to organized labor.

Whether you see leakers as patriots or pests, some have recently asked: What protections, if any, do these public employees have if the Trump administration follows through and fires them?

* Paul Manafort loses evidence motion. He should embrace that feeling of loss. [Courthouse News Service]

* CNBC criticizes the Cohen case Special Master, Judge Barbara Jones, for charging $330K for document review. This is, of course, an entirely reasonable fee for a case of this import but CNBC has clearly let their bias flag fly. [CNBC]

* While America focuses, fairly, on children suffering institutional child abuse, please take a second to remember that cops straight up killed a teenager running from a traffic stop. One could say, “why was he running?” but I’ve seen the video of Philando Castile’s death — staying peacefully in a car isn’t necessarily safe anymore. [CBS News]

* The new awareness of widespread sexual harassment in the workplace may have another positive side effect: women are advancing to partnership faster than before. [American Lawyer]

* Dumb people are up in arms that the ACLU might shift its resources away from random Nazis toward other projects that don’t have hordes of self-styled rebel lawyers and downright crypto-fascist attorneys ready to defend them pro bono. This video, however, is exactly why the ACLU is right to reorient itself to focus on more pressing challenges. [io9]

* Trump proposes merging the Education Department with the Department of Labor. Do you know how hard he had to work to make this not his dumbest idea of the week? We’re going to have to build the Starship Trump just so America doesn’t focus on this nonsense. [NPR]

* NY’s Mayor is doing more to protect unfairly targeted immigrants than almost anyone in America and his policy has a glaring, awful hole in its provision of legal aid. [NY Daily News]

What free speech rights exist in the workplace?

* What changes might come to the Supreme Court if Justice Kennedy retires at the end of this Term? Adam Feldman scours the justices’ voting relationships for clues. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Speaking of SCOTUS, when it comes to its recent ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Andrew Siegel is not impressed. [PrawfsBlawg]

* Ilya Somin offers praise for legislation being co-sponsored by Senator Elizabeth Warren — but it will make sense to you once you see the subject matter (hint: her co-sponsor is Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado). [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

* Charles Glasser has no problem with people calling out or criticizing speech that they find offensive, but he argues — rightly so, in my view — that we’ve lost “a sense of proportion, a rational relationship between the speaker, their comments, and their role in society.” [Daily Caller]

* Ann Althouse’s take on Bill Clinton’s controversial #MeToo comments. [Althouse]

* Greg Lambert is absolutely right: “Sometimes the change you seek causes problems you didn’t foresee.” [3 Geeks and a Law Blog]

* Smart-contract checker Sagewise hooks up with Hedera Hashgraph, a “blazing fast” alternative to blockchain. [Artificial Lawyer]

* Which lawyers and law firms scored the most SCOTUS arguments this Term? Adam Feldman has the tally. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* And speaking of the Supreme Court, what can lawyers learn from linguists about Heller and the Second Amendment? [LAWnLinguistics]

* Adam Kolber discusses the phenomenon of “judicial bulls**t” — and wonders whether the justices would fail Philosophy 101. [Daily Journal via PrawfsBlawg]

* Are Justice Neil Gorsuch’s long-winded concurrences contributing to the Supreme Court slowdown this Term? Andrew Hamm crunches some numbers. [SCOTUSblog]

* Many of the major precedents in the school free-speech context feature liberal students — but conservative kids can play this game too. [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

* Lex Machina’s latest foray into litigation analytics covers the world of trade secrets. [Dewey B Strategic]

* Relativity: not just for ediscovery anymore. [Artificial Lawyer]

We get hate mail all the time here, but this one is special.