John Roberts

* Will Chief Justice John Roberts be asked to testify before Congress for his role as the appointer of judges for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court? According to House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), it could happen, even though they “don’t know the correct way to proceed because of the separation of powers issue.” [National Law Journal]

* Quinn Emanuel’s Bill Burck is representing two Trump administration rejects (Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus) and a current major player in the Trump administration (Don McGahn), all at the same time. The discussion about whether there’s any conflict of interest here between Burck’s triple-play is pretty interesting. [American Lawyer]

* Sigfredo Garcia and Katherine Magbanua, who are both currently waiting to stand trial for the murder of Florida State Law Professor Dan Markel, are now facing some additional charges. The pair now face counts of conspiracy and solicitation to commit murder. We wonder when either of them will take a plea. [Tallahassee Democrat]

* In case you missed it, in a world first, Bermuda will be abolishing same-sex marriage, after legalizing same-sex marriage just one year ago. Same-sex marriages will now be referred to as domestic partnerships, conferring all the same rights that married couples have, but without the legal title. [Washington Post]

* Do you know this man? For years and years, this man’s portrait has been hanging outside the chief justice’s chambers at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, but no one has any idea who he is. Help name this mystery justice and win a prize! [AP]

* In case you missed it, Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times has noticed a trend when it comes to Chief Justice Roberts and who he’s been aligning himself with at the Supreme Court. He may not yet be a moderate, but he seems to be shying away from “the reliably right-wing triumvirate” of Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch. [New York Times]

* “The document speaks for itself.” All three of former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates’s lawyers are withdrawing as counsel, and will only explain why in documents filed under seal. Only his Biglaw attorney who is known for his plea deals remains. Gates is under indictment in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. [POLITICO]

* According to the latest year-end report from the Wells Fargo Private Bank’s Legal Specialty Group, law firm revenue and profits were up in 2017, and demand had increased for legal services. As usual, the most profitable firms at the top of the market outperformed their smaller counterparts. [American Lawyer]

* Trump administration policies having to do with immigration, specifically the H-1B visa program for foreign workers, may force many Biglaw firms to move to their practices to the cloud sooner than they would have liked. In times of “political uncertainty” like these, Biglaw can’t rely on “offshore labor arbitrage” for IT outsourcing. [TechTarget]

* The GC of the American Red Cross has resigned following the publication of a report that he praised a former colleague who was the subject of an internal investigation and pushed out of the organization for alleged instances sexual misconduct. [Corporate Counsel]

* Disgusting: A Georgia lawyer who asked a witness to recant an eyewitness account of her son’s molestation has politely gave up his license to practice law after pleading guilty to felony witness tampering and attempting to suborn perjury. [Big Law Business]

* Matthew Riehl, the gunman in the Colorado shooting this weekend who killed a deputy sheriff and wounded four police officers and two civilians, was a former lawyer in Wyoming whose alma mater, Wyoming Law, warned students about his “suspicious behavior” in early November. [Denver Post; Laramie Live]

* In his 2017 State of the Judiciary Report, Chief Justice John Roberts focused on court emergency preparedness, but included an addendum about sexual harassment within the judiciary, announcing that proper procedures must be in place to “ensure an exemplary workplace for every judge and every court employee.” No mention of the recently retired Judge Alex Kozinski was made. [Washington Post]

* Joel Sanders, the former CFO of failed firm Dewey & LeBoeuf who was convicted on securities fraud and conspiracy charges, has reached a settlement with the SEC, but the agency will move forward with proceedings against Stephen DiCarmine, the firm’s ex-executive director. [New York Law Journal]

* As usual, the new year brings with it a slew of new laws. In some states, voter ID laws will go into effect, while in others, police won’t be able to arrest people for immigration enforcement purposes. Plus, pets will be treated more like children after divorces in at least one state. [CNN]

* Speaking of new laws, marijuana is now fully legal in California, and if you’re 21 or older, you can now purchase and possess up to an ounce for recreational use. This a “monumental moment” for the Golden State, but don’t forget that the Feds still consider the drug to be an illegal Schedule I narcotic. [Los Angeles Times]

Ed. note: In honor of Columbus Day (and Canadian Thanksgiving), Above the Law will be on a reduced publication schedule. We’ll be back in full force tomorrow.

