Michigan
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Election Law, Justice, Politics
If You Forget To Take A Selfie With Your Vote, Does It Still Count? (YES, YOU IDIOTS)
Elie Mystal can't believe that these people are forcing him to formulate an opinion on ballot selfies. -
Technology
Today's Tech: How The State Bar Of Michigan Is Embracing Technology
This is how one state bar association is supporting it members and helping them practice law more effectively in the 21st century. - Sponsored
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Election Law
Should Ballot Selfies Be Legal During Election 2016?
Have you ever taken a ballot selfie?
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 06.16.16
* Superfans of Seinfeld will remember the Michigan bottle scam, wherein Kramer and Newman try to return bottles to Michigan for the 10 cent deposit. Apparently, that’s a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison, as this poor sap is learning the hard way. [11 Points]
* Intelligence Squared is circulating a petition to fix the presidential debate. They want to see robust policy discussions not gotcha questions… maybe this’d work if Donald Trump weren’t one of the candidates. [Change.org]
* You need to take care of yourself in order to fight the legal battles that need to be fought. [Katz Justice]
* Now that the D.C. Circuit has upheld the FCC’s right to enforce net neutrality, what will the Supreme Court do about it? [Slate]
* Has the fact that there are only 8 justices on the Supreme Court affected its cert rate? [Empirical SCOTUS]
* U.S. District Judge David Godbey ruled, no, Texas, you can’t sue the federal government over Syrian refugees. [Huffington Post]
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 11.16.15
* Is Andrews Kurth facing a possible mega-malpractice judgment? If you know more, please drop us a line. [MahanyLaw]
* Elsewhere in Texas, a UT law student stands accused of leading an intimidation campaign against a professor of Israel studies. [Legal Insurrection]
* Advice from our columnist Keith Lee on how to write an excellent legal memo. [Associate’s Mind]
* Did Michigan prosecutors pressure the state’s crime lab to falsely classify the origins of THC the lab was testing? [The Intercept]
* An interview about interviews: Richard Hsu interviews Bryan A. Garner about Professor Garner’s famous series of interviews with Supreme Court justices. [Hsu Untied]
* Does your employer offer assistance with student loan repayment as an employee benefit — and should it? [Tuition.io]
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Federal Judges, Old People
93-Year-Old Federal Appellate Judge Would Appreciate It If You Could Wrap This Case Up Before He Dies
This poor old judge really wants this case to end. -
Benchslaps
Judge Learns His Place The Hard Way
Judge mistakes his role during a trial and gets benchslapped for his efforts. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 04.09.15
* That was quick! It turns out that David Aylor, the lawyer who once represented Michael Slager, the recently fired South Carolina police officer charged with murdering Walter Scott, kicked his client to the curb when he saw the damning video of the shooting. [Daily Beast]
* Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the number of federal weapons charges county court-at-law judges rack up in a single indictment. Seventy-year-old Judge Tim Wright faces up to 70 years in prison for allegedly selling guns illegally and trafficking them to Mexico. Yeehaw! [TWC News]
* Hot off its merger with Dacheng last quarter, Dentons is kicking off the second quarter of 2015 by merging with McKenna Long & Aldridge. Thanks to back-to-back mergers, Baker & McKenzie is now second to Dentons in terms of attorney headcount. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Warner Norcross & Judd refused to take up the defense of Michigan’s same-sex marriage ban before SCOTUS — but that didn’t stop the firm’s head of appellate litigation from getting involved. He’s now on a leave of absence from the firm. [National Law Journal]
* For those of you who are interested, here’s the ABA Journal’s question of the week: “What was the first moment you knew you wanted to be a lawyer?” For many lawyers, the question can be answered thusly: “When I realized I couldn’t be a doctor.” [ABA Journal]
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 12.31.14
* In protest, the NYPD has adopted a policy of only making arrests “when they have to.” Shouldn’t that have been the policy all along? Maybe this petulant protest is a good thing after all. [New York Post]
* Michigan banned college athletes from unionizing. Which makes sense because this is an amateur activity that couldn’t possibly afford to pay the students taking risks on the field. In other news, on the exact same day the state of Michigan agreed to pay $5 million a year to the guy who will yell at those same kids. [M Live]
* Do you want a Bryan Garner Bobblehead? For charity? Of course you do. [Law Prose]
* Boies Schiller steps into the Octagon. [Yahoo! Sports]
* Lawyers are sneaking religion into court much more frequently these days. [What About Clients?]
