Muslims

He believes that 'diversity is something that enhances legal scholarship.'

He may be the first, but he won't be the last.

Suddenly people were getting tear gassed, and everyone was running.

In his rush to bigotry, Trump gave the ACLU a key opening.

The reality of Trumpworld is that the only Americans that matter now are white people.

A debate on religious freedom and the burkini.

The Burkini Ban might be on the way out. A French Court just said "Zut! Ceci idée est très imbecile!"

* Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father of a deceased Muslim soldier who offered a stern rebuke for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during the Democratic National Convention, has taken his law firm’s website offline in the face of incredibly harsh criticism from many of Trump’s supporters. [RT]

* This brings a whole new meaning to the term “gunner”: Earlier this week, a campus carry law went into effect at public schools in Texas, and law students at UT Law, Texas Southern Law, Texas Tech Law, Texas A&M Law, U. Houston Law, and North Texas Law may now bring concealed weapons with them to school. [Law.com]

* Yesterday afternoon, President Barack Obama commuted the sentences of 214 prisoners, the most in a single act since at least 1900. According to White House counsel Neil Eggleston, the president’s work is “far from finished,” and he expects that clemency will continue to be granted through the end of his final term. [Big Law Business]

* After a week of voter ID laws being struck down in battleground states, Texas has agreed to weaken its own voter ID law. Citizens without proper identification will now be able to present a government document with their name and address and sign an affidavit to vote. This will “open the door to voting” for many people. [New York Times]

* In response to Freedom of Information Act requests, the Clinton Library has released more than 1,300 pages of files on Supreme Court nominee Chief Judge Merrick Garland. It’s really interesting to see what people who refuse to hold a vote for him now had to say when they voted on his D.C. Circuit nomination almost 20 years ago. [POLITICO]

Newt Gingrich is up to his old tricks.

She's smashing stereotypes left and right and teaching lawyers to accept others.

* Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has already attacked a federal judge due to his “Mexican heritage,” and now he’s speaking out about judges’ religious beliefs. Trump apparently thinks Muslim judges would be biased against him due to his plans to ban Muslim immigrants. [New York Times]

* Reviled pharma bro Martin Shkreli finds himself on the wrong side of the law, again: He — along with his ex-attorney, Evan Greebel (formerly of Kaye Scholer) — has been accused of scheming to defraud potential investors of Retrophin, the drug company Shkreli founded in 2011. [Associated Press]

* Ouch! Last week, Norton Rose stole an entire practice group from Sidley Austin. The 17-member public finance group, including six partners, will move to San Francisco, marking the firm’s entrance into the Northern California market. [Big Law Business]

* Dean Phyliss Craig-Taylor of North Carolina Central University School of Law has been appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Congratulations! [News & Observer]

* A suit filed against Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby that accused her of firing prosecutors due to their political associations has been dismissed. According to Judge J. Frederick Motz (D. Md.), prosecutors can be fired for political reasons. [Baltimore Sun]

What do you think about Donald Trump's "highly political" proposal?

* Blame Kelly Drye for the lack of exotic snake regulations, because what could go wrong in an unregulated market for spitting cobras? [Slate]

* New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is instating mass pardons for youthful offenders. [New York Times]

* A Texas alumni group has apologized for calling Justice Scalia a racist. I guess scientists are made of sterner stuff. [Chronicle of Higher Education]

* The founding fathers were better about defending the rights of Muslims than (some) modern Republicans. [Washington Post]

* Preet Bharara’s latest target — the evils of auto-subscribing. [Law and More]

* Ah, the Christmas season. That time of the year when customer service is paradoxically at its best and worst. [That’s My Argument!]

* The verdict against former White House counsel J. Michael Farren has been affirmed by the Connecticut Appellate Court. [Legal Profession Blog]

Whatever you might think of Trump’s plan as a policy matter, it is in full accordance with the Constitution, as columnist Kayleigh McEnany explains.

