Richard Posner

* The Trump administration asks the Supreme Court to toss the travel ban case on mootness grounds — and to scrub the lower-court rulings against it from the books. [How Appealing]

* Meanwhile, the District of Columbia won’t take the fight over its concealed-carry law to SCOTUS, fearing that the Court might just make the situation worse if called to rule on gun rights. [Washington Post]

* At age 86, Marty Lipton of Wachtell Lipton is still in the mix, issuing influential client memos on important issues of corporate law. [Big Law Business]

* Does the emperor have no clothes robes? Zoran (Zoki) Tasic, a former Seventh Circuit staff attorney, calls out Judge Richard Posner over alleged errors in the judge’s new book (affiliate link) about the treatment of pro se litigants. [How Appealing]

* Support staff at Hogan Lovells seem to love the firm’s buyout offers; the firm’s voluntary-retirement program attracted even more interest than expected. (Expect more on this later.) [Law.com]

* What does the future hold for the Obama administration’s proposed changes to overtime rules? Senators seek guidance from Cheryl Stanton, the former Alito clerk and Ogletree Deakins partner who enjoyed smooth sailing at her recent confirmation hearings to serve as head of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division. [Bloomberg BNA]

* In other news about the fate of Obama-era regulations, it looks like the Trump administration will be rolling back the federal requirement for employers to include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans, expanding exemptions for religious objectors. [New York Times]

* The Supreme Court declined to hear a case about vending machines and the ADA. This isn’t such a big deal right now, but with tech gurus trying to turn America into a vending machine hellscape, this was a good opportunity for the Court to get out ahead of the curve. But we all knew that wasn’t going to happen. [Law.com]

* I think this is supposed to sound heroic, but the story of lawyers in Fort Lauderdale racing against Hurricane Irma to close a deal just seems like a cautionary tale about becoming a lawyer. But, you know, good for them for getting it done. [Daily Business Review]

* Trio of top-flight prosecutors leave the SDNY to form Krieger Kim & Lewin LLP. That’s 30 years of combined talent walking out of the SDNY all at once. And some impressive stories. Plots to assassinate ambassadors? The bin Laden case? A bevy of corrupt state officials? Hey guys, things might be a little less exciting for a couple months. [NY Times]

* Meanwhile, the former EDNY U.S. Attorney, Robert Capers, joins Arent Fox. [Wall Street Journal]

* Novel takes on a fantastic premise: a likable Biglaw protagonist. [Amazon (affiliate link)]

* A group of lawyers are driving an anti-gay agenda? What firm did they crawl out from? Oh… right. Obviously. [The Careerist]

* If you didn’t catch it over the weekend, WNYC’s More Perfect is back taking a deeper dive into Supreme Court. Check out Elie Mystal interviewing Judge Posner in this episode on Korematsu. Wow, Judge Posner is astoundingly nihilistic about courts. [More Perfect]

* As we continue to reel from Judge Posner’s retirement, here are some of his best quips. Unfortunately lists like these will always miss something. Like my personal favorite: “Yeah, but, you know, the problem with the balancing test is there’s nothing on your side of the balance!” [National Law Journal]

* The high price of becoming a partner. [American Lawyer]

* Top Kasowitz Benson partner jumps ship… could this be more fallout from the ill-fated attempt to defend Trump? [New York Law Journal]

* The government’s been in a slump at the Supreme Court. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* A deep dive into the Chadbourne discrimination suit. [Bloomberg Businessweek]

* If you’ve not followed the phenomenon of running payday lending from tribal lands, here’s an in depth look at a $2B lawsuit over the practice. [Law360]

* Some predictions about the upcoming law school application cycle. Here’s another one… a bunch of people will end up in debt for no good reason. [US News]

* “We have a very crappy judicial system.” Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit says the Supreme Court has far too few justices, and is calling for 10 more to be added to the high court’s ranks, as he thinks the current arrangement on the bench is “[m]ediocre and highly politicized.” Tell ’em how you really feel, Your Honor. [Chicago Tribune]

* “This is deeply disturbing.” The Justice Department’s civil rights division is planning to sue colleges and universities that engage in “intentional race-based discrimination” in their affirmative action policies — that is, discrimination against white applicants. Hmm, wasn’t this recently before SCOTUS… twice? [New York Times]

