Guns

* Handicapping the race for the Supreme Court vacancy. [Bloomberg BNA]

* Can redecorating courthouses make a difference to justice? [Katz Justice]

* An illuminating interview with the lawyer behind Loving v. Virginia. [Coverage Opinions]

* States’ rights are all well and good when talking about the emission of pollutants, but not when it comes to marijuana. Wait — what? [Slate]

* Was the end of Gawker inevitable? [Law and More]

* Will gun owners in Ohio have more rights than LGBT people? [The Trace]

* Shocking, Donald Trump is being hypocritical about something. This time it’s over immigration, so maybe these lies will finally break through to Trump’s low-education supporters who are voting against their interests due to xenophobic fears over their jobs moving abroad. [Bloomberg Politics]

* Check out the financial disclosures of the potential SCOTUS nominees that have been floated thus far. [Fix the Court]

* Common sense: consumer-owned drones should not be armed. Unfortunately, it isn’t really against the law. And the one state that is trying to ban them may be breaking federal law. [Slate]

* Trent Lott is breaking with the GOP leadership over whether President Obama’s eventual Supreme Court nominee deserves a hearing. [CNN]

* Church and state: yes, they are supposed to be separate. Even at the VA. [Huffington Post]

* Absolutely, positively the worst boss ever. [Lowering the Bar]

* The secret career Ted Cruz doesn’t want you to know about. [Gawker]

* Donald Trump is promising to come after the First Amendment if elected president. Reason number 1,238,108 to do everything in our power to make sure he is never president. [CNN]

* Bad news for Republicans: history is not on your side. The latest number crunching you can cite at cocktail parties when the topic of the Supreme Court’s vacancy comes up. [Washington Post]

* Hoverboards, scooters, and bikes — oh my! Do you know all the laws governing use of these leisure vehicles (at least in New York)? [Cityland]

* Hey! Whaddya know! Gun law really do work — it’s science. [Vox]

* A judge in the UK changed a suspended sentence into jail time after she was mocked by the defendants on Facebook in a lewd post. Just a reminder, no matter what Donald Trump does, you really shouldn’t f*ck with judges. [The Mirror]

* Lawyers need these two things in order to be successful. [Associate’s Mind]

* This is why having the right language interpreter is so important in court. [Katz Justice]

* Expect Justice Scalia’s passing to have a pretty big impact on business, as the Roberts Court, with Justice Scalia, was the most pro-business court since WW2. [New Yorker]

* Today the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention held WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London for more than three years, is being “arbitrarily detained” arguing he should be allowed freedom of movement without fear of being extradited to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning for a variety of charges including rape. Though the decision has no formal authority, but Assange, who has maintained his innocence on the Swedish charges, can at least claim a moral victory. That’s something at least. [Washington Post]

* The Fourth Circuit found that Maryland’s gun law, passed in the wake of the horrific Newton shooting, should be reviewed under a strict scrutiny standard since it “significantly burdens the exercise of the right to arm oneself at home” and remanded the case back to the district court. [Wall Street Journal]

* Uber had an actual victory amid all of its legal woes. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation decided against combining over a dozen employment cases into a MDL. [National Law Journal]

* Meet the woman recently hired as the NFL’s senior vice president for investigations. Lisa Friel, formerly a New York prosecutor in the Sexual Victim’s Unit under District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau, is charged with investigating all potential violations of the league’s personal conduct code. Hopefully she can bring some consistency to the process. [New York Times]

* The human cost behind a life led in immigration limbo. No wonder last night’s Dem debate spent so much time talking about the need for comprehensive immigration reform. [CNN]

Ed. note: Happy Holidays! Above the Law will be dark tomorrow, Christmas Day. We’ll be back on Monday, December 28.

* Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin may be newly elected, but that hasn’t stopped him from reneging on campaign promises. [Wonkette]

* Here’s a fun hot take — Citizens United is to blame for Donald Trump’s rise, because he refuses to use Super PACs. Yeah, it’s pretty convoluted, but maybe this will convince… anyone on the right to do anything about campaign finance reform. [Huffington Post]

* Krampus violates the 8th Amendment and other constitutional ruminations on Saint Nicholas’s evil twin. [The Legal Geeks]

* This markup is what happens when lawyers get ahold of a Christmas carol. We should all be ashamed. [Legal Cheek]

* A bill that would prevent people from buying a gun while going through a divorce… yeah, that could be useful. [Slate]

* A New Zealand court ruled Kim Dotcom can be extradited back to the United States. [Wall Street Journal]

* If you have to send a work email on Christmas Day and you sign off this way, you are probably an asshole. [Daily Lawyer Tips]

