Ruth Bader Ginsburg

* Orin Kerr offers his thoughts on the Allison Jones Rushing controversy (aka how young is too young to be a federal judge). [Reason / Volokh Conspiracy]

* If President Trump and Senate Republicans are packing the courts with conservatives, then it’s time for Democrats to pack back, according to Michael Klarman. [Take Care]

* Howard Wasserman offers some insights into the recent dismissal of Stormy Daniels’s defamation lawsuit against Trump. [PrawfsBlawg]

* And while we’re on the subject of media law, Gerard Magliocca has an interesting observation about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the right of publicity. [Concurring Opinions]

* Speaking of RBG, Jonathan Adler argues that she could learn a thing or two from her newest colleague, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, when it comes to hiring law clerks. [Bench Memos / National Review]

* Joel Cohen raises an intriguing question about prosecutors: to what degree are they required to fight their own biases? [New York Law Journal]

* John Quinn of Quinn Emauel has no plans to step down as managing partner, no plans to retire any time soon, and no desire to do any succession planning (aka “an example of superfluous business school-speak that adds nothing”) for his firm. After all, the business of law “is a pretty dumb business.” [American Lawyer]

* Elon Musk has been sued by a Tesla shareholder in the Delaware Court of Chancery over his “erratic behavior” and the company’s board has been dragged into the suit for their alleged “gross mismanagement” of Musk’s Twitter antics. [Delaware Business Court Insider]

* If you’re in the Los Angeles area and you’re a fan of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, you may want to stop by the Skirball Cultural Center to see its latest museum exhibition, which will be going on until mid-March: “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.” [Los Angeles Times]

* An expert witness says this Biglaw partner’s deposition tactics and demeanor gave him a health scare. “I felt like a prisoner before a Nazi-administered trial and became seriously concerned and stressed about what was happening.” [Law.com]

* Fix your gaze on this, pre-law students: If you want to learn how you can ace the LSAT, you may want to take a look at this study on eye tracking. [Berkeley News]

Ed. note: In honor of Columbus Day (and Canadian Thanksgiving), Above the Law will be on a reduced publication schedule. We’ll be back in full force tomorrow.

* In case you somehow missed it, Brett Kavanaugh, who is “totally brilliant” per President Trump, was confirmed to the Supreme Court in one of the closest votes in American history (50 to 48). He was sworn in shortly thereafter by Chief Justice John Roberts and the recently retired Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. [New York Times]

* It’s certainly worth mentioning that Chief Justice Roberts received judicial misconduct complaints from the D.C. Circuit about Kavanaugh’s hearing testimony, but he decided to not to do anything about them. Now, people are accusing Roberts of being involved in some sort of a Kavanuagh cover-up. [Washington Post]

* As Kavanaugh mentioned during his confirmation hearing, he’ll be the first Supreme Court justice to have four women law clerks. Counting his clerks, women will make up a majority of the Supreme Court’s clerks for the first time in history. Nice work, Justice Brett. At least he’s good for something. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ [National Law Journal]

* “The women are against her.” How did Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg become the feminist pop culture icon that we know and love today when she was almost bypassed for her SCOTUS nomination because women didn’t trust her? [New Yorker]

* We’ve got a situation! Jersey Shore cast member Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino will be heading to federal prison for eight months on tax evasion charges. Expect his co-stars to starting referring to him as “The Incarceration.” [Courthouse News]

* In case you missed it, Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh refused to condemn President Donald Trump’s attacks on the judiciary (specifically, his insults of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg), refused to say whether he believed same-sex marriage was a constitutional right, and once again denied discussing the Mueller probe with anyone at Kasowitz Benson. What will happen today? [Washington Post]

* President Donald Trump has reportedly called Attorney General Jeff Sessions “a dumb Southerner” and an “idiot” without an Ivy League law degree who “couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.” This Alabama Law professor wonders what’s so bad about a degree from Alabama Law. [New York Times]

* Per a new study from the American Bar Association, the sky is blue and women and minorities continue to face racial and gender bias within the legal profession. But, here are some tools to fight these problems. [DealBook / New York Times]

* Allen & Overy has published its 2018 gender pay gap figures, and it’s the first U.K. firm to include data from its “overwhelmingly male” partners in its disclosures. A&O’s median gender pay gap is 39 percent, a slight improvement. [Financial Times]

* It seems that the Justice Department no longer thinks that employers should be forced to consider job applicants with criminal histories, going against Obama-era guidance that the EEOC has been following since 2012. [National Law Journal]

* In an historic opinion, India’s Supreme Court ruled that gay sex between adults is not a crime, casting aside an “irrational, arbitrary, and incomprehensible” colonial-era law that made the act a punishable offense within the country. [Times of India]

* Fire alarms sounded at Miami Law as smoke poured through vents into a student lounge, and some students evacuated their classrooms, but others ran back in to save their laptops. Well, obviously — they’re law students, after all. [Miami Hurricane]

* Vice President Mike Pence says he’s “confident” that Judge Brett Kavanaugh will be confirmed to the Supreme Court “before the fall is out” — and he’s probably correct about that. [FOX Business]

* In other news related to the high court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she’s got “at least five more years” on the Supreme Court before she’ll think about stepping down. As always, RBG continues to remain NO-NO-NO-NOTORIOUS! [CNN]

* According to one of President Trump’s former lawyers, Rudy Giuliani has weakened the case against Michael Cohen by flip-flopping on the man’s credibility, referring to him as an “an honest, honorable lawyer” and later as a “pathological liar.” [CNN]

