Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.30.17

* Former President Barack Obama has been called for jury duty in November, and unlike most Americans, he's not looking for a way to get out of serving. [ABC Chicago] * The pivot you're looking for is in another castle: Now that a grand jury's approved the first charges in the Russian collusion investigation and someone's about to be taken into custody, President Trump took to Twitter to demand that Hillary Clinton be investigated. [New York Times] * Paul Manafort is turning himself in. Surprise! (Is this really a surprise?) [CNN] * Like it or not, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is planning to be around for the long haul. Don't count on this "flaming feminist litigator" retiring any time soon. [The Hill] * Justice Don Willett of the Texas Supreme Court, the state's Tweeter Laureate, hasn't tweeted a single time since he was nominated to the Fifth Circuit. How long will this god-awful silence from everyone's favorite Twitter judge last? [Texas Lawyer] * So long, borrower-defense rule? Betsy DeVos is thinking about only partially forgiving loans for students who were defrauded by for-profit schools. [AP]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.24.17

* Former Dentons associate Michael Potere pleads guilty to lesser charge in extortion case where he allegedly broke into the firm's system and threatened to hand over embarrassing material to Above the Law. The lesson is: if you have compromising information about your employer don't try to extort your firm -- just hand it directly to Above the Law. [The Recorder] * A lot of people are chiming in to say that Trump's decision to interview U.S. Attorney candidates is improper because it breaks with tradition or because he currently faces a special counsel investigation. That's all true, but what should really raise red flags is in an administration riddled with open jobs and a floundering legislative agenda, the only thing a president under investigation seems to care about is picking his prosecutors. [Litigation Daily] * We all kind of suspect that SCOTUS advocacy is largely a self-reinforcing old boys' club, but here's the data. [Empirical SCOTUS] * Chadbourne's gender bias suit may be getting bigger. [Law360] * Yes, RBG's famous workout is now available in book form (affiliate link). [National Law Journal] * In-house counsel say they want more from their law firms. And yet, I'm assuming they don't want "more bills" from those firms for all this extra work. [Corporate Counsel] * AUSA suspended for affair with FBI agent. What's the ethical dilemma? We all know the FBI is shacked up with the U.S. Attorney's Office anyway. [Law.com]

By Joe Patrice
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.24.17

* Can the president be indicted? You betcha! "It is proper, constitutional, and legal for a federal grand jury to indict a sitting president for serious criminal acts that are not part of, and are contrary to, the president’s official duties. In this country, no one, even [the president], is above the law." [New York Times] * According to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the most notorious grandma of them all, the Trump administration was a little heavy-handed when it came to the travel ban from majority-Muslim countries, and its definition of close family was simply "too restrictive" for the high court to abide by -- which is why the "grandma ban" no longer exists. [Associated Press] * Why did Ty Cobb decide to join President Trump's legal team for the Russian election collusion investigation? Here's what he said, in his own words: "If the president asks you, you don’t say no. I have rocks in my head and steel balls." Well, that certainly explains it! [National Law Journal] * As the Supreme Court's junior justice, Neil Gorsuch has the unenviable task of serving on the cafeteria committee. It's a "truly disheartening assignment," especially since the vast majority of the people who are forced to eat there thanks to a lack of other options have described the food as poor, at best. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)] * A Cravath associate once said that Anthony Scaramucci, the Harvard Law grad who now serves as President Trump's new communications director, isn't one to "humble brag." But that won't stop him from helping the president with a few second-hand humble brags. During the press conference where he introduced himself to the world, he said Trump could "throw a dead spiral through a tire," "hit[] foul shots and swish[] them," and "sink[] 30-foot putts." This is all totally believable(?). [Law.com] * Leary Davis, founding dean of Elon Law and Campbell Law, RIP. [Roanoke Times]

By Staci Zaretsky