Roberts Court

  • Morning Docket: 04.25.18
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 04.25.18

    * The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today on the Trump travel ban case. What’s at stake here, aside from the high court potentially allowing the travel ban to become permanent? The legacy of the Roberts Court also hangs in the balance. A decision upholding the ban could very well be the next Dred Scott, Plessy, or Korematsu, and forever marring this Court’s record. [Take Care]

    * Is AG Jeff Sessions recusing himself from the investigation into Michael Cohen, or isn’t he? According to the DOJ, Sessions isn’t involved in any investigations “related in any way to the campaigns for president,” but according to news sources, he hasn’t decided to recuse himself from the Cohen probe quite yet. [Politico; Bloomberg]

    * Judge John Bates of the District of Columbia has ruled that the Trump administration’s decision to end the DACA program was “arbitrary and capricious” and “virtually unexplained,” and therefore “unlawful.” Judge Bates ordered that the government must not only continue DACA, but accept new applicants. He stayed his ruling for 90 days to give DHS a chance to explain itself. [Washington Post]

    * Kyle Duncan, President Trump’s fifteenth federal appeals court nominee who’s known for litigating disputes involving voter ID requirements, same-sex marriage bans, transgender bathroom access, and the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate, was very narrowly confirmed to the Fifth Circuit. [Big Law Business]

    * According to the Harvard Law Women’s Law Association, there’s a glass ceiling at the school. The faculty is “overwhelmingly male,” and the administration is “turning a blind eye” to the success of women once they’re enrolled. Something has to change so women can achieve as much success as their male classmates. [Harvard Law Record]

  • Morning Docket: 07.08.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 07.08.16

    * “Our goal will be to be as transparent as possible about our results, while complying with our various legal obligations.” The Justice Department may have chosen not to bring charges against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, but that didn’t stop the State Department from reopening its investigation into her email scandal just one day later. [Associated Press]

    * Has the Roberts Court turned liberal? Not really, says Linda Greenhouse. Considering that “today’s conservative justices are a good deal more conservative than the liberal justices are liberal,” the results of the high court’s last two blockbuster cases were really about righting wrongs that flew in the face of existing laws. [New York Times]

    * This month, Risa Goluboff, the first woman to ever serve at the helm of UVA Law, began her stint as dean, and a great number of the burning questions that she was asked in this interview relate to work/life balance. Perhaps the next time another man is named dean at a law school, he’ll have to answer similar questions. [Big Law Business]

    * A judge has ruled that Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial may proceed over the objections of his lawyers, who were apparently upset they weren’t able to cross-examine Andrea Constand, the comedian’s accuser, during a preliminary hearing earlier this year. “It’s our position we’re not going to re-traumatize victims,” said a prosecutor. [NBC News]

    * Arthur Olick, bankruptcy pioneer and Anderson Kill partner, RIP. [WSJ Law Blog]

  • 2nd Circuit, Celebrities, Divorce Train Wrecks, Donald Trump, Education / Schools, Gay Marriage, Morning Docket, Murder, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Texas

    Morning Docket: 08.26.13

    * Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was chatty this week. In terms of same-sex marriage, the Notorious R.B.G. thinks “[t]he court handled both of those cases just the way they should have.” [Bloomberg]

    * And just like a mean girl, Ruthie’s claws were out. After calling the Roberts Court “one of the most activist courts in history,” she offered comments on Justice Samuel Alito’s eye-rolling. [New York Times]

    * Don’t cry for Argentina, the truth is it never respected you. After losing an appeal at the Second Circuit, the country has vowed to defy any of the court’s rulings with which it doesn’t agree. [Reuters]

    * Texas takes the bull by the horns: the state’s Supreme Court will consider if it has the power and jurisdiction to grant gay divorces despite the fact that it bans gay marriage. [Houston Chronicle]

