Ninth Circuit

* President Donald Trump claims he has no plans to fire special counsel Robert Mueller — which, according to past precedent in the Trump administration, means Mueller’s days as special counsel may be numbered. [Washington Post]

* By order of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, the Second Circuit will be handling the formal inquiry into Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski’s alleged harassment of women who once served as his clerks and externs. [The Recorder]

* Like father-in-law, like son-in-law: a law firm is suing Jared Kushner’s real estate company for failure to pay any of its legal fees for work performed from December 2014 to May 2015. [New York Daily News]

* Uh oh… In other Kushner-related news, word on the street that’s since been confirmed by Abbe Lowell is that the first son-in-law’s legal team is trying to find a crisis public relations firm to handle inquiries into their client’s role in the Trump-Russia investigation. [Washington Post]

* According to recently released Standard 509 reports, law school enrollment was essentially flat between 2016 and 2017, with a negligible 0.7 percent decrease in law students. What’s more interesting is the fact that for the first time ever, law schools’ bar passage rates weren’t included in the reports. That information will be out next March, when it’s less helpful for prospective students. [ABA Journal]

* You’ve probably heard by now — Democrat Doug Jones is the newly elected Senator from Alabama. Donald Trump has accepted his party’s defeat in the Republican stronghold, but Roy Moore has yet to concede. [CNN]

* Rod Rosenstein will testify in front of the the House Judiciary Committee today. He’s expected to face questions about special counsel, Robert Mueller,  and potential conflicts of interest. [Los Angeles Times]

* Former House speaker Dennis Hastert is not to be left alone with children. That’s one of several new conditions federal district judge Thomas Durkin placed on Hastert, who pleaded guilty in 2015 to violating federal banking laws in connection with a scheme to cover-up his sexual abuse of teenage boys. [Washington Post]

* Senator Chuck Schumer does not play. He called the police after a forged document began circulating falsely accusing the senator of sexual harassment. [Axios]

* The Ninth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the Federal Arbitration Act. The plaintiffs claimed AT&T falsely advertised their “unlimited” service plans; the novel legal issue asked the court to hold AT&T be considered as acting for the state. [Law.com]

* Mecklenburg County, N.C. went public with their decision not to pay after being hit with a ransomware attack. Their data was backed up, the best defense against this kind of cyber attack. [Big Law Business]

* Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell thinks that the people of Alabama should choose Attorney General Jeff Sessions as a write-in candidate to replace alleged pederast Roy Moore on the ballot for his former seat, but the AG has no desire to return to the Senate. [NPR]

* The Ninth Circuit has temporarily allowed part of Travel Ban 3.0 to proceed. While that means issuances of visas to citizens of Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen will be restricted, there’s a catch. Applicants with concrete ties to the country will be exempt. [POLITICO]

* Wisconsin is so desperate to get lawyers to help indigent criminal defendants in rural areas that lawmakers have introduced new legislation that calls for the state to fund law school loan payments of up to $20,000 a year in exchange for the representation of these clients in need. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]

* Newsflash: In-house legal departments are planning to spend more on outside counsel in 2018. This is the first time this will have happened in more than a decade. Hopefully Biglaw’s fee hikes don’t come back to bite them. [Corporate Counsel]

* After a two-month national postal survey, Australians have voted “overwhelmingly” in favor of same-sex marriage. Now it’s up to the country’s government to work out the details of the bill that will bring marriage equality down under. Congrats! [CNN]

* The Ninth Circuit, President Donald Trump’s judicial archnemesis, affirms Judge Derrick Watson’s (modified) preliminary injunction against the “grandma ban.” [How Appealing]

* Donald Trump Jr. opens up to the Senate Judiciary Committee about that infamous June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer. [New York Times]

* Consolidation continues in the legal-services world: Counsel On Call acquires e-discovery company DSicovery LLC (DSi). [ABA Journal]

* The Trump administration sides with the anti-gay-marriage baker in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case that will be decided this coming Term by SCOTUS. [How Appealing]

