health care reform
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 07.28.17
* The Senate rejects the latest GOP effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act — with Senator John McCain casting the decisive “no” vote. [Washington Post]
* Riley Safer Holmes and Cancila continues its rapid expansion, adding 13 new lawyers — including eight from Bryan Cave, led by former managing partner Joseph McCoy. [Law360]
* More bad news for the LGBT community from the Trump administration: the Justice Department takes the position that Title VII doesn’t cover discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. [How Appealing]
* Meanwhile, civil rights and LGBT groups get ready to file suit if President Trump’s plan to ban transgender people from the military becomes a reality (which is not yet the case). [National Law Journal]
* And these groups might just prevail — Michael Richter and Anna Pohl, chairs of the New York City Bar Association’s Military Affairs and LGBT Rights Committees, lay out the case for why the transgender ban is unconstitutional. [The Hill]
* Stephanie Francis Ward takes a long, hard look at the woes of Charlotte School of Law — and the rest of the beleaguered Infilaw consortium of law schools. [ABA Journal]
* Closing statements in the Martin Shkreli case paint very different pictures of the infamous “Pharma Bro.” [Law.com]
* Nuisance claims, or nuisance suits? Judge James Donato (N.D. Cal.) seems skeptical of a purported class-action case targeting Pokémon GO (which recently added Legendaries to the game). [The Recorder]
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In-House Counsel
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 07.07.17
* Another day, another notable immigration ruling from the Ninth Circuit (by the great liberal lion, Judge Stephen Reinhardt, joined by his brilliant ideological protégé, Judge Marsha Berzon). [How Appealing]
* The sexual assault case against Bill Cosby, which previously ended in a mistrial after the jury deadlocked, will be retried in November. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
* Why do associates leave Biglaw, and what can be done to reduce attrition? Insights from NALP and from Major Lindsey & Africa’s Tina Cohen and Jennifer Henderson. [ABA Journal]
* Law firm merger mania continues — and much of the action is taking place abroad. [Law.com]
* Senator Kamala Harris, prominent prosecutor turned politician, might get interrupted on occasion — but she will not be stopped. [New York Times]
* Linda Greenhouse wonders about Justice Neil Gorsuch: “How could the folksy ‘Mr. Smith Goes to the Senate Judiciary Committee’ morph so quickly into Donald Trump’s life-tenured judicial avatar?” [New York Times via How Appealing]
* Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledges that the Republicans might not be able to repeal Obamacare right now — and that an interim solution might be needed. [The Hill]
* For interested readers, here’s the “origin story” of Above the Law, which turns 11 next month. [Yale Alumni Association of New York]
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Health Care / Medicine, In-House Counsel
D-Day For The ACA?
Thoughts from in-house columnist Stephen R. Williams on the battle over healthcare reform. -
Justice, Politics, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Rep. Steve King Proposes Bill To Prevent Supreme Court From Citing Its Own Precedent
Amendment or GTFO, Steve King. -
Federal Government, Health Care / Medicine, Money, Tax Law
The Secret Taxes On The Young: Health Insurance And Student Loan Interest
On this Tax Day, columnist Shannon Achimalbe looks at two payments that are not called taxes but feel like and have the effect of a tax. -
Jurisdiction, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Standing: The Cure For Cert Grantor's Remorse in King v. Burwell
Just because the plaintiffs’ standing to sue in King v. Burwell shouldn’t be an issue doesn’t mean it won’t be an issue, as Tamara Tabo explains. -
Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Morning Docket: 03.04.15
* Meet David King of King v. Burwell, the epic Obamacare case to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court today. [New York Times]
* And meet the two legal heavyweights who will be arguing the case before SCOTUS. [Politico via How Appealing]
* Meanwhile, another Supreme Court has put a stop to same-sex marriage down in Alabama — for now. [Buzzfeed]
* General David Petraeus reaches a plea deal, requiring him to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and pay a fine (but no prison sentence). [Washington Post]
* It’s not as sexy as Obamacare or marriage equality, but the collection of state sales tax on out-of-state purchases made online is a pretty important issue — and Justice Kennedy wants SCOTUS to revisit it. [How Appealing (linkwrap)]
* In the wake of a leadership shake-up, Cadwalader is beefing up its Houston energy practice — but is that a wise idea, with the price of oil spiraling downward? [American Lawyer]
* Finally, something that Elie Mystal and Jordan Weissmann can agree upon: dropping the LSAT is a bad idea. [Slate]
* A jury of eight men and 10 women will start hearing arguments today in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, defendant in the Boston Marathon bombing. [How Appealing (linkwrap)]
* Legal ethics guru Monroe Freedman, RIP. [ABA Journal]
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D.C. Circuit, Federal Government, Federal Judges, Politics, Public Interest
Liberal Critiques Of Challenges To Obamacare: 2 Errors Worth Correcting
What do liberal critics of Obamacare challengers get wrong? -
Ann Althouse, Health Care / Medicine, Movies, Murder, Non-Sequiturs, Religion, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Trials, Women's Issues, YouTube
Non-Sequiturs: 03.25.14
* Professor Ann Althouse’s analysis of today’s Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood arguments before SCOTUS. [Althouse] * Professor Nelson Tebbe’s take on the proceedings. [Balkinization] * Finally, a very Jezebel assessment: “Supreme Court Prepares to F**k Up This Birth Control Thing.” [Jezebel] * “JUDGE TO PORN TROLLS: IP Addresses Aren’t People.” [Instapundit] * YouTube videos and text messages surface in the Oscar Pistorius murder trial. [IT-Lex] * “Her” was an excellent movie — and it might contain lessons for lawyers and the legal profession, as John Hellerman argues. [Hellerman Baretz] -
Barack Obama, Fabulosity, Food, Health Care / Medicine, Music, Parties, Pictures, Politics, Small Law Firms
How Did Two Young Lawyers Get To Have Dinner With The Obamas?
