Gay Rights

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.05.16

* Who recently made partner at Kirkland & Ellis, Covington & Burling, Goodwin Procter, and Curtis Mallet-Prevost? Here's a nice round-up that highlights the names of the 112 associates who were promoted at these four firms. Don't be too shocked by that high number; the vast majority of partner promotions were made at Kirkland, where 81 attorneys were welcomed into the ranks of the firm's non-equity partnership. [Big Law Business] * In what's hailed as a victory for gay rights, Massachusetts expanded the legal definition of the word "parent" to be read "in a gender-neutral manner, to apply where a child is ‘born to [two people], is received into their joint home, and is held out by both as their own child.'" The state's high court also allowed parentage laws to be construed to apply to members of same-sex couples without biological ties to the children. [WSJ Law Blog] * Today, SCOTUS will hear arguments in a case challenging "judge-made law," that is, what is and isn't considered insider trading. If you trade on information received from a third party who received it from an insider, is that insider trading? Even Mark Cuban wants to know, writing in an amicus brief that "no one should be prosecuted for conduct that Congress is either unwilling or unable to define." [DealBook / New York Times] * The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down a law that forced abortion providers to save fetal tissue samples from patients younger than 14 years old, on top of other broad restrictions. The court unanimously ruled that the law violated the state constitution's "one subject" rule. In a separate concurrence, four judges would've struck down the law as an unconstitutional burden on a woman's right to have an abortion. [Reuters] * Much like America, the Supreme Court seems to have a problem with race this Term. The high court will be hearing three divisive cases having to do with racial slurs, racial rhetoric, and racial epithets, and the Court may very well be divided along ideological lines, resulting in 4-4 deadlocks thanks to the seat left vacant by the late Justice Antonin Scalia and the Senate's refusal to give Judge Merrick Garland a hearing. [CNN]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.22.15

* Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich isn't the only politician who will be joining Dentons. After Dentons completes a merger with McKenna Long & Aldridge, former DNC Chair Howard Dean will also be working for the largest law firm in the world. YEEEAAAH! [The Intercept] * Now that New York has adopted the Uniform Bar Exam, other states are considering it. Hurry up, because the UBE will "break down the long persistent barriers that keep lawyers from moving" -- which isn't a bad thing. [National Law Journal] * In half a century of reproductive and gay rights cases, it's worth noting that "arguments based on a right to privacy have tended to weaken and crack; arguments based on equality have grown only stronger." Let's see what SCOTUS does in June. [The New Yorker] * All six of the Baltimore police officers who were arrested following the death of Freddie Gray have been indicted on homicide and assault charges. Despite the fact there's now an indictment, the officers' lawyers are calling the prosecution's case weak. [New York Times] * "Can you #trademark a #hashtag?" It's somewhat of a tricky issue for people who are trying to register their marks at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, but these attorneys from IP powerhouse Morrison & Foerster have a pretty good explanation. [Law.com]

By Staci Zaretsky
Gay

Organ Fail

This weekend brought news of a burgeoning overseas market in human organs. And gay eyeballs. If you can't see the connection, allow me...

By Juggalo Law
Constitutional Law

Non-Sequiturs: 10.15.13

* Airport security has forbidden joking about bombs and hijacking. Now TSA is cracking down on joking about TSA itself. In the interest of my next flight, “I love you, TSA!” [Daily Mail] * A detailed analysis of the 14th Amendment’s role in the debt ceiling debate. President Obama should employ this solution now before the Supreme Court realizes there’s another part of the 14th Amendment they can overturn. [Main Street] * Law school professors do not take kindly to your antics. [Law Prof Blog] * A Cooley Law professor is arguing against gay rights. Sorry, a Western Michigan Law professor is arguing against gay rights. [Pride Source] * The rules don’t apply to Yale or Harvard. Or at least the rules don’t apply to their law reviews. [Professor Bainbridge] * Congress is still trying to decide how to regulate FM radio instead of looking at salient issues in modern copyright law. Given how brilliantly they keep the government open, maybe FM radio is the biggest issue we should give them right about now. [The Daily Caller] * The lawyer as generalist is fading into obscurity. Let’s commemorate it in poetry, shall we? [Poetic Justice] * A preview of some upcoming Supreme Court cases this week. Complete with cartoons! [The Spark File] * Finally, here’s a little gem for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fans that we got….