* RIP, billables: Microsoft wants to completely eliminate the billable hour by entering into alternative fee arrangements with all of the firms it works with in the future. Twelve Biglaw firms and one intellectual property firm will spearhead this movement as the company’s strategic partners. [Big Law Business]

* The Department of Education has filed a motion for summary judgment in a suit brought by the ABA over public service loan forgiveness, claiming that its forgiveness eligibility determinations won’t be final until 10 years have passed and that any eligibility letters sent thus far are nonbinding and merely advisory. How comforting for law grads drowning in debt? [Law.com; ABA Journal]

* The Senate has confirmed King & Spalding partner Christopher Wray as the new director of the FBI. During his hearings, Wray said he’d resign if he were ever asked to do something immoral or illegal, as his “commitment is to the rule of law, to the Constitution, to follow the facts wherever they may lead.” [CNN]

* The allegations about Marc Kasowitz’s drinking problem might be salacious, but the issue of alcohol abuse by lawyers is serious. [Law.com]

* Fun for legal nerds everywhere: Chief Judge Diane Wood benchslaps parties for shoddy jurisdictional statements! [On the Case / Alison Frankel via How Appealing]

* And more fodder for #appellatetwitter types: Adam Feldman ranks the most-cited justices of the last Supreme Court Term. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Chris Geidner wonders whether another shoe will drop concerning the emails of Donald Trump Jr. [BuzzFeed]

* The trial judge in this defamation case ought to read this analysis by Professor Eugene Volokh — or at least watch The Big Lebwoski (“For your information, the Supreme Court has roundly rejected prior restraint.”). [Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]

* Professor Paul Horwitz comes to the defense of the latest controversial comments by the artist formerly known as Judge Richard Posner. [PrawfsBlawg]

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]

* Airbnb will allow the government to audit hosts in order to test for racial discrimination. [The Guardian]

* Texas cop shoots and kills an unarmed black 15-year-old. [The Root]

* There’s no video, but Popehat has a nice little tale about an airline and airport police completely failing. [Popehat]

* If this had happened to Ann Coulter, conservatives would be concerned. But since it only happened to left-leaning women in Kentucky… crickets. [ABC]

* The Supreme Court doesn’t want to touch California’s ban on gay conversion therapy. Banning gay conversion therapy is, of course, the only reason to be happy Donald Trump hasn’t been repealed and replaced by Mike Pence. [ABA Journal]

* In case you missed it, on Friday night I debated Jenner Block’s Lindsay Harrison about the Constitution, and Seema Iyer about sex offenders. Check out the webcast here. [WNYC Studios]

* Richard Posner and Jed Rakoff face off over the death penalty. [Slate]

Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

* What does the future hold for the U.S. Supreme Court? Analysts (including yours truly) opine. [Bloomberg BNA via Storify]

* Another prediction of ours has come to pass: congrats to Sullivan & Cromwell partner Brent McIntosh on his nomination as general counsel for the Treasury Department. [Corporate Counsel]

* Is it time to break up the Ninth Circuit (as President Trump recently called for)? Professors John Eastman and Brian Fitzpatrick say yay; Judges Sidney Thomas, Carlos Bea, and Alex Kozinski say nay. [House Judiciary Committee]

* Anthony Kronman: from dean of Yale Law School to “born-again pagan” (affiliate link). [New Yorker via How Appealing]

* Looking for smart, timely takes on the Trump Administration, from an all-star cast of law professors and legal experts? There’s a site for that. [Take Care]

* Guess who: “Cat-loving judge makes case that has nothing to do with cats all about cats.” [Chicago Tribune]

* Professor Orin Kerr chats with Professor Barry Friedman about Friedman’s latest book, Unwarranted: Policing Without Permission (affiliate link). [Volokh Conspiracy]

* The current SCOTUS Term isn’t super-sexy — but there are a few interesting cases on the docket, as Adam Feldman points out. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Attention 2Ls & 3Ls, here’s a cool contest — with $100K in scholarships as prizes! [PR Newswire (press release)]