How did two small-firm lawyers from Alabama wind up having dinner with President and Mrs. Obama? -
Biglaw, Health Care / Medicine, Music, Non-Sequiturs, Police, Prisons, Religion, Sports, Supreme Court, Technology
Non-Sequiturs: 01.16.14
* The feds say that Apple has agreed to pay “at least $32.5 million in refunds” to people who didn’t realize their children were racking up huge bills in FarmVille and the like. It’s good to see parents won’t actually have to pay for their absentee parenting. [Washington Post] * It’s a good day for successful — kind rapey — pop songs, as the family of Marvin Gaye decided that they “Got to Give It Up” and settled with Sony over alleged copyright infringement by the Robin Thicke song, Blurred Lines. [Rolling Stone] * Apparently the Florida Bar Association took a look at the state of the judicial system and decided to screw it and start selling baking utensils. Or it was hacked. But probably they just gave up. [IT-Lex] * Tailgating at the Yale-Harvard game is way more dangerous than I’d realized — a clutch of Yale frat bros (what is the proper collective noun for Elis) have been sued over an incident where a U-Haul loaded down with kegs struck and killed one person. [Jezebel] * A hearing was cut short in New Orleans when an inmate arrived from the prison high as a kite on illicit drugs he procured in custody. Way to run a tight ship, New Orleans. Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on them. After all, they just got their “inmates unintentionally set free due to clerical oversight” statistic back down to zero. [New Orleans Times-Picayune] * A rundown of high-profile cases that turned on expert witnesses. Good to see that everyone’s favorite “affluenza” made the list. [The Expert Institute] * Cable news has really botched their coverage of Little Sisters. For example, if you think Obamacare requires religious institutions to offer coverage for contraception, then you’ve been duped. [Constitutional Accountability Center] * To shake things up, let’s check out a defense of stop-and-frisk policies. If a society isn’t prepared to pay for police protection, it’s likely to find cops resorting to these sorts of short cuts. [Voice of San Diego] * Musings on Staci’s recent piece on law firm client service and/or arrogance. [Law and More] * A Little League coach is suing one of his players for $600,000. Something tells me a reboot of Bad News Bears would end exactly like this. Video of the story from local news channel KCRA embedded below…. [Deadspin] -
Benchslaps, Health Care / Medicine, Jews, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Racism, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Television, United Kingdom / Great Britain
Non-Sequiturs: 01.07.14
* Downton Abbey has inspired a new bill making its way through the House of Lords, who apparently watched the show and figured out for the first time that women get screwed by the law of entail. Now if they can just pass a law that would keep Bates out of prison in the first place. [The Atlantic] * Ben Adlin reminisces about the era when the Supreme Court actually cared about oral arguments. [Summary Judgments] * An interesting infographic on where Superlawyers went to school. Finally a ranking where NYU can top Yale. [Online Paralegal Programs] * Another installment of classic ads ruined by lawyers. [Vice] * Fifth Circuit judges aren’t the only ones to tell their colleagues to shut up; here’s some fun news from the Philippines. [Manila Times] * French cities have banned performances of a comedian with a history of racking up hate speech fines. I mean, since when has anti-Semitism been a problem in Europe? [Al Jazeera] * If you think conservative arguments against the Affordable Care Act are dumb, check out liberal columnists arguing that Obama screwed up by not pushing for single-payer. [Lawyers, Guns & Money]
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Biglaw, Health Care / Medicine, Job Survey, Money, Perks / Fringe Benefits, Reader Polls
Biglaw Health Insurance Costs: The ATL Survey Results
The results of our reader survey on law firm health insurance plans. -
Christopher Christie, Gay, Gay Marriage, Jury Duty, Morning Docket, New Jersey, Partner Issues, Rudeness, Social Media, Social Networking Websites, Twittering
Morning Docket: 10.22.13
* President Obama defends Obamacare (aka the Affordable Care Act), saying that the dysfunctional HealthCare.gov website will get fixed. [Washington Post]
* “Calling All Unemployed Law Grads: Greenberg Traurig Is Hiring.” But there’s a catch. We’ll have more on this later today. [Am Law Daily (sub. req.)]
