Preet Bharara

* President Donald Trump will reportedly visit the Supreme Court later this week for Justice Neil Gorsuch’s official investiture ceremony. Based on the president’s prior behavior, it may only be a matter of time before he refers to his appointee as an “absolute disaster” whose “mind is shot.” [USA Today]

* Former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara, who was fired by President Trump after he was asked to remain in his post, says phone calls he received from Trump made in an effort to “cultivate some kind of relationship” made him uncomfortable. In response, a spokesman for Marc Kasowitz called Bharara a “resistance Democrat,” and said “he deserved to be fired.” [Washington Post]

* In other news, Marc Kasowitz, who will likely be setting up an office on White House grounds where he can run President Trump’s defense, has reportedly told White House aides to hold off on hiring their own lawyers — a move that would only be in his client’s interest, and against their own. [New York Times]

* In defense to a lawsuit, the Justice Department has likened President Trump to George Washington (yup!), alleging that Trump isn’t violating the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution by accepting payments for goods and services like hotel bills and golf club fees from foreign governments. [Bloomberg]

* In the wake of former FBI director James Comey’s tell-all appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Attorney General Jeff Sessions will now have to testify himself on the ongoing probe into Russian’s election interference. Hmm, what will the recused AG have to say for himself? [New York Times]

* “It was really disgusting and really scary.” Joseph Amico of Las Vegas was arrested after he allegedly called New York lawyer Douglas Wigdor a “n**ger lover” and threatened to blow up his firm. Wigdor is representing plaintiffs in a racial discrimination lawsuit against Fox News Channel. [New York Daily News]

* Miguel A. Méndez, Stanford Law’s first Latino professor, RIP. [Stanford News]

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]

* According to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Judge Neil Gorsuch will be confirmed to the Supreme Court at about 11:30 a.m. on the first day of the Senate’s nuclear winter. Now that we’re in the nuclear age, when it’s time for the next SCOTUS nominee’s confirmation hearings, Senator Orrin Hatch “expect[s] Armageddon.” [CNN]

* It’s been about a month since Preet Bharara was ousted from his position as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and he isn’t mincing his words when it comes to his firing, calling it “a direct example of the kind of uncertain helter-skelter incompetence” people associate with the Trump administration. [New York Times]

* Speaking of the Trump administration’s “helter-skelter incompetence,” Twitter has filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security in an attempt to block an agency summons to reveal the identity of @ALT_uscis, an anonymous user who has used the social media platform to criticize the president’s immigration policies. [Reuters]

* According to the latest data from Bloomberg, Cleary Gottlieb handled the largest volume of M&A deals in 2017’s first quarter, with the firm involved in 22 deals worth more than $98 billion. Skadden Arps, Cravath, Kirkland & Ellis, and Slaughter and May fell in line behind Cleary, each surpassing $54 billion in deal volume. [Big Law Business]

* Welcome back, John White! Now that Mary Jo White has departed from her position at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and is back at Debevoise & Plimpton, her husband — who was the firm’s lone nonequity partner for four years — will return to the firm’s equity partnership, where he can enjoy all of the rain he makes. [Am Law Daily]

* Oof, how do you tell a client when there’s bad news? [Reboot Your Law Practice]

* Preet’s impossible dream: beating Trump in 2020. [Law and More]

* Facebook telethon for the ACLU. [Huffington Post]

* Will the Gorsuch confirmation be delayed until after the FBI investigation into Trump’s Russia ties? [Slate]

* Artificial intelligence and the law — it’s like a bad buddy comedy from the future. [The Fashion Law]

* Neil Gorsuch really isn’t a fan of people voting. [Salon]

* Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it… especially when it’s rumored that you were the inspiration for seminal 80s character Ferris Bueller and you’re now under consideration to be Preet Bharara’s replacement as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Edward McNally works for Kasowitz Benson now, but he’s reportedly a leading contender for the job. [Wall Street Journal]

* Preet Bharara, on the other hand, is now considering taking up teaching at a prestigious law school — like Columbia, Harvard, or NYU — or going into private practice at a prestigious Biglaw firm — like Gibson Dunn or WilmerHale. Who knew being fired after refusing to resign could work out so well? [Wall Street Journal]

* Sources claim that President Trump will nominate Makan Delrahim to lead the Justice Department’s antitrust division. Currently employed as a deputy in the Office of White House Counsel, Delrahim previously served in the DOJ antitrust division from 2003 to 2005 as deputy assistant attorney general under President Bush. [Big Law Business]

* “The noise about lawyers is much more positive right now. Before, it was just negative noise.” Law schools may be thanking our president for something that’s being referred to as the “Trump bump.” Some speculate that applications will surge thanks to the legal profession’s prominence in the turbulent early days of his reign. [National Law Journal]

* “They say a woman’s place is in the house. I say it’s in the courthouse.” The lawyers at New York firm Meyer-Kessler & Shulevitz refer to themselves “double trouble,” claim they represent the “new feminism,” and they wear bright pink designer outfits every time they go to court. We may have more on this dynamic duo later. [New York Daily News]

* Whaddya know. Preet Bharara said to be investigating HHS Secretary Tom Price at the time he was fired. [ProPublica]

* Ninth Circuit Judge Richard Clifton doesn’t mention Donald Trump’s name, but that’s totally who he was talking about. [Huffington Post]

* Will the Jones Day raid tip the balance of geopolitical affairs? [Law and More]

* Speaking of Jones Day, here’s another deep dive into the firm (featuring Paul Barrett of Bloomberg Businessweek and our own David Lat). [Big Law Business]

* A terrible injustice in El Salvador. [Washington Post]

* Who’s really getting screwed by the electoral college? Hint: It’s America. [Salon]

* Trump’s travel ban was doomed from the start. [Huffington Post]

* President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of labor, fast-food executive Andrew Puzder, is a critic of the Obama Administration’s regulation in this area (and he’s a former litigator, interestingly enough). [Washington Post]

* Judge Bill Pryor (11th Cir.), a top SCOTUS contender in a Trump Administration, is beloved by conservatives — but confirming him could be a battle. [Bloomberg BNA via How Appealing]

* The Arkansas Supreme Court rules that married lesbian couples can’t put the names of both spouses on their children’s birth certificates. [WSJ Law Blog]

* SEC enforcement chief Andrew Ceresney will leave the agency by the end of this year; where might he wind up? [Law.com]

* Governor Andrew Cuomo met with the feds in connection with the corruption case brought against some of his former aides. [New York Times]

* Michael Jordan’s latest court victory — in an IP case in China. [Bloomberg]

* Alabama prisoner Ronald Smith is executed after the Supreme Court denies a stay, leaving SCOTUS review of the state’s unique “judicial override” system for another day. [New York Times via How Appealing]