IRS

* Facebook has created a kind of Supreme Court to decide free speech matters on the platform. Wonder if the tech types on the tribunal wear robes or hoodies… [New Yorker]

* Two people have been arrested in connection with the killing of a popular DC-area attorney. [Fox News]

* Sean “Diddy” Combs has filed a lawsuit over his “Vote or Die” slogan. [Page Six]

* Check out the profiles of candidates who may be Manhattan’s next District Attorney. [Wall Street Journal]

* A lawyer who erroneously received a check from the IRS for around $285,000 is trying to return the money. Guess he never got a bank error in your favor card while playing Monopoly… [Whittier Daily News]

* This election cycle, we are reminded again that taking ballot selfies is illegal in many jurisdictions. Too bad, with the right insta filter, that ballot would look really good… [New York Times]

* A New York federal judge has denied a preliminary injunction to the Catholic Brooklyn Diocese seeking to reopen churches closed due to COVID-19 rules. [CNN]

* A lawsuit has already been filed over the forthcoming Borat sequel. [Wrap]

* A group in Louisiana has been charged for allegedly staging car accidents in order to generate legal payouts. [Times-Picayune]

* A lawsuit in Oregon alleges that a Portland gas station attendant purportedly refused to sell gas to black customers out of fear the gas might be used in rioting. [Fox News]

* The owner of a law firm named Legal Genius PLLC has pleaded guilty to defrauding the IRS and other charges. Hate to go for the low-hanging joke here, but the firm might want to change its name to something more accurate… [ABC News]

* President Donald Trump has appealed a federal judge’s order allowing the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s subpoena of his financial records to the D.C. Circuit, where — GASP! — Merrick Garland serves as chief judge. The fact that Garland is involved apparently matters a lot to the MSM, you guys. [The Hill]

* “The memo says they don’t have to assert a legitimate legislative purpose — or any purpose at all.” According to a confidential draft IRS memo, tax returns must be given to Congress upon request, unless the president claims executive privilege. This pretty much blows up Trump’s rationale for refusing to turn over his taxes thus far, but opens up a whole new way for him to avoid doing so. [Washington Post]

* “The Supreme Court is stacked against us for the first time in my lifetime. I feel like it’s scarier than ever before.” As hundreds of people protested state abortion bans before the Supreme Court, Democratic presidential candidates joined in, lending their support to all the women gathered. [Reuters]

* Meet Leonard Leo, the Federalist Society executive Vice President who serves as Trump’s unofficial judicial adviser to make the federal judiciary “great” (i.e., extremely conservative) again. How’s he doing that? With millions upon millions of dollars of “dark money.” He didn’t want to talk about that part of it. [Washington Post]

* Buckley, the law firm formerly known as Buckley Sandler, has filed suit against Johnny Depp, claiming that the actor skipped out on about $350K in legal fees and costs. Leave the poor man alone, he’s got better things to spend his money on… like scarves. [American Lawyer]

* Brett Kavanaugh admits he played dice, but not for money. If you believe that, I’ve got some $80K baseball tickets to sell you. [Huffington Post]

* When you hear about people ignoring authorities and remaining in the path of a hurricane, you may not think of lawyers, but some attorneys in the path of Florence are embracing the opportunity to finally get some work done. [Law.com]

* El Chapo’s lawyer may have a conflict of interest. Saul Goodman couldn’t be reached for comment. [NY Post]

* D.C. Circuit set to hear case about the IRS’s obligation to turn over Trump’s tax returns. This is another of those cases where losing is its own victory — the tax returns are almost certainly less interesting than how aggressively he’s fighting this. [National Law Journal]

* Alyssa Milano partners with the Vera Institute of Justice promoting the SAFE Families Fund to protect immigrant families targeted by the government. [San Diego Union Tribune]

* Trump’s divorce lawyer has sold a tell-all book. That’s either a marketing lie or he has some client confidentiality issues. [Page Six]

* “Strangely my most memorable case was also in some respects my least enjoyable” — the best way to make a mark is to leave a scar. [Legal Cheek]

* Harvard Law wants students to defer admission. Tuition deferral program still a no go apparently. [New York Times / Dealbook]