* Justice Neil Gorsuch’s arrival as a member of the Supreme Court hasn’t been the most graceful, and word on the street is that some of his new colleagues on the bench may bear some ill will towards him. A rift might even be developing between Gorsuch and Chief Justice Roberts. [CNN]

* Because Gorsuch is the Supreme Court’s newest justice, he has to share his office with Leroy. He’s being hazed by Scalia from beyond the grave. [Associated Press]

* As part of its new legal strategy in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian election interference investigation, the Trump administration has decided to — gasp! — be cooperative. Trump’s lawyers think that maybe if they play nice, Mueller will publicly clear the president’s name a little more quickly, or at all. [New York Times]

* In other news, President Trump took to Twitter this weekend to invoke the Federal Communications Commission’s equal time rules because he’s sick and tired of “unfunny” late-night TV hosts making fun of him without an opportunity to respond in kind. Perhaps you ought to stick with Twitter, Mr. President. [Fox News]

* Much like what happened with Traci Ribeiro’s case against Sedgwick, Winston & Strawn is trying to push Constance Ramos, a partner who left the firm amid allegations of gender bias and discrimination, into arbitration. [Am Law Daily]

* Lisa Bloom has been criticized left and right for taking on Harvey Weinstein as a client. Even her own mother, Gloria Allred, objected. Because mother knows best, Bloom resigned as counsel. Lanny Davis has also left the producer’s legal team. Down two lawyers, Weinstein was fired from his own company. [New York Times]

* A Michigan judge recently awarded joint legal custody and parenting time to a rape victim’s attacker. The child involved in this case is an 8-year-old boy, and the fellow who sexually assaulted his mother also happens to be a convicted sex offender. According to the victim’s attorney, “[t]his is insane”; she’s not wrong. [Detroit News]

* At a rally in front of Long Island police, Trump said that he was okay with police being “rougher” on arrested suspects. And the officers roared their approval. I grew up on Long Island. The first person to ever call me the N-word to my face was a Long Island police officer when I was a tween. I can’t explain to you guys how absolutely chilling and terrifying this moment was for me. I wish you MAGA people, you soft bigots who think that this is a game of your guy versus political correctness, could understand why people like me will never stop fighting people like you. [Lawyers Guns and Money]

* I’ve kind of moved passed the point where the courts tell Donald Trump that he cannot block people on Twitter, because I expect that will be a fairly obvious decision. I’m now wondering if the courts can order the specific performance of Trump unblocking those he doesn’t wish to hear. And, naturally, I’m wondering if people tweeting at him, day and night, things he can’t block, will make him cry. [Slate]

* This guy argues, more or less, that partisan gerrymandering is not the cause of our factionalized democracy, it’s merely one of the results. I think it’s more of a feedback loop: we’re factionalized, which leads to gerrymandering, which leads to more factionalization, and so on, until we get to the point where 60 million people can elect a crazy person to lord over a country of 320 million souls. That also probably explains why Dunkirk is going to win an Oscar. [Election Law Blog]

* I’d like to think of John Roberts vacationing in New Zealand like Gandalf visiting The Shire. I can picture him, smoking some pipe weed, setting off some fireworks, enjoying a moment untrammeled by thoughts of what’s happening back at home in Mordor. [Constitution Daily]

* I assume the GOP will now move onto tax reform, which is codenamed: “Operation Cannot Possibly Fail, Again.” Tax Prof blog has put together a fine collection of links on where we stand with that. [Tax Prof Blog]

