Non-Sequiturs

  • Non-Sequiturs: 06.12.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 06.12.17

    * Maybe Comey already has a job lined up. [Chronicle of Higher Ed]

    * A deeper dive into Gorsuch’s first opinion and how it stacks up with those of the other justices. [Empirical SCOTUS]

    * Newt Gingrich sets land speed record on flip-flopping with his latest Bob Mueller tweet. [Salon]

    * I already said it this morning, but it bears repeating. [Lawfare]

    * Is it discriminatory to broadcast Cleveland Indians games? Canadian tribunal allows this argument to move forward. [Turtle Talk]

    * What’s the official state exercise of Illinois? [Lowering the Bar]

    * Interesting legal battle going on within the Catholic Church. [Canon Law Blog]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 06.09.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 06.09.17

    * Donald Trump has said that he is willing to testify, under oath, to dispute James Comey’s Senate testimony. The progressive stages of grief go something like this…
    Denial: He’ll never do it.
    Anger: He SHOULD, lying orange f**k.
    Bargaining: ‘Course, he’s crazy enough that he just might do it.
    Depression: Like any of these spineless Republicans would prosecute him for the perjury he’d certainly commit anyway.
    Acceptance: Donald Trump is going to be president for the rest of my life. [CNN]

    * Deutsche Bank is standing by their man, and their man is Donald Trump [Levin Report]

    * ACLU is suing Missouri to stop implementation of Voter ID law. [Election Law Blog]

    * Uh oh, the police mistakenly left their latest young black shooting victim alive to tell his side of the story. [The Root]

    * This week in white people. [CNN]

    * Trump’s social media director violated the Hatch Act. If Obama’s social media director did that, it’d lead the news. If Hillary’s social media director did that, there’d be Senate hearings. But it’s Trump’s so… people will treat it like the minor story it is. [Huffington Post]

    * White victimization media is very concerned about bad language. Yeah, the same people who elected the most openly foul-mouthed president since recording devices were invented are very concerned that Senator Kristen Gillibrand has been dropping some F-bombs at events. And they seem giddy that Reza Aslan has been dropped from CNN after some Tweets where he called President Trump a “piece of s**t.” I gotta agree with CNN here: insulting fecal matter is unprofessional. Most decent people would rather have a steaming turd representing America than the orange embarrassment we’re currently stuck with, so Aslan seems way out of line. [Breitbart]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 06.08.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 06.08.17

    * How I learned to stop worrying and love the First Amendment. [Slate]

    * The most burning question after James Comey’s testimony. [The Slot]

    * Remain ever vigilant. [Salon]

    * Big new jobs in legal academia. [National Jurist]

    * Remembering tax law legend Bill Andrews. [Tax Prof Blog]

    * Will the Russia probe make stars of the lawyers involved? [Law and More]

    * If you’re in New York and want to know more about litigation finance, check out this event. [Eventbrite]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 06.07.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 06.07.17

    * Ben Wittes on James Comey’s prepared testimony (which he’ll deliver tomorrow): “the most shocking single document compiled about the official conduct of the public duties of any President since the release of the Watergate tapes.” [Lawfare]

    * Could the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program be eliminated — retroactively? Thoughts from Professor Gregory Crespi. [SSRN]

    * The California Supreme Court appears less than enthused about a ballot measure that would compel the courts to decide death penalty cases more quickly. [How Appealing]

    * Behind every great bestseller is… a tiger mother? How Amy Chua mentored J.D. Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy (affiliate link). [The Atlantic]

    * Picking up on Shannon Achimalbe’s post from earlier today, here’s additional financial advice for young lawyers. [SoFi]

    * Legal technology is a godsend — but what do you do when problems arise? [Reboot Your Law Practice]

    * Mark your calendars: one week from today, on June 14 in San Francisco, it’s the Battle of the (Law Firm) Bands! [Family Violence Appellate Project]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 06.06.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 06.06.17

    * Prominent human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, along with her husband, welcomed twins, Ella and Alexander. Congrats! [CNN]

    * New reports suggest Donald Trump got his panties in a bunch when Jeff Sessions had an attack of ethics. [The Hill]

    * The Supreme Court’s decision in the North Carolina racial gerrymandering case isn’t all good news. [Rewire]

    * Involuntary manslaughter charges for two in connection with the Oakland Ghost Ship fire that killed 36, including a rising legal mind. [Los Angeles Times]