* Charlie Sheen, not one to beat around the bush, got right down to business in a motion to dismiss his ex-fiancée’s lawsuit, calling her an “extortionist who gets paid for sex as a prostitute and porn star.” Looks like someone could use some anger management. [Fox News]

* If you’ve been following the circus sideshow that is Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, you know that he’s proposed a ban on Muslims entering the country. Needless to say, this is likely completely unconstitutional, and many law profs agree on this point. [WSJ Law Blog]

* The GC of Allstate says law firm billing rates are way too damn high. Her pet peeve? “[T]he way law firms bill, the hourly rate system, and the fact that rates go up, or at least they try to have them go up year, after year, after year.” [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

* Everything’s bigger in Texas, except for this law school’s tuition: Texas A&M Law has announced that it will be lowering its in-state tuition by more than 15 percent, and then freezing it at that level for four years for all entering and current students. [PRNewswire]

* If you’re a minority who’s thinking about applying to law school, there are several important things you ought to take into consideration, including which schools will provide you with a “supportive, nurturing, mentoring environment.” [U.S. News]

* Congratulations to Loretta Lynch, who later today should be confirmed as the first African-American woman to serve as attorney general. [CNN]

* And congrats to baseball star Barry Bonds, whose obstruction of justice conviction just got overturned by the Ninth Circuit. [How Appealing]

* Dewey turned DLA Piper partner John Altorelli, alleged former paramour of Russian spy Anna Chapman, is back in the news — JP Morgan Chase accuses him of lying about his assets in his pending personal bankruptcy case. [American Lawyer]

* The many debaters-turned-lawyers out there might enjoy this look at the college debate career of presidential hopeful Ted Cruz. [New York Times]

* A satirical “killing Jews is his jihad” ad can’t be kept out of New York mass transit, per Judge John Koeltl (S.D.N.Y.). [ABA Journal]

* Retired General David Petraeus is expected to plead guilty later today to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling Paula Broadwell classified materials. [Washington Post]

* U.S. Supreme Court justices are getting grumpier, according to interesting research discussed by Paul Barrett. [Bloomberg View via How Appealing]

* With the U.S. Supreme Court about to decide the constitutionality of gay-marriage bans, what’s next for opponents of marriage equality? [New York Times]

* Standing up for “religious freedom” bills, for one thing — which is what Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is doing, telling corporations that plan to “bully[]” his state, “Save your breath.”
[New York Times]

What is this fellow’s name, and which law firm does he work for?

* 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft got to live out many an American’s fantasy: he got to screw a lawyer, again and again. [Gawker]

* “I guess if I had to change one thing, it would have been to go to law school after college. But I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up until I actually grew up, and by then it was a little too late for those goals.” [XX Factor / Slate]

* Hoboken councilwoman Beth Mason and her husband, Wachtell Lipton partner Ricky Mason, just got hit with more than $40,000 dollars in fines for election finance reporting violations. [Politicker NJ]

* Some thoughts from Professor Jonathan Adler on standing up for free speech in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings. [Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]

* Speaking of Charlie Hebdo, Professor Ann Althouse isn’t a fan of slobbery kisses. [Althouse]

* How do legal rules contribute to the evolution of the institution of marriage? Thoughts from Professors Naomi Cahn and June Carbone. [Concurring Opinions]

* Beef: it’s what’s for dinner (at the D.C. Circuit). [How Appealing] * “The Likelihood A Robot Will Steal Your Job, In One Picture.” Good news for lawyers, not-so-good news for paralegals. [Kotaku] * An interesting perspective from Professor Faisal Kutty: “Why Gay Marriage May Not Be Contrary To Islam.” [Huffington Post] * And from Willkie partner Francis J. Menton: “Argentina Is Joined In The Supreme Court By The Coalition Of Weasels.” (I’m guessing Willkie doesn’t represent many foreign sovereigns in fights against their creditors; that seems to be Cleary Gottlieb’s niche.) [Manhattan Contrarian via Instapundit] * A CLE event that offers a lot of bang for the buck. [National Firearms Law Seminar] * If you’ll be in Philadelphia tomorrow night, watch a bunch of Penn Law students beat up some punks from Wharton — for a good cause! [Wharton vs. Law: Fight Night; promotional video after the jump]

Which law schools are the best for the faithful? Or is that the dumbest question you've heard today?