By Joe Patrice
Football

Non-Sequiturs: 03.28.13

* Real Housewives “star” Porsha Williams Stewart found out about her husband, former Pittsburgh QB Kordell Stewart, filing for divorce from the media. She shouldn’t have been surprised. Slash was always elusive. [USA Today] * An anonymous Twitter account wreaks havoc on UK law students. One Tweet: “#LawTips: edit the Wikipedia page after copying it to avoid plagiarism.” Here’s a pro tip: if you’re copying Wikipedia for law school, you’re doing it wrong. [Legal Cheek] * How out of control is tuition? At 26 law schools, recent graduates with $160,000 in annual income are STILL eligible for the federal IBR program intended to relieve the debt burden on impoverished students. [Constitutional Daily] * As our own Juggalo Law pointed out, the NFL engages in some awfully shady sexual orientation profiling. [Sports Law Blog] * You’d think the Republicans would be all for funding scientific endeavors to prove that rape victims in the animal kingdom “have ways of shutting that down.” [Jezebel] * UNLV Law Dean Nancy Rapoport takes issue with Professor Derek Muller’s ranking of “Career Baristas” out of law school. If there was one dean who was going to know the statistical angles, it was going to be the one in Las Vegas. [UNLV Law Blog] * Ever wanted to watch video of the folks from Lawyers, Guns & Money discussing Game of Thrones? Sure you have! And that’s why we invented jumps…

By Joe Patrice
Election 2012

Morning Docket: 11.05.12.

* Campaign Lawyers are ready to go to the mattresses. Actually, they're already there. [Bloomberg] * You can see why they're nervous. The race is close. Don't forget to vote. [FiveThirtyEight] * And don't let them suppress your vote. [Blog of the Legal Times] * Because you know if you are trying to vote in Florida and might be a Democrat, they're going to try to take your vote away. [Huffington Post] * When you step back and look at it, the legal landscape for gays and lesbians is shockingly different than it was 20 or even 10 years ago. Yeah, I know a bunch of you care about marginal tax rates on Americans making over $250,000 way more than basic civil rights, but still. [New Yorker] * Lawyers have really been working under difficult conditions in the aftermath of the storms. [National Law Journal] * Donor secrecy up for review. [Los Angeles Times]

By Elie Mystal
1st Circuit

Morning Docket: 06.01.12

* Dewey retired partners with unfunded pensions get a seat at the table for this bankruptcy circus? Yeah, but only because the U.S. Trustee did something unheard of and appointed a committee of former partners as creditors. [WSJ Law Blog] * Yesterday was definitely a great day to be gay on the east coast. In addition to the First Circuit’s DOMA decision, a New York appellate court ruled that being called gay is no longer defamatory per se. [New York Law Journal] * Milberg is the latest firm to dump Paul Ceglia of Facebook lawsuit fame, but Dean Boland, his other lawyer, says the Biglaw firm just “serve[d] as a distraction.” Somebody please give this man a dislike button. [Buffalo News] * Humblebrag of the day by Judge Alsup of Oracle v. Google fame: he’s written lines of code “a hundred times before.” He also squashed Oracle’s API copyright infringement claims like bugs. [Courthouse News Service] * Remember Kimberly Ireland, the Kansas attorney who falsely accused Judge Kevin Moriarty of waxing his gavel beneath the bench? She got a retroactive two-year suspension. [ABA Journal via Legal Profession Blog] * Elizabeth Warren has confirmed that she told Harvard Law and Penn Law that she was a Native American, but only after she had been hired. She didn’t get any action of the affirmative variety, no sir. [Associated Press] * Recent law school graduates are a little more desperate than we thought they were. At least 32 people have already applied for that BC Law job advertising a salary below minimum wage. [Boston Business Journal] * Activision settled a lawsuit with two Call of Duty developers, but isn’t worried about an effect on its financials due to a strong third quarter performance. And you can thank your damn Elite packages for that. [PCMag]

By Staci Zaretsky