* Just in case you forgot, not only did Michael Cohen go to the “worst law school in the country,” but “[h]e’s bitter Trump didn’t give him a job.” [Page Six / New York Post]

* Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has filed a “political conspiracy” lawsuit over his failed bid for the U.S. Senate seat that was left vacant by AG Jeff Sessions, claiming that false advertisements were behind his loss. [Newsweek]

* Last week, Facebook lost more than $100 billion in value, the biggest single-day loss in stock market history. Shareholders have responded in the most obvious way possible, with a proposed class-action lawsuit. [New York Law Journal]

* After its unexpected closure, Savannah Law School will soon find new life — as an art school. The Savannah College of Art and Design purchased the law school building from Atlanta’s John Marshall Law for a cool $27.5 million. [Savannah Morning News]

* Justice Kennedy may be stepping down from the Supreme Court, but that doesn’t mean he won’t have a job. The dean of the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law already called the soon-to-be retireee and offered him a teaching position. Will Kennedy become a law professor? [Sacramento Business Journal]

* The suspect in the Capital Gazette shooting has been identified as Jarrod Ramos. Ramos filed and lost a defamation suit against the newspaper in 2012 for correctly reporting that he’d pleaded guilty to criminal harassment. At least five people were killed during the shooting spree, and several others were seriously injured. [CNBC]

* Does the death penalty violate the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution? At this rate, we may never find out because the Supreme Court keeps turning down cases challenging the issue. Justice Breyer is getting really upset about this, and dissented in both of the Court’s denials this week. [National Law Journal]

* Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is known to her fans as the Notorious R.B.G., and now she’s got an album that’s bears the exact same name. “Notorious R.B.G in Song” is a musical tribute that was created by her children, and even includes jokes about her horrible cooking skills. [WOSU Radio]

* Remember Leicester Bryce Stovell, the lawyer who claimed via failed lawsuit that he was NBA legend LeBron James’s father? He just got disbarred. [American Lawyer]

* “If the law’s not going to be improved by Congress, we have to help these young people who are drowning in student loan debt.” In the past, judges would rarely consider helping people who were bankrupted by student debt payments, but now offering their support through the court system. [Wall Street Journal]

* Guess which Biglaw firm helped the United States Soccer Federation secure the 2026 World Cup? If you guessed it was the firm that celebrated its bid by not raising its associates’ salaries yet, you were right. Thanks, Latham! [American Lawyer]

* A judge approved AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner on Tuesday, and two days later, it’s now complete. Although the Justice Department isn’t filing for a stay, that’s not going to stop lawyers in the Antitrust Division from appealing the judge’s decision in the case, though. [CNN]

* As our personal-finance columnist Jordan Rothman complained of earlier this week, it’s messed up that you can lose your law license after defaulting on your student loans. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Marco Rubio thought it was messed up too, so they introduced a bill to stop it from happening. [Law.com]

* RBG, the documentary about the life and times of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is quite literally stealing the show. The film has made $9.2 million since its release, making it the highest-grossing movie of the Sundance Film Festival. I highly recommend seeing this movie. [Hollywood Reporter]

* The New York American Inn of Court presents, “Fast Times at Ruth Bader Ginsburg High.” You’ll never think of Phoebe Cates the same way again. [New York Law Journal]

* In the wake of decades of sexual abuse, Michigan State turned to former Republican governor John Engler to serve as interim president and steer the school back from this tragedy. His response is to smear the victims. The only shocking thing about this is that anyone expected a different result. [Detroit Free Press]

* Apple is making it harder for law enforcement to crack into your phone. If they can follow this up with a longer lasting battery, we might forgive them for removing the headphone jack. [CNN]

* A reminder that the next shoe in the Supreme Court’s attempt to resuscitate Lochner is about to drop. [Vox]

* United Lex and LeClairRyan’s new deal has the legal technology community buzzing. But banking on law firms to embrace change hasn’t always panned out. [American Lawyer]

* When the revolution comes, they’ll point to our highly developed law of golf balls as proof of our decadence. [Law.com]

* Due process suit brought by journalists on the infamous United States kill list will go forward. [Courthouse News Service]

* According to Rudy Giuliani, special counsel Robert Mueller is planning to have the Russian election interference probe wrapped up by September 1 — but that end date is apparently contingent on President Trump agreeing to be interviewed. Ooooh, stay tuned, this might get good soon! [New York Times]

* Yesterday, President Trump demanded via Twitter that the Justice Department look into whether his campaign was “infiltrated or surveilled” by the FBI or DOJ for political purposes. Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein said he’d be happy to “take appropriate action,” and promptly kicked the can to the Inspector General. [Axios]

* In the meantime, never mind the fact that he’s never once been contacted by Robert Mueller’s team, but Roger Stone says he’s “prepared” to be indicted as part of the Mueller investigation after they “conjure up some extraneous crime pertaining to my business.” The Trump ally doth protest too much, methinks. [NBC News]

* NO-NO-NO-NOTORIOUS: Elena Kagan isn’t the only Supreme Court justice who’s shown support for the new law clerk hiring plan. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg reportedly spoke highly about the plan during a recent meeting of the Federal Judges Association. Good luck to all future clerkship applicants! [National Law Journal]

* The millennials are here and make up 43 percent of all attorneys (psssstttt, they’ve been here for a while already), but the legal profession is just getting around to making the changes that this generation prioritizes. Law firms better hurry up and start providing all of the warm and fuzzy things they want. [American Lawyer]