* Paul Manafort pleading guilty. Because... witch hunt or something. [CNN]
* Brett Kavanaugh could "halt or reverse our progress toward gay equality." Is this all it takes to get an op-ed in a mega circulation paper these days? Just say obvious stuff? I've really been overthinking this. [USA Today]
* Betsy DeVos reversing campus rape rules to make Baylor great again. [Law.com]
* Bill Brewer bounced from NRA case because it was absolutely the right thing to do. [Washington Post]
* A close look at three law-abiding people who are about to be converted to "illegal" humans by this administration. [Courthouse News Service]
* Tish James will be New York's next Attorney General and all she had to do to win was promise not to use the powers of the Attorney General. [Law360]
Explore the mindset, cultural shifts, and training strategies that define the AI‑savvy lawyer, revealing why human judgment, standardized competence, and integrated learning—not technology alone—will shape the future of the profession.
* Joel Cohen tackles a tricky issue: how far should a lawyer go when defending a controversial client -- e.g., Bill Cosby -- in the court of public opinion? [Law and Crime]
* How much does being a conservative or libertarian hurt you when applying for a position as a law professor? James C. Phillips attempts to quantify the "rank gap." [SSRN]
* Some thoughts on the case involving 3D-printer gunmaking instructions, from Eugene Volokh -- who, not surprisingly, has a take that's a bit more nuanced than Elie Mystal's. [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]
* Happy blogiversary to Artificial Lawyer -- a great resource for anyone interested in the intersection of AI and the law. [Artificial Lawyer]
* C. Boyden Gray, a former White House Counsel, offers a clear and persuasive explanation of why seeing all the documents that Brett Kavanaugh sent or received during his time as White House Staff Secretary isn't going to aid in evaluation of his SCOTUS nomination. [The Hill]
* From leading Supreme Court lawyer Lisa Blatt: "I’m a Liberal Feminist Lawyer. Here’s Why Democrats Should Support Judge Kavanaugh." [Politico]
* And here's more support for the SCOTUS nominee, from Kathryn Cherry, a former Kavanaugh clerk (and an African-American woman -- one of Judge Kavanaugh's many female or minority clerks).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBjEJPdAOPo&feature=youtu.be
* Amy Howe has highlights from Judge Brett Kavanaugh's completed questionnaire for the Senate Judiciary Committee -- including the five different law firms where he worked as a summer associate. [SCOTUSblog]
* Despite Judge Kavanaugh's impeccable qualifications, the battle to confirm him to the Supreme Court will be hard-fought -- and Adam Feldman explains why. [Empirical SCOTUS]
* In other nominations news, Veronica "Ronnye" Stidvent, a prominent Latina lawyer, comes to the defense of Ryan Bounds, whose Ninth Circuit nomination was defeated last week. [Oregonian]
* Does the failure of the Bounds nomination spell trouble for the Kavanaugh nomination? Here are some thoughts from Elizabeth Slattery and me. [SCOTUS 101 / Heritage Foundation]
* Had he been confirmed, Ryan Bounds would have replaced his (and my) former boss, Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain -- who just penned a landmark Second Amendment opinion, Young v. Hawaii, that could very well wind up before SCOTUS (and allow the Court to settle a circuit spit). [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]
* Speaking of the Ninth Circuit, Chris Walker has some concerns about the late Judge Stephen Reinhardt casting the deciding vote in an important tax law case, some four months after his passing. [Notice & Comment / Yale Journal on Regulation]
* Why is the internet such a cesspool today? Media lawyer Charles Glasser identifies five factors behind the decline (and gives a shoutout to Above the Law's dearly departed comments section). [Daily Caller]
* Elsewhere in the First Amendment world, Joel Cohen and Dale Degenshein argue that it should be easier for parties to have documents sealed in litigation. [The Hill]
* If you appreciate the dying art that is the book review, check out Alice Lloyd's beautifully written review of Robert Anthony Siegel's Criminals: My Family’s Life on Both Sides of the Law (affiliate link), which paints a portrait of his father, Stanley Siegel -- "a big-hearted and brilliant," but deeply troubled criminal defense lawyer. [Weekly Standard]
* Lanny Davis, lawyer to Michael Cohen, was instrumental in leaking the Trump/McDougal tape to CNN last night. It's now official: Cohen has turned on Donald Trump. Listen to it here. [CNN]
* Michael Avenatti, lawyer to porn actress Stormy Daniels, says he's interested in discussing a settlement with Michael Cohen about his client's "hush agreement" to keep quiet about her 2006 affair with Trump. Avenatti says a meeting was scheduled, then canceled by Cohen's other lawyer, and now they're calling each other liars. This is all par for the course. [CNN]