* The Supreme Court agrees to hear a case regarding how to determine mental disability in death-penalty cases. [National Law Journal]
* If you’re thinking of selling legal services over Groupon, proceed with care. [ABA via WSJ Law Blog]
* Want to get out of jury duty? Try flipping the bird at the defendant. [ABA Journal]
* Chris Geidner takes a closer look at Chris Christie’s decision not to keep fighting marriage equality in New Jersey. Is it all about 2016? [BuzzFeed]
* More details on the circumstances surrounding a Reed Smith partner’s profane and ill-advised tweet. Expect Steven Regan to be sent back to “Tweet School.” [Am Law Daily (sub. req.)]
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Department of Justice, Gay, Gay Marriage, H. Rodgin Cohen, Health Care / Medicine, Military / Military Law, Morning Docket, New Jersey, Prostitution, Wall Street
Morning Docket: 10.21.13
* How Jamie Dimon (and Stephen Cutler and Rodge Cohen) reached JPMorgan Chase’s tentative $13 billion settlement with Eric Holder and the Department of Justice. [DealBook / New York Times; Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]
* Congratulations to all the New Jersey couples who got married since midnight, in the wake of the state supreme court’s decision not to stay a lower-court ruling in favor of marriage equality. [Newark Star-Ledger]
* Additional insight into all the partner departures from Weil Gotshal in Texas. [Dallas Morning News]
* Lawyers aren’t the only folks who know how to overbill; defense contractors do too, according to federal prosecutors who allege that a company provided prostitutes and kickbacks to Navy personnel. [Washington Post via The BLT]
* The legal battle over Obamacare rages on. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]
* Judge Oing, this really isn’t that hard. Here’s a draft opinion for you in the long-running litigation between Macy’s and J.C. Penney over the right to sell Martha Stewart merchandise (by James Stewart, no relation to Martha). [New York Times]
* If you’d like to run with the bulls without schlepping to Spain, former lawyers Rob Dickens and Brad Scudder can help. Presumably their legal training helped them draft ironclad waivers. [BuzzFeed]
* Another interesting but very different event, taking place this Wednesday: “Healing the U.S. Lawsuit System.” [U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (one of our advertisers)]
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Airplanes / Aviation, Continuing Legal Education / CLE, Deaths, Non-Sequiturs, Social Media, Social Networking Websites, Sports, Technology, Twittering
Non-Sequiturs: 10.14.13
* Referees go on a power trip and get arrested. [Legal Juice] * Lawyers enjoy LinkedIn. They may not like it as much if these allegations are true. [IT-Lex] * A New York lawyer is using Twitter to complain about Obamacare. This is what happens when there aren’t enough billable hours to go around. [New York Post] * TSA lets 9-year-old through without a ticket or adult help. Our security is top-notch in this country. [Lowering the Bar] * New York attorney Bradley Dizik is the working to save Detroit’s Masonic temple from its financial woes. How screwed is Detroit? Even the international Freemason conspiracy can’t help. [Detroit News] * Interested in national security — and getting CLE credit? [Lawfare] * A Georgetown Law student was killed over the weekend. On a personal note, I knew Mark and he was truly great guy and my thoughts go out to his family and friends. [Washington Post] -
Biglaw, Health Care / Medicine, Job Survey, Money, Perks / Fringe Benefits, Reader Polls
Are Biglaw Health Insurance Premium Increases Really Stealth Pay Cuts?
Take our reader survey on post-Recession changes to law firm health insurance costs. -
Barack Obama, Constitutional Law, Health Care / Medicine, Politics
When Democracy Hurts: The Painful But Legitimate Debate Over Obamacare
Conservative columnist Tamara Tabo defends Republican efforts to defund Obamacare. -
Biglaw, Books, Constitutional Law, Health Care / Medicine, Maureen Mahoney, Partner Issues, Paul Clement, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Ted Olson
The Supreme Court 'Beauty Contest': A Behind-the-Scenes Look
How did the Obamacare litigants select their Supreme Court lawyers? Josh Blackman, author of Unprecedented: The Constitutional Challenge to Obamacare, reveals all.