    * Opening statements in the biggest defamation trial in American history. [The Hollywood Reporter]

    * 89-year-old law professor still going strong. [Tax Prof Blog]

    * How should mid-trial tears be handled? [Law and More]

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  • Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 06.05.17

    * Commuting to work counts as “work,” according to the European Court of Justice. I think five-year-olds everywhere would agree. [Independent]

    * Harvard College rescinded the offers of 10 prospective students for trading sexually explicit memes and messages targeting minorities. When reached for comment, the Alt-Right First Amendment brigade decried the school’s lack of “intellectual diversity” probably, before masturbating to Birth of a Nation. [Harvard Crimson]

    * Adam Feldman Empirical SCOTUS breaks down how the Court can avoid the stupid Travel Ban. [Empirical SCOTUS]

    * Bill Cosby walked into his trial with Keshia Knight Pulliam. Pulliam played “Rudy” on the popular television show “The Cosby Show,” which has now been ruined forever. [The Root]

    * Everybody is enjoying the Real Press Sec Twitter bot. [The Hill]

    * Flint is one of those places where white people are winning the race war. [New York Daily News]

    * Trump’s support didn’t predominately come for the white working class. It came from the white stupid class. [Washington Post]

    * Since the Nazis have won anyway, sure, I’m ready for some football. I guess. Who cares. I envy the dead. [Deadspin]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 06.02.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 06.02.17

    * Michael Bloomberg has offered to pay the United States’ share to the United Nations as part of the Paris climate agreement that Trump is trying to stop. It’s a nice gesture, but it also feels like how Old World oligarchs used to pay people to look the other way instead of overthrowing the incompetent king. [Forbes]

    * Former Penn State officials, including former president Graham B. Spanier, have been sentenced to jail time in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. [New York Times]

    * Evergreen State remains on lockdown due to threats related to its “Day of Absence.” Massa don’t like it much when you lock him out. [KIRO 7]

    * Thief stole a backpack off one of the dying heroes in the Portland attack. Looks like they caught him. [Gizmodo]

    * You’re still not allowed to protest at the Supreme Court. [Courthouse News Service]

    * Wasn’t there a Law and Order about a fertility specialist who used his own sperm instead of the donor sperm people thought they were getting? [Slate]

    * Time for some promos: If you are interested in Loving, there’s a great event centered around it at the WNYC Green Space on Monday, June 12th. [Greene Space]

    * If, on the other hand, you happen to be in San Francisco, join us on June 13th for Better Know A Circuit. We’ll be discussing the Ninth Circuit… which has been in the news recently, for some reason. [Above the Law]

    * Now for our weekly check-in with White Pride media. … Oh God, they’re still on the Kathy Griffin story. When it comes to having a persecution complex, right-wing media makes Jesus on the Cross look like a brother crying over a splinter. [Breitbart]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 05.31.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 05.31.17

    * What you can learn from Tiger Woods’s DUI arrest. [Versus Texas]

    * Are we in the new age of monopolies? [Salon]

    * This is reading an awful lot into unanimous Supreme Court decisions. [Washington Post]

    * New York isn’t the liberal utopia you might think it is. [Jezebel]

    * The election law gap between red states and blue states. [Election Law Blog]

    * In NYC? Then join WNYC’s All Things Considered host Jami Floyd for a conversation about Loving v. Virginia on June 12th. [The Greene Space]

    * Call off the lawyers. [Law and More]

    * What’s the opposite of banning something? [Huffington Post]

    * Theorizing over Jared Kushner’s motivation. [Slate]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 05.30.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 05.30.17

    * Harvard law students go all out in everything they do — and lying is no exception. [New Yorker]

    * If you’re looking to purchase ancillary legal services (e.g., business or litigation support), check out the Buying Legal Guide, just launched today by the Buying Legal Council and Legal.io. [Buying Legal Guide]

    * Joshua Matz explains how and when the Supreme Court might review the Trump travel ban (aka “Muslim ban”). [Take Care via How Appealing]

    * Speaking of the courts, here’s Professor Carl Tobias’s advice to President Donald Trump on how to fill those 100+ vacancies in the federal judiciary. [Washington and Lee Law Review Online]

    * Why is flying such a miserable experience? Blame not just the lawyers but also the index funds, as Matt Levine explains. [Bloomberg View]

    * A prominent professor sues Columbia Law School, alleging age discrimination. [TaxProf Blog]

    * Professor Eugene Volokh explains the First Amendment to government officials: “no, the government may not deny permits for speech because it views the speech as promoting ‘bigotry or hatred.'” [Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]

    * Additional thoughts on what TC Heartland means for venue in patent cases, from IP columnist Gaston Kroub. [On the Docket / George Washington Law Review]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 05.26.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 05.26.17

    Ed. note: Above the Law will not be publishing on Monday, May 29, in honor of Memorial Day. We’ll see you on Tuesday, May 30 — which is when we plan to issue our latest ATL Law School Rankings.