* ICYMI: Deborah Farone — Cravath’s chief marketing director for the past 14 years, and the “gold standard” in legal marketing — is leaving Cravath to start her own consulting firm and to write a book on law firm marketing (to be published next year by the Practising Law Institute). [Law.com]

* Cooley raids Wilson Sonsini for talent for the second time in three months, this time hiring emerging growth specialists Jon Avina, Calise Cheng, and Rachel Proffitt. [Big Law Business]

* Legal research startup Casetext — led by CEO Jake Heller, COO Laura Safdie, and VP Pablo Arredondo — continues on its upward trajectory. [ABA Journal]

* On Tuesday, a Major League Baseball game had fewer than 6,000 in attendance. At the same time, the Second Circuit has to grapple with the fact that we still give this sport an antitrust exemption. [Law360]

* Justice William O’Neill of the Ohio Supreme Court took to Facebook to blast Cleveland Browns players for staging a silent, reverential protest of racial violence in America. With that, O’Neill successfully completes the first step in running for governor. [ABA Journal]

* “How do you go from the sixth-largest media market to the 40th and call it a win?” Antitrust attorney James Quinn on the NFL’s decision to move the Raiders to Las Vegas. [New York Law Journal]

* The battle between the St. Louis Cardinals and an animal welfare organization has stepped up a notch. I promise there’s non-sports legal news after the jump. [Deadspin]

* Hilarity ensues when Jeff Flake holds a hearing on splitting the Ninth Circuit and the hard-core Trump people use it to troll him. [The Recorder]

* Children conceived from frozen sperm can’t get survivor benefits. Well, this is a wacky one. [Law.com]

* Department of Education outlines the options available to Charlotte Law students. [Inside Higher Ed]

* Ministry objects to SPLC “hate group” label issued over a history of staunch anti-LGBT activism. [Sun-Sentinel]

* Credit where credit is due: Attorney General Jeff Sessions wins qualified praise for his forceful condemnation of the Charlottesville violence. [New York Times]

* Donald Trump needs all the legal help he can get — so he’s surely pleased and proud about daughter Tiffany Trump starting up at Georgetown Law this month. (More on this later.) [Washington Post]

* And wouldn’t it be incredibly awkward interesting to have Tiffany as a classmate in your Con Law class this semester? [New York Times via How Appealing]

* The ABA will reconsider its controversial, much-criticized changes to how law schools report graduate employment data. [Law.com]

* Taylor Swift prevails in her lawsuit accusing DJ David Mueller of groping her during a photo op. [Law360]

* Merger mania spreads — from Biglaw to boutiques. [Law.com]

* Tech company DreamHost will resist — a Justice Department effort to acquire information about visitors to an anti-Trump website set up to coordinate Inauguration Day protests. [Washington Post]

* An investors’ lawyer claims that his lawsuit against Duane Morris “could bankrupt that firm.” [Law.com]

* There are reasonable arguments for and against splitting up the Ninth Circuit, but the ABA’s position is clear: firmly opposed. [ABA Journal]

* As I noted in my last nominations roundup, the Trump administration is actually ahead of the Bush and Obama administrations when it comes to judicial appointments — especially with yesterday’s confirmation of Kevin Newsom to the Eleventh Circuit. [How Appealing]

* With Republicans in charge of the presidency and Senate, could breaking up the Ninth Circuit return to the agenda? [Law360]

* And here’s an interesting argument against a split, from the Republican point of view (by Wyatt Kozinski, following in his father’s footsteps). [SSRN]

* Capital punishment: yet another issue where it’s all about Justice Kennedy. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Thoughts from Joel Cohen on the Trump/Sessions troubles. [The Hill]

* How NOT to escape from your law school loans. [Gizmodo]

* If a pizza party isn’t your thing, here are some other ideas for what to eat when working hard at the law firm. [Cater2me]

* Litigation that lawyers can love: Mel Gibson files suit over a dictionary (okay, actually a movie about a dictionary — the Oxford English Dictionary). [Deadline]

* Congratulations to Judge Lorna G. Schofield (S.D.N.Y.) on receiving the Liberty Award from the ABA! [American Bar Association]