* Trump signing executive order to let the IRS choose when to enforce the Johnson amendment. I’m old enough to remember when conservatives had a meltdown over exaggerated allegations of IRS selective enforcement. Now it’s actually going to be legal and I doubt I’ll hear anything about it. [CBS News]

* Want to know how much a Sullivan & Cromwell partner takes home? Thankfully Donald Trump can tell us. [National Law Journal]

* Alabama enacts law allowing adoption agencies to reject gay couples. Alabama has one of the worst economies in America, but this was the issue that they really needed to address. Roll Tide. [Alabama]

* ABA President Linda Klein testifies on behalf of Legal Services Corporation. funding. Question: Is the ABA President job more or less difficult today? One could say “more” because she has to devote considerable energy to fighting a hostile government. Or you could say “less” because the most difficult argument she has to make is, “please don’t be monsters.” [ABA Journal]

* FAMU fired its dean. [Orlando Sentinel]

* New trend in litigation finance: buying portfolios of cases instead of investing in individual matters. We’ve reached the fund stage people! [Law.com]

* Former Guinea mining minister convicted of taking bribes. How did they know? Perhaps they thought he was a Dickensian throwback when he kept saying “Guinea” all the time. [Law360]

* Big scoop: here’s what Merrick Garland is really up to. [Clickhole]

* “I love the First Amendment. Nobody loves it better than me.” …and other lies the president told me. [Huffington Post]

* Hey! Remember law school? Remember torts? Remember the “spring gun case”? Here’s an interview with the lawyer behind that one. [Coverage Opinions]

* In an alternative universe, Melania Trump is a deportation priority, not the First Lady. [Slate]

* Yes, after 20 pages even a federal judge’s eyes start to glaze over. [Law Prose]

* Budget cuts are behind the IRS’s 10 year low audit rate. [TaxProf Blog]

* The robots can’t duplicate expert opinions. [Law and More]

* Can two people keep a secret if one of them is a robot? [Ars Technica]

* Fantastic analogy, now all the geeks love you. [io9]

* The Senate wants an update from the FBI and Justice Department on exactly what went down with Mike Flynn’s resignation. [Daily Kos]

* Fox News settled sexual harassment claims, but did they violate SEC rules in the process? [Law and More]

* What Neil Gorsuch will really be like on the Supreme Court. [The Onion]

* Was a narcoleptic CIA agent discriminated against because of their disability? [Wake Forest Law Review]

* The IRS is moving against Obamacare. [TaxProf Blog]

* SiriusXM’s big Second Circuit victory. [Hollywood Reporter]

* Livestream: State of Washington v. Trump. [U.S. Courts for the Ninth Circuit]

* What does the decision to broadcast this case mean for court transparency? [Fix the Court]

* Here’s what lawyers really say to each other. [Guile is Good]

* A critique of the IRS’s decision to not allow tax deductions for the cost of gender reassignment surgery. [Tax Prof Blog]

* Navigating the fallibility of the judicial system requires more nuance than Twitter allows. [New York Magazine]

* Trump threatens lawmaker’s career, is greeted with laughter. [Huffington Post]

* The job market the class of 2017 will encounter. [Law and More]

* Tips from a Biglaw partner on balancing work and motherhood. [Big Law Business]

* But not everyone thinks that Biglaw is conducive to balancing family life with work. [Law and More]

* Which attorneys were most victorious at oral argument in front of the Supreme Court this Term? [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Legal pot growers have a looming battle with the IRS. [Slate]

* Is now the time to end the death penalty? [Guile is Good]

* RIP, Judge Abner Mikva, whose career also included work as a U.S. congressman from Illinois, White House counsel to President Bill Clinton, and mentor to Barack Obama. He died this 4th of July. [Washington Post]

* We hope that all of our readers had a wonderful weekend! In case you haven’t been keeping score like we have, these are the firms that raised salaries on Friday: Jones Day, Pillsbury, and Nixon Peabody. If you’re ever worried that you’ve missed any of our coverage on pay raises, you can check out our omnibus 2016 salary chart where we collect all of these stories. [2016 Salary Increase / Above the Law]