    * A Texas police chief is under investigation for allegedly calling a woman a “black bitch” after an altercation in a Walmart parking lot. The police chief was giving his 14-year-old daughter driving lessons at the time, and I’m comfortable drawing a straight line from the police/father’s behavior to 53% of white women voting for Donald Trump. [The Root]

    * I think this link has something to do with art. Potentially, there’s a lawsuit about somebody who copies art? I really don’t know. Somebody at Above the Law sent me a link about art, told me to put it here, but didn’t summarize the relevant art facts to me, and… well, I’m just not going to muster the focus to read a whole story about art. [Jezebel]

    * Joel Cohen, Judge Jed S. Rakoff, and Judge Richard Posner debate “alternative facts,” because this is now an issue in our crumbling society. [Slate]

    * Long Island family awarded over $8 million because cops Tased disabled man four times. [New York Law Journal]

    * Preet Bharara says recently elected Montana Congressperson, Greg ‘The Body-Slammer’ Gianforte, would “face deportation” if he was an immigrant. [The Hill]

    * Most respectable publications are reporting on Trump’s embarrassing performance in Europe. Do you think that has filtered all the way down to the white supremacist media that is in charge of the country? [Breitbart]

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  • Non-Sequiturs: 05.25.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 05.25.17

    * If two regional firms merge, do they become one national firm? [Philly.com] * The incredibly balanced year of the patent. [Empirical SCOTUS] * They don't call Law & Order: SVU ripped from the headlines for no reason. [Law and More] * The plan to remake federal courts over in Trump's image. I just threw up a little in my mouth. [The Hill] * AG Jeff Sessions seems pretty busy throwing an FBI investigator under the bus. [Huffington Post] * This is the kind of lawsuit that gives plaintiffs' attorneys a bad name. [Fox 25] * CBO proves: ACHA is a terrible idea. [Slate] * I'm sure Trump's motivation for this is completely pure. [Washington Post]
  • Non-Sequiturs: 05.24.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 05.24.17

    * Not that I have any sympathy for lawyers who agree to represent Trump, but he must be the world’s worst client. [Levinson and Stefani]

    * Somebody sent a mailer trying to shame people into voting. The letters included the names of their neighbors and whether or not they voted. Nobody knows who sent the letters. Other than that, no concerns. [Los Angeles Times]

    * Being “color blind” to race is unhelpful, except in hiring. [Slate]

    * Bill Cosby lawyers are pissed that only two black people are on the jury for his trial. That probably means they’re planning some kind of elaborate race-based defense that will piss me off. “Women are lying about being raped because there are too many funny black men. Dave Chapelle is next.” [TMZ]

    * To be honest, I forgot that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau existed. [Wall Street Journal]

    * Playboy model Dani Mathers pleaded no contest to misdemeanor invasion of privacy for body-shaming a woman at her gym. The system worked, I believe. [Eyewitness News]

    * Not legal, but there’s a chance some people working late haven’t seen this yet and, well, seems to me that your clients can spot you the two minutes.

  • Non-Sequiturs: 05.23.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 05.23.17

    * What are the best way for working moms to level up their childcare (assuming you have the money to do so)? [CorporetteMoms]

    * It was great that Justice Thomas sided with the majority in the North Carolina gerrymandering case, but here’s the skinny on why Justice Kennedy didn’t sign on as well. [Election Law Blog]

    * Louis Vuitton is gearing up to have its day in front of the Supreme Court. [The Fashion Law]

    * Is “business casual” in its death throws? [The Atlantic]

    * Megyn Kelly is taking on 60 Minutes. [Law and More]

    * The latest Moot Court rankings. [TaxProf Blog]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 05.22.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 05.22.17

    * Leon Lawson has been charged with first degree assault for punching an opponent after the bell in a boxing match. Oh, let me back up, Leon Lawson is not a boxer. [The Sun]

