Taxes

Jeffrey Immelt asks Bernie Sanders: "Who the f@ck are YOU, bro?!"

* The deal to combine drug giants Allergan and Pfizer in an inversion was called off after the US Treasury announced new rules to limit the tax benefits of moving the corporate headquarters overseas. [Quartz]

* Should the IRS be going after the Pittsburgh Penguins for letting Sidney Crosby live in the owner’s house? [Bloomberg / BNA]

* Pretty sure Vivia Chen has covered all the options in her latest article exploring the benefits of having women leaders at law firms. [Careerist]

* Corporations may be taking an active role in opposing the recent spate of anti-LGBTQ legislation, but that still doesn’t make them people. [Reuters]

* “Jackie” from the Rolling Stone UVA rape article, which is now the subject of litigation, will have to testify in the pending action, despite her lawyer’s claim that revisiting the incident would be traumatizing. [Gawker]

* Is the Bible about to become the official state symbol of Tennessee? [NPR]

* Claiming to be a sovereign citizen is silly, and it certainly won’t insulate you from charges of chid sex abuse and kidnapping. [Jezebel]

* Sure, the price of oil may be low, but that hasn’t stopped Biglaw shops from descending on Houston. In fact, 9 of the 10 highest grossing firms, according the 2014 Am Law 100, now have Houston offices. Beyoncé must be so proud. [Houston Lawyer]

* Irony is so sweet in the morning. Diane L. Kroupa, a retired U.S. Tax Court judge, and her husband have been accused of tax fraud. [Law360]

* That leak of documents from a Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca — being referred to as the “Panama Papers,” has sparked international reaction. The Department of Justice is launching their own probe into potential wrongdoing. [Huffington Post]

* Meet Edward Blum. He may not be a lawyer, but he is behind some of the biggest civil rights cases in front of the Supreme Court including Fisher v. University of Texas and Evenwel v. Abbott. [Mother Jones]

* California class action lawyers rejoice: the state Supreme Court just paved the way for actions on behalf of retail and banking employees who are not giving suitable seating by their employers. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Combining April Fools’ Day, tax season, and furry pets into a single joke. Well played, sir. [TaxProf Blog]

* Booooo! This spoilsport argues that judges should stop issuing benchslaps. We disagree. [SSRN]

* Prepare to have your worldview shaken: Richard Nixon and William Rehnquist are actually the ones responsible for paving the path for transgender rights. [Slate]

* This term, the Supreme Court is on track for the fewest signed opinions in recent history. Take a detailed look at the Court’s first 19 decisions. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* President Obama is taking the fight over Merrick Garland to UChicago Law. [Huffington Post]

* A judge is allowing a lawsuit against a Northwestern’s journalism school to go forward. The suit alleges the school’s “innocence project” uses unethical practices in its wrongful conviction investigations. [Journal-ism]

* Get the rundown on the rules that will govern the GOP convention and the establishment’s last stand against Trump. [Lawyers, Guns and Money]

Know this tidbit?

Just how poor is Donald Trump?

* Perhaps this means the return of cool Hillary. [The Slot]

* Yes, you can laugh at the Supreme Court. [Bloomberg View]

* Deflategate oral arguments happened. Prognosticators are prognosticating that Tom Brady may indeed have to sit out some games. [Lawyers, Guns and Money]

* Yeaaaah, you aren’t supposed to do that. Lab tech faked results, and now 2,100 criminal convictions are up for review due to the impropriety. [NJ.com]

* Multitasking — and not looking like an ass in the process — is a real art form. [Daily Lawyer Tips]

* Why is no one talking about how progressive Hillary’s tax plan really is? [Slate]

* Yeah, Donald Trump is still TOTALLY into war crimes. [Huffington Post]

* Let’s just call this flattery and be done with it — a UK brand of lingerie has launched a new design named after Amal Clooney. [Legal Cheek]

* A law professor dives into the most popular forms of tax evasion. [Huffington Post]

* A new, fast, and cheap way to sequence DNA has sparked a legal battle, because of course it did. [Science Magazine]

* What’s going to happen when solitary confinement is abolished? [Pacific Standard]

* Ah-mahzing. An intrepid New Yorker made their own license plate, but no, it is not legal. [Slate]

* Everything you ever wanted to know about the philosophical underpinnings of House of Cards. [Wisecrack]

Trump's got troubles.

