Ted Olson

Breaking: Ninth Circuit Certifies Standing-Related Question to California Supreme Court

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Here’s the Ninth Circuit’s certification order, available on the court’s Perry v. Schwarzenegger portal page, and here’s a quick write-up, from Bay City News. Essentially the Ninth Circuit wants the California Supreme Court to decide whether the official proponents of Proposition 8, California’s ban on gay marriage, have standing to defend the initiative’s constitutionality in court, since the public officials who would normally defend it have declined to do so.

In his concurrence to the certification order and per curiam opinion, liberal lion Stephen Reinhardt had catty comments about the litigation skills and strategy of David Boies, Ted Olson, and their colleagues at Boies Schiller and Gibson Dunn….

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Liveblogging the Prop 8 Ninth Circuit Oral Arguments

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We’ve set up our liveblog of the Ninth Circuit oral arguments in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the Proposition 8 / same-sex marriage case. For a comprehensive account of what has happened in the litigation thus far, see this great FAQ by Chris Geidner, over at Poliglot.

You can watch streaming video of the arguments over at C-SPAN. And you can join our liveblog, after the jump….

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How Much Do D.C. Lawyers Make? A Washington Lawyer Salary Survey

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What are the differences between Washington lawyers and New York lawyers? One broad generalization — crude, but largely accurate — is that D.C. attorneys are all about power and prestige, and NYC attorneys are all about money.

It’s certainly true that, in the Biglaw world, New York-based law firms generally enjoy higher profits per partner than Washington-based firms. But D.C. attorneys aren’t doing too badly for themselves.

The latest issue of Washingtonian magazine, available now on newsstands, is the salary survey issue. It’s all about who makes what in the D.C. metro area, from the president to police officers to pediatricians.

And given the proliferation of lawyers in the nation’s capital, there’s a whole section on lawyers and judges. Thankfully for us, Washingtonian has made this portion available online….

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Non-Sequiturs: 08.31.10

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* Dahlia Lithwick wonders: Is Justice Ginsburg “The Mother of All Grizzlies”? [Slate]

* Five ways to write like David Boies and Ted Olson. [Legal Writing Pro (PDF)]

* Speaking of legal writing, do you share our love of corny Bluebook jokes? If so, read this. [Laws for Attorneys]

* And speaking of gays, and litigation, and people named Olson, Judge John Olson — a bankruptcy judge in Florida — just issued a saucy order, denying a recusal motion based on the fact that the judge’s fiancé (male) works for the firm representing the plaintiff. [South Florida Lawyers]

* Professor Stephen Bainbridge on summer associate programs: “When I was a kid, we didn’t get any stinking $150 cab rides.” [Professor Bainbridge]

* Vivia Chen doesn’t have much sympathy for the now openly gay Ken Mehlman. [The Careerist]

* Thanks to the kind folks at Abbey Spanier for making Above the Law their recommended blog of the week. [Twitter]

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Morning Docket: 08.06.10

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* While everybody else takes a Prop 8 victory lap, Ted Olson is back at work. [ABA Journal]

* BP’s static-kill operation looks like a success. We’re just waiting for the concrete to dry. That wasn’t so hard, was it? [Discover]

* Screw outsourcing; more firms should be doing crowdsourcing. [New York Times]

* A shareholder is not happy with the lawyers from the $3.2 billion Tyco settlement in 2007. [Forbes]

* Up here in the Northeast, the man who went on a shooting rampage at a Connecticut beer distribution company has been dominating the headlines. [New York Post]

* A former hot dog eating champ, Takeru Kobayashi, received probation for disturbing the hot dog eating championships on July 4th. He should have gotten a harsher sentence; the guy’s a real wiener. [CNN]

* Obama and Kagan will celebrate her confirmation at the White House today. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Here’s a celebratory video….

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Breaking: Proposition 8 Ruled Unconstitutional!!!

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Today Chief Judge Vaughn Walker (N.D. Cal.) issued his ruling in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the constitutional challenge to Proposition 8, California’s ban on gay marriage. The case was famously brought by Ted Olson and David Boies, two of the nation’s top lawyers (who previously faced off in Bush v. Gore, on opposite sides of the case). We first learned of the news at 4:35 PM today (via Chris Rovzar of New York magazine).

In his 136-page ruling, Chief Judge Walker — a Bush I appointee to the federal bench who is generally viewed as a moderate, not some crazy San Francisco liberal — ruled that Prop 8 is “unconstitutional under both the due process and equal protection clauses.” Accordingly, he “order[ed] entry of judgment permanently enjoining its enforcement.”

A permanent injunction? Expect Prop 8 proponents to turn to a higher court in 3, 2, 1…. But is the famously left-leaning Ninth Circuit going to be much help?

For excerpts from the opinion and more links, see below….

UPDATE: This post has been revised extensively since it was first published.

Note especially the update near the end of this post regarding Judge Walker’s STAYING THE ENTRY OF JUDGMENT.

We have also added a READER POLL, after the jump.

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Caption Contest Winner: Who Wants a Hug?

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This is the photo we gave you for our latest caption contest — a picture of David Boies and Ted Olson, adversaries turned allies, sharing a hug.

You voted on eight clever captions. Which one won?

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Caption Contest Finalists: Who Wants A Hug?

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Earlier this week, we solicited funny captions for this photo (a great image for the July 4th weekend, given all the American flags):

You responded with around 70 comments. This was a smaller-than-usual number of nominees, but they were of high quality. There were about 25 or so that we saw as worthy contenders. Alas, to make the contest workable, we winnowed the entries down to a shortlist of eight.

Check them out and vote — warning: some crude / juvenile humor ahead (if you can’t handle it, stop reading now) — after the jump.

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Quote of the Day: Even Better Than He Was in Bush v. Gore?

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I thought that the last 30 minutes of Ted’s rebuttal was the best 30 minutes I’ve seen in five decades of practicing law.

– David Boies, discussing the closing argument of his adversary-turned-ally, Ted Olson, in Perry v. Schwarzenegger (aka the Proposition 8 case).

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Morning Docket: 06.14.10

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Ted Olson

* Wednesday showdown with Judge Walker in the Prop 8 trial. Lawyers will make their final arguments. [San Jose Mercury News]

* Prop 8 has been Ted Olson’s opportunity to come out… as a contrarian conservative. [Washington Post]

* When they