    * Jurors in the Betty Shelby acquittal explain why they were too hungry and tired to give justice to Terrence Crutcher. [News 9]

    * Notre Dame was not feeling Mike Pence at commencement. [Shareblue]

    * Donald Trump is “exhausted.” This reminds me of every episode of Property Brothers where the couple agrees to help with the demolition, then realize that destroying a place is more tiring than it looks. [Salon]

    * New York’s wrongful death laws are painfully out of date. [New York Personal Injury Law Blog]

    * Enes Kanter, is a basketball player who can’t play defense, but he can stand up to Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Which means you can add “Enes Kanter” to the list of people who would be a better president than Donald Trump. [Deadspin]

    * I would not have slapped this white woman for calling me the n-word multiple times while I missed my bus stop. However, if I was Spider Man and he was running towards me after slapping this woman, I would not use my powers to stop him. Furthermore, if later I was standing over the body of my dead uncle and the man who slapped this white woman was his murderer and the cops came up to me and said “hey, we don’t have enough evidence to charge this guy for killing your uncle, but we have him dead to rights for slapping that white woman on the bus if you are willing to testify,” I would keep my mouth shut. [Daily Mail]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 05.19.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 05.19.17

    * Holy smokes! What subject just led the en banc Eleventh Circuit to issue almost 300 pages worth of opinions? [How Appealing]

    * I’m all in favor of anonymous blogging, but there’s no denying that it can be hazardous to one’s Article III ambitions. [BuzzFeed]

    * It’s not just President Donald Trump’s handshakes that can be dangerous (just ask Justice Neil Gorsuch); he’s weaponized the hug as well, as James Comey learned. [Althouse]

    * A high-profile visitor over at the Volokh Conspiracy: renowned First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams will be blogging about his new book, The Soul of the First Amendment (affiliate link). [Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]

    * Speaking of books, here’s Professor Lisa Pruitt on J.D. Vance’s (critically acclaimed, bestselling) memoir, Hillbilly Elegy (affiliate link): “I knew Yale law degrees were valuable, but Vance’s seems to be working miracles.”

    * And here are some reflections from Professor Andrew Guthrie Ferguson on whether fear should be part of the law school experience. [PrawfsBlawg]

    * Mark your calendars: June 14 in San Francisco, Battle of the (Law Firm) Bands! [Family Violence Appellate Project]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 05.18.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 05.18.17

    * Congratulations to Howard Bashman and our sister site How Appealing on 15 great years! [How Appealing]

    * Roger Ailes, RIP. [Instapundit]

    * Fellowships for training law professors are now a thing — but are they a good thing, wonders Professor Paul Horwitz? [PrawfsBlawg]

    * “Immigration, Freedom, and the Constitution” — reflections on these timely topics from Professor Ilya Somin. [Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]

    * Professor Leah Litman breaks down Rod Rosenstein’s appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel in the Trump/Russia investigation. [Take Care]

    * Tips from cyberspace lawyer Andrew Rossow for victims of the recent “WannaCry” ransomware attack. [Huffington Post]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 05.17.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 05.17.17

    * Congratulations to Erwin Chemerinsky, the next dean of Berkeley Law! [How Appealing]

    * Speaking of deans, this Yale dean — note, not a dean at the law school — “loves diversity, except for ‘white trash.’” [Instapundit]

    * The latest entrant into the FBI director sweepstakes: former senator Joe Lieberman, now senior counsel at one of Donald Trump’s “go-to” law firms, Kasowitz Benson. [Newsweek]

    * “Americans like piece of paper? I have piece of paper!” [Althouse]

    * In case you were wondering, “Did Rosie O’Donnell ever study constitutional law?” [NewsBusters]

    * Legal nerds, let’s get ready to rumble! Professor Gerard Magliocca asks: “Is Justice Story overrated?” [Concurring Opinions]

    * Shearman & Sterling partner (and podcaster) Richard Hsu is joining the Major leagues — legal recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa, that is. [LinkedIn]

    * Randy Maniloff interviews celebrated lawyer/author Scott Turow, whose new book, Testimony (affiliate link), just came out. [Coverage Opinions]

    * An argument in favor of protecting your cellphone with your thumbprint and a password. [Katz Justice]

    * “If you had to choose a law partner from the characters in Better Call Saul, who would you choose?” [Guile is Good]

    * If you’re a law student interested in ediscovery, check out this contest, sponsored by kCura. [kCura via PR Newswire]