* More fallout from the California Bar Exam results. [Bar Exam Stats]
* The D.D.C. declined to enjoin Abd Al Rahim Hussayn Muhammad Al Nashiri’s military commission trial. Professor Vladeck thinks this decision is dumb. [Lawfare]
* While we’re on the subject of law professors dissing dumb legal arguments, Professor Barnett has some real problems with Nebraska and Oklahoma trying to use Raich to sue Colorado. [The Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]
* Why the f**k should you care about net neutrality? Here’s why:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8bV8IhbRrQ
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Litigators, Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners, Technology
Today's Tech: An Appellate Attorney And His Sony Tablet
What are the advantages for lawyers of the Sony tablet over the iPad? -
Affirmative Action, Education / Schools, Minority Issues, Politics, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
3 Reasons Affirmative Action Will Be Okay Despite Schuette Decision
The Schuette decision is bad for affirmative action, but it's not the end. -
6th Circuit, Antonin Scalia, Biglaw, Federal Judges, Gay, Gay Marriage, Insider Trading, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Morning Docket: 03.24.14
* Justice Antonin Scalia isn’t quite ready to publicly weigh in on whether computer data is considered a protected “effect” under the Fourth Amendment. “[T]hat may well come up [before the Supreme Court],” he says. Thanks NSA. [Business Insider]
* “[I]t doesn’t take many bad apples in a barrel to cause a stink.” No matter how hard Biglaw firms try to keep their confidential information locked down, someone’s going trade on it. It looks like STB is learning that the hard way. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]
* The day after Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage was struck down by Judge Bernard Friedman, couples who rushed to marry were met with some serious Sixth Circuit sadness. Way to stay and spoil all of the celebrations, judges. [New York Times]
* “We’re not the Cleveland Browns,” says one of Case Western Law’s interim co-deans. With that kind of a glowing endorsement, we don’t see how this law school could possibly fail. [Crain’s Cleveland Business]
* Rutgers Law-Newark has a new low-bono fellowship program “believed to be the first of its kind in the nation.” Some other law schools might have a bone to pick about that statement. [New Jersey Star-Ledger]
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Benchslaps, Federal Judges, Gay, Gay Marriage, Trials
The Benchslap Dispatches: Judge Not Interested In Yale Law Student's 'Opinions'
Check back with the court after you graduate, kiddo.
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Attorney Misconduct, Jury Duty, Legal Ethics, Quote of the Day
Words Jurors Are Too Dumb To Hear In Public Include 'Guilty,' 'Not Guilty,' And 'Innocent'
Why did this lawyer have to spend time in jail for saying the word 'guilty'? -
Abortion, Health Care / Medicine, Insurance, Politics, Rape
Do Women Need 'Rape Insurance'?
If there were such a thing as rape insurance, Tamara Tabo would surely buy it. But this is abortion insurance, not rape insurance. -
Bar Exams, Law Schools
Harder Michigan Bar Is Here To Stay
Is the Michigan bar exam too hard, or are students in Michigan too dumb? -
Guns / Firearms, Minority Issues, Racism, Violence
Misdirection And Casting Aspersions: The Predictable Response To My Stand Your Ground Post
Tamara Tabo responded to my post about Stand Your Ground laws in the wake of the Renisha McBride shooting. It was what I'd expected. -
Guns / Firearms, Minority Issues, Racism, Violence
A Person Not A Political Prop: Questions About Renisha McBride's Tragic Death
Before leapfrogging over the specifics of Renisha’s case and launching a politically motivated rant, let’s look at what we do and don’t know about the tragedy that occurred on that Dearborn Heights porch. -
Guns / Firearms, Minority Issues, Racism, Violence
Another Black Teenager Shot Dead -- Is 'Stand Your Ground' To Blame?
Another state's Stand Your Ground law is about to become a big issue, even if it never comes up in the case. -
10th Circuit, Christopher Christie, Drugs, Gay Marriage, Labor / Employment, Law Reviews, New Jersey, Non-Sequiturs, SCOTUS, Sports, Technology
Non-Sequiturs: 10.21.13
* Law firm Halloween party advice. I disagree with some of this — my “Sexy John Marshall” costume was always a hit. [Greedy Associates / FindLaw] * The Supreme Court is expected to review a 10th Circuit decision holding that corporations are people and can exercise religious rights. Hopefully the Supreme Court stops this madness before my cable company has the right to bear arms. [Constitutional Accountability Center] * Governor Chris Christie has dropped his appeal of the New Jersey court decision authorizing same-sex marriage. He finally worked out that his own homophobia wasn’t worth being on the wrong side of 61 percent of Jersey voters. [Politico] * Let’s go get some Molly! [Law and More] * California is tightening up its Workers’ Comp rules for former professional athletes. From now on, injured ex-jocks need to prove a more significant tie to the state to collect compensation. This presents a problem for a lot of former football players who now have to admit they played for the Raiders. [The Legal Blitz] * Judge Smith of the New York Court of Appeals gets a scathing open letter. It’s fun when lawyers go “Flame On!” toward judges they might eventually be in front of. [New York Personal Injury Law Blog] * Governor Rick Snyder is asking a judge to drop her request to see unredacted copies of internal emails about the search for the Detroit emergency manager. Because nothing seemed sketchy about employing a law that had been specifically repealed by Michigan voters to overturn the democratically elected leadership of a major metropolis to install a partner from a firm that just so happens to get chosen as bankruptcy counsel, earning a ton of fees from the whole affair. Nothing at all. [Detroit News] * Guy sues Apple because he hates iOS 7. Not the dumbest suit ever brought against Apple. [BGR] * Entertainment lawyer Harry M. Brittenham moonlights as the author of graphic novels. A lawyer writing comic books may sound like a guy living in his mom’s basement, but he’s actually married to Heather Thomas from The Fall Guy. [New York Times] * Not everyone thinks law reviews are awful. [The Volokh Conspiracy]