* Remember the story about that aunt suing her nephew for hugging her that went viral yesterday? What if there really is a good reason for it, and it is all the insurance industry’s fault? [New York Personal Injury Law Blog] * It isn’t sex or violence, but it is the most challenging part of […]

Conservative columnist Tamara Tabo takes aim at hypocrisy.

* You knew it was inevitable. The St. Louis Cardinals have lawyered up and are conducting their own internal investigation into allegations employees hacked Houston Astros databases. [Am Law Daily]

* Real quick before you tweet that out — New York has updated its ethical guidelines regarding social media. Are you familiar with the best practices? [New York Law Journal]

* Norway has said goodbye to the old boys network — at least when it comes to women’s representation on corporate boards. The top down approach that was successful in Norway may not be politically palatable in the United States, but it certainly provides food for thought. [American Lawyer]

* Recently released documents (thank you FOIA) reveal a years-long legal battle between the federal government and UnitedHealth Group over Medicare overbilling. [NPR]

* If it walks like a tax hike and swims like a tax hike and quacks like a tax hike, it’s probably a tax hike — no matter what double talk Governor Sam Brownback tries to sell you. Seriously, what is the matter with Kansas? [Talking Points Memo]

* Nine people are dead after a gunman attacked a historic black church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. Among the dead is State Senator Clementa Pinckney. The gunman is still at large. Our heart goes out to the families of the victims. [New York Times]

Obama wants to close a loophole for college booseters

How will the Supreme Court's DOMA decision affect married gay couples? Let us count the ways....

In-house lawyers face budget cuts, and some entrenched political interests might be to blame.

* They are livestreaming the misconduct case against Judge Wade McCree. [Detroit Free Press] * GW Law professor John Banzhaf is calling upon the D.C. City Council to bar local broadcasters from using the term “Redskins.” Two decades after the real emergence of “political correctness,” the “Redskins” name has held out against that all-out assault almost as long as the actual Native American society did against Phil Sheridan. [Huffington Post] * People are still talking about the Yahoo!/Tumblr deal, but the most important deal for the legal profession has slid under the radar. Seamless and GrubHub are merging to make all your “3 a.m. and still haven’t had dinner at the office” dreams come true. [Wall Street Journal] * Vivia Chen of The Careerist got some flack for suggesting that women taking their husbands’ names was a regressive trend. In (tongue-in-cheek) fairness, here are the good reasons to take your husband’s name. Example: “When you’ve been indicted or convicted.” [The Careerist] * U. Chicago Law scheduled finals during Memorial Day weekend… while Chicago is closing Lake Shore Drive and cutting back on public transit. UChiLawGo responds. [UChiLawGo] * A gospel singer is suing McDonald’s because she lost her voice. Normally I’d make fun of this, but she sounds like she has a good argument. [The Inquisitr] * A review of the legal issues surrounding the DOJ/AP scandal. [Volokh Conspiracy] * Elie explains why the racist, nasty comments we receive don’t faze us at all. [Paidcontent.org] * Well this is a novel use of fundraising: Speculation that Tim Lambesis (who we covered yesterday) used crowdfunding for a new Austrian Death Machine Schwarzenegger tribute album as the down payment on a hitman to murder his wife. Maybe this new album was going to have a Total Recall theme? [Metal Sucks] * Stephen Colbert sits down with Caplin & Drysdale’s Trevor Potter to discuss the fact that Colbert’s SuperPAC has never been approved by the IRS. Video after the jump…

The IRS scandal sheds light on what it means to be a lawyer -- what it means to others, and what it means to us.

Joe Biden just agrees with whichever audience sits in front of him.

Classic understatement from across the pond.

Ed. note: This is the latest installment of Righteous Indignation, our new column for conservative-minded lawyers. You probably saw this week’s topic coming. Until the folks at One First Street start tossing Elie and me some fresh meat to tussle over, my indignation — righteous as it is — must be directed elsewhere. Unless EM […]