* A split three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit has ruled that the Second Amendment allows the open carrying of guns in public. This comes two years after the court ruled that the Second Amendment did not allow the concealed carrying of guns in public. You can expect this to be appealed to the Ninth Circuit en banc. [Associated Press]
* Dentons has come out swinging with denials against a sexual harassment case that was filed by a business development specialist last month, claiming that not only is the suit without merit, but that it also "misappropriates" the #MeToo movement. We'll have more on thisinteresting development later today. [American Lawyer]
* If you live in a two-lawyer household, should you be sharing client secrets? The Ohio Supreme Court is about to answer that question for us, since there's apparently no case on the books about anything remotely like this. [Big Law Business]
* If you're thinking about applying to law school ahead of a career in politics, then you may have to work a little harder to -- wait, nevermind, you can go to pretty much any law school since having a J.D. seems to be the gateway to government. [U.S. News]
* Brett Kavanaugh built up around $200K in debt buying Washington Nationals tickets. This may be the Federalist Society's biggest vetting failure ever because all real conservative jurists would say they went $200K in debt buying Montreal Expos tickets. [Deadspin]
* Ohio pulls obscure law out of a hat to harass Stormy Daniels for daring to point out that Donald Trump is a scumbag. [NY Times]
* "Jesus never broke immigration law" says Evangelical Trumper whose religion is entirely based on a guy admitting he was an outlaw and getting the death penalty for it. [Vox]
* Just when you were getting used to WestlawNext, WestlawEdge is here to radically change the game. [LegaltechNews]
* Texas professors who don't want to die will take their case to the Fifth Circuit. [CBS News]
* Lawyer says Shady orchestrated the assault on his ex. [Denver Post]
* Trump pardoned the thugs who put the lives of firefighters in danger and then inspired an armed standoff with federal officers and then Mike Pence's buddy gave them a private jet home. [Oregon Live]
LexisNexis sat down with John Ursin, Managing Partner at Schenck Price, to learn how the firm is using legal AI to strengthen client service and daily legal work.
* 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]
* Kirkland & Ellis raiding Cravath is now officially "a thing"; it's been covered in the newspaper of record. [New York Times]
* Extension requests: not just for law school papers, but for cert petitions too (and there's no shame in seeking them; they're often requested by prominent practitioners). [Empirical SCOTUS]
* Want to talk intelligently about the Michael Cohen mess case with your friends? Start by reading this primer on "privileged" versus "confidential" client communications, by Joel Cohen (no relation) and Dale Degenshein. [Law and Crime]
* Boycotts have a venerable history in terms of the law and the First Amendment -- but they might be losing their effectiveness in the digital age, as noted media lawyer Charles Glasser explains. [Daily Caller]
* Eugene Volokh flags this interesting issue (and opinion): under what circumstances does denying a felon the right to own a gun violate the Second Amendment? [Reason / Volokh Conspiracy]
* Has the whole "emotional support animal" phenomenon gone too far at Yale? [Yale Daily News via Instapundit]
David Lat is editor at large and founding editor of Above the Law, as well as the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at [email protected].
* President Trump seems to be addicted to lawyers, and maybe someday he'll be able to find another one like Michael Cohen who is "willing to sacrifice reputation, sanity, and perhaps a paycheck" to defend him. [Politico]
* Proskauer Rose and Jane Doe, the partner who sued the firm in a $50 million gender bias lawsuit, will be entering mediation to see if they can reach a settlement. At the same time, limited discovery will take place as to whether Doe is an "employee" under the anti-discrimination laws cited in the suit. [American Lawyer]
* Anthony Borges, a student who was shot five times while blocking a doorway to save other students during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, has filed suit against Nikolas Cruz for for assault and battery. Perhaps we should be expecting more of these lawsuits in the future. [Sun Sentinel]
* Parents whose children were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 have filed a defamation lawsuit against Alex Jones of Infowars. Jones responded to the lawsuit going on a 10-minute rant on his show about how his lawyers thought the suit was frivlous. [New York Times]
* Bonus season isn't over yet -- for staff members, that is. Mintz Levin recently awarded hundreds of its staff members with special bonuses to celebrate an increase in equity partner profits. [Big Law Business]