    * “I have a temperament that doesn’t adapt well to politics. It’s because I speak my mind so much.” Joaquim Barbosa, chief justice of Brazil’s highest court and one of the most influential lawyers in the world (according to Time), isn’t afraid to tell it like it is. [New York Times]

    * Since she was already acquitted of the murder of Meredith Kercher, Amanda Knox (fka Foxy Knoxy) will not be returning to Italy for her retrial. That would be as silly as admitting to participation in orgies. [CNN]

    * Following a settlement on undisclosed terms, the suit filed against Paula Deen has been dismissed. It’s too bad that the Baroness of Butter’s career sunk like a spoiled soufflé in the process. [Businessweek]

    * New York’s AG filed a $40M suit against Donald Trump, a rich man who can’t afford a decent hairstylist and allegedly makes students at Trump University weep with his “bait-and-switch” tactics. [NBC News]

  • Anthony Kennedy, Barack Obama, Biglaw, Clarence Thomas, DUI / DWI, John Roberts, Keker & Van Nest, Law Schools, Melvyn Weiss, Milberg Weiss, Minority Issues, Money, Morning Docket, Racism, SCOTUS, Supreme Court

    Morning Docket: 05.06.13

    * It’s springtime, and the nation’s highest court is getting ready to drop some of its biggest decisions yet. If Tolkien had written this, Justice Kennedy would be the one to bear the One Vote. [UPI]

    * But for SCOTUS to maintain legitimacy in the eyes of the people, its justices must do battle against a “modern-day tsunami of special interests.” How well are they doing? [National Law Journal]

    * To answer that question, let’s look at their record. Political labels aside, thus far, the Roberts court has shaped up to be “the most pro-business court since the mid-1930s.” [New York Times]

    * Meanwhile, Justice Thomas has been busy taking shots at President Obama, noting that he always knew the first black president had to be pre-screened by “the elites” and “the media.” [Mother Jones]

    * Sometimes even federal prosecutors are willing to take pity upon rich old white men: Mel Weiss, formerly of Milberg LLP, won’t be returning to jail after his foray into DUI territory. [Am Law Daily]

    * “Chevron can afford to litigate this case ‘until hell freezes over.’ But [Steven] Donziger can’t.” As it turns out, clients who can’t pay their bills are problematic for John Keker of Keker & Van Nest. [Reuters]

    * Penn State Law is continuing with its plans to fleece students at two separately accredited sites, because clearly what the world needs right now is MOAR LAW SCHOOLS. [Centre Daily Times]

  • 8th Circuit, Bail, Biglaw, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Health Care / Medicine, John Roberts, Law Firm Mergers, Morning Docket, Religion, SCOTUS, Sentencing Law, Supreme Court

    Morning Docket: 06.29.12

    * You don’t necessarily have to agree with what Chief Justice John Roberts did with respect to his health care opinion, but you’ve got to admit that it was an act of statesmanship that will forever define his legacy on the Court. [New York Times]

    * CNN, one of the world’s most reliable news networks, reports that no many legal scholars were surprised unsurprised by yesterday’s Supreme Court decision to strike down uphold the Individual Broccoli Mandate Affordable Care Act. [CNN]

    * Word to the wise: don’t get cocky over in the Eighth Circuit, because apparently boosting the length of a prison term based on whether or not a defendant is smiling at sentencing is not considered an abuse of discretion. [National Law Journal]

    * Dewey know why the number of law firm mergers and acquisitions in the United States dropped during the second quarter? Truth be told, they’re all scared, because “[n]obody wants to wind up with a lemon.” [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]

    * George Zimmerman, the man charged in Trayvon Martin’s death, is returning to court today to try to get himself released on bond… again. Let’s give him some credit, because he sure is tenacious. [ABC News]

    * Listen, it’s not an easy thing to perform an exorcism these days. Sometimes a priest really just needs to kiss and caress the demon out of your body — a sexorcism, if you will. Nothing to sue over, nothing at all. [MSNBC]