* Checking in with white American news sources, it would appear that Fox News doesn’t recognize the defeat of the Republicans’ signature policy proposal for the past seven years as “headline” news. They’re much more interested in getting a special prosecutor to look into a couple of women who hold no public office, and the FBI director who handed them an election. But they’re not totally ignorant of what’s going on. “Couple jump to their deaths because they ‘can’t afford’ health care,” is a below-the-fold story. The Republican plan wouldn’t have reduced costs for this couple, nor made it easier for them to get the mental health services that could have saved their lives. But when you support a president whose stated policy goal is “implosion,” human tragedy furthers your aims. [Fox News]

* In case you missed last night’s dramatic moment:

https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/890815543258865664

* Now that the Supreme Court Term is over, it’s time to take stock of SCOTUS. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, law professors Sai Prakash and John Yoo posit that the staunchly originalist Justice Thomas “might have found a fellow traveler in Justice Gorsuch.” [How Appealing]

* Speaking of the Journal, it’s the end of an era: the beloved WSJ Law Blog is no more (but note that the Journal’s stellar legal coverage will remain in the newspaper and online). [WSJ Law Blog]

* There’s an embarrassment of riches hen it comes to SCOTUS Term wrap-ups. The MoloLamken overview is always one of the best — and one of the most useful, for the many Above the Law readers representing big business as lawyers in Biglaw. [MoloLamken]

* And if you like your Supreme Court reviews live, check out this one tomorrow night at the 92nd Street Y here in New York, featuring an all-star cast of commentators: Dan Abrams of ABC News, Joan Biskupic of CNN, Dean Trevor Morrison and Professor Kenji Yoshino of NYU Law, and moderator Thane Rosenbaum, director of NYU’s Forum on Law, Culture & Society. [FOLCS]

* Will Chief Justice John Roberts’s recent speech at his son’s graduation go down in history as one of the best commencement addresses ever? [Jane Genova — Speechwriter-Ghostwriter]

* And where is the Chief Justice spending the summer? Like many of his colleagues on the Court, JGR is leaving the country (and given what D.C. is like in the summer, you can’t blame him). [The Economist]

* A piece by NPR’s Nina Totenberg over the long weekend reignited the Justice Kennedy retirement rumors (which I’ve thrown cold water on last year and again last week — but even I admit that AMK might retire around this time next year). [Daily Intelligencer / New York Magazine]

* Jesus is fighting back against the bum rap he got. [The Onion]

* Kansas is the canary in the coal mine for the future of the United States. It… doesn’t look great. [Slate]

* When John Roberts is incredulous at a line of questioning an assistant solicitor general is going down, well, that’s not good for business. [Salon]

* Donald Trump hates the Ninth Circuit, wants to break them up. [Huffington Post]

* Getting fired really, really sucks. [Law and More]

* It’s like we live in the upside down. [Politico]

* Guess who gets to take advantage of President Donald Trump’s new tax plan? Lawyers and their law firms — which are largely organized as pass-through entities — will likely benefit greatly, as they’ll be able to reduce their tax rate from 39.6 percent to 15 percent. [ABA Journal]

* The Charlotte School of Law may be on the brink of collapse, but the school is heading to court to try to shake off three of the four federal class-action lawsuits that were filed by current students and recent graduates with motions to dismiss. We’ll have more on this later today. [Law.com]

* The Trump administration didn’t seem to fare very well during oral arguments in an immigration case yesterday. Chief Justice John Roberts certainly wasn’t impressed, and Justice Anthony Kennedy seemed even less so, dropping this benchslap: “It seems to me that your argument is demeaning the priceless value of citizenship.” [Reuters]

* Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai will propose a rollback of the Obama-era net-neutrality rule that regulated broadband internet providers as common carriers. Critics aren’t pleased: “It makes no sense. We cannot keep the promise of net neutrality openness and freedom without the rules that ensure it.” [Big Law Business]

* Four third-year students at Harvard Law have demanded that the administration provide clarification as to how it assesses applicants who have been accused or convicted of sexual assault. “We put forth a call for transparency and affirmative efforts demonstrating the school takes sexual assault seriously.” [Harvard Crimson]