* Karmic retribution? The ABA keeps popping out accredited law schools as if it were some sort of a clown car, but it may lose the power to accredit law schools for a one-year period thanks to a recommendation from the Department of Education’s National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity. [Big Law Business]

* “For the time being, at this specific time on this court, Kennedy remains the pivotal justice.” Justice Anthony Kennedy may be almost 80, but he remains the Supreme Court’s constant swing voter. In his opinion in the Fisher affirmative action case last week, he was able to successfully “gut his own precedent.” [Washington Post]

* With a net worth between $7.6M and $25M, if Judge Merrick Garland were ever to be confirmed to the position for which he’s been nominated, then he’d be the wealthiest SCOTUS justice of them all. According to their financial disclosures, the next wealthiest justice is Stephen Breyer, with a net worth between $6.1M and $16M. [ABA Journal]

* Disbarred defense attorney F. Lee Bailey — who you may remember as being part of O.J. Simpson’s “dream team” — filed for bankruptcy in an attempt to escape $5M+ of debt owed to the IRS. He says the IRS previously turned down his settlement offers because he’s “a celebrity, and it would look bad for them.” [Portland Press Herald]

* The deal to combine drug giants Allergan and Pfizer in an inversion was called off after the US Treasury announced new rules to limit the tax benefits of moving the corporate headquarters overseas. [Quartz]

* Should the IRS be going after the Pittsburgh Penguins for letting Sidney Crosby live in the owner’s house? [Bloomberg / BNA]

* Pretty sure Vivia Chen has covered all the options in her latest article exploring the benefits of having women leaders at law firms. [Careerist]

* Corporations may be taking an active role in opposing the recent spate of anti-LGBTQ legislation, but that still doesn’t make them people. [Reuters]

* “Jackie” from the Rolling Stone UVA rape article, which is now the subject of litigation, will have to testify in the pending action, despite her lawyer’s claim that revisiting the incident would be traumatizing. [Gawker]

* Is the Bible about to become the official state symbol of Tennessee? [NPR]

* Claiming to be a sovereign citizen is silly, and it certainly won’t insulate you from charges of chid sex abuse and kidnapping. [Jezebel]

* Lawsuit ahead for Rosie O’Donnell! The comedienne was sued by a former The View producer she was allegedly mean to. [Jezebel]

* The Amazing Schneiderman is at it again! This time he’s going after Martin Shkreli for antitrust violations. [Dealbreaker]

* So Justice Breyer heard a case about a company he holds stock in. The self-monitoring SCOTUS does for conflicts seems to be working out swimmingly. [Fix the Court]

* The IRS computers are still on Window XP. Good thing we don’t give them super sensitive information or anything. [TaxProf Blog]

* Looks like Clay County, Tennessee, schools will indeed stay open. Score one for litigation. [Slate]

* Sure to get Second Amendment enthusiasts fired up: let’s create a Mount Doom for guns! [Wonkette]

* $5 for some [possibly] unauthorized legal advice? Still sounds like a raw deal. [The Associate’s Mind]

* A judge limits the questions a doctor can ask patients — when they’re about guns, that is. [Harvard Law And Policy Review]

* Is it even possible to have non-lawyer friends? Don’t they all leave you once you’ve canceled plans for the 800th time? [Daily Lawyer Tips]

* Are you one of the millions of Americans wasting time at work compiling your draft order in anticipation of fantasy football season? Then there’s a case in Florida you should pay attention to… [ATL Redline]

* One Texas clerk’s bid to make their small-minded beliefs more important than the Supreme Court’s ruling has cost taxpayers a mere $43,000. [Dallas Morning News]

* How can you look professional, but still shop ethically? [Corporette]

* In obvious, but depressing, news — the lonely road to partnership for black lawyers. [New York Times]

* The IRS is wrong by 200% — don’t worry, I’m sure they’d be sympathetic if you were off by a mere 200% on your tax return. [Tax Prof Blog]

* Wherein part of your law school grade is determined by how well you know Strunk and White. Madness, madness, I say. [Chronicle of Higher Education]