* There are a bunch of theories to explain why crime rates have dropped over the last 25 years. [Vox]

* The ultimate California bar exam breakdown. [Bar Exam Stats]

* If you need a reminder as to why it is essential to fight for access to abortions and reproductive freedom generally, read this. [Slate]

* Is Madonna using the “fair use” doctrine to avoid paying artists whose work she uses? [DIY Photography]

* Bigger isn’t always better: how Cooley Law School is hurting legal educational standards. [Lawyers, Guns and Money]

* Want a surefire way to NOT get out of educational debt anytime soon? Go to law school. [Wall Street Journal]

* You need to know your rights vis-a-vis airlines. Because the government isn’t going to fine them much anymore. [Huffington Post]

* Virginia is going to stop recognizing conceal carry permits from 25 states. [Washington Post]

* Are Harvard Law professors chilling the reporting of sexual assault on campus? [Huffington Post]

* Amal Clooney launches a scholarship to educate Lebanese women. [Los Angeles Times]

* Justices Scalia and Thomas just plain wrong on gun regulations. [The Atlantic]

* Baltimore reacts to the hung jury in the Freddie Gray case. [The Root]

* You know those late-night commercials for LifeLock, designed to convince elderly people to buy their product lest their identity be stolen? Yeah, the FTC announced the identity theft company would be paying $100 million to settle charges that it didn’t secure its customers’ info and misrepresented the strength of its product. [Washington Post]

* A motion for summary judgment has been filed in the case against Alan Dershowitz for defamation. [Palm Beach Daily News]

* Lowenstein Sandler Chair Gary Wingens comes out in favor of two-year law schools. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* Fresh off the heels of a lawyer that was trying to sneak a gun into Disney World, the Mouse has tightened up security measures. I told you he was going to ruin everything. [Chip and Co.]

* Chicago Law Prof. Eric Posner proposes limiting the First Amendment — no, not over campaign finance reform, but because of ISIS. Ummm, okay? [Slate]

* What will happen in the legal profession in 2016? Here are 41 guesses. [Business of Law Blog]

* Overcoming the anxiety of starting at a new firm. [Attorney at Work]

* Did the 11th Circuit screw up this rule limiting doctors’ ability to speak with their patients about guns? [Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]

* In a moving long-form piece, the Marshall Project details how the criminal justice system failed a rape victim. [The Marshall Project]

* “As a debater, a product of Jesuit schooling, a scholar of religion, and a legal scholar, I was taught that words matter. Rational discourse matters. Setting an example matters.” NYU President John Sexton makes a powerful statement on the rise of Islamaphobia. [NYU]

* Eric Schniederman is in the news for a reason unrelated to fantasy football — he’s banning the sale of realistic toy guns this Christmas. [Press Connects]

* David Lat pontificates on this year’s bonuses. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* That judge who held 3 kids in contempt for refusing to visit their father now faces disciplinary action. [Jezebel]

* In economic terms, what do painkillers really cost? [Law and More]

* Tough legal questions that need to be answered: What to do when you inherit a school bus full of guns? [Adequate Man]

* Do you know when to quit Biglaw? If you’re miserable, when should you start the search for your next career? [Corporette]

* When it is Justice v. Football on college campuses, justice usually loses — a look at Baylor’s investigation of Sam Ukwuachu. [Deadspin]

* Finally, a job that makes Biglaw look appealing. [Careerist]

* A Biglaw firm doing parental leave right. [Talentkeepers]

* What is real? Can it be the essence of a character distilled? [What About Paris]

* Toddlers’ favorite lawyer makes a late night appearance [YouTube]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAPCz6_8nuE

* Having trouble keeping track of all of the Supreme Court’s decisions this term? And which cases are left to decide anyway? Brush up your small talk skills with this handy, interactive SCOTUS decision tracker. [USA Today]

* You always knew that Whole Foods was a ripoff. The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs announced yesterday they are launching an investigation into the price of prepackaged foods, the agency said the chain “routinely” mispriced food sold by weight. The DCA commissioner called it the “worst case of mislabeling” the inspectors had seen in their careers. [Law360]

* Just in time for folks cramming for the bar exam to hit peak panic mode: 6 ways to doom yourself on the bar exam. [American Lawyer]

* Judge Frank Easterbrook helpfully defines the differences between a gun and a kielbasa. You know, in case you get confused before your next cookout. [National Law Journal]

* The Chicago Little League team that was stripped of its title amid allegations of cheating has filed suit against the Little League governing body to ensure that the rules of the game are fairly applied to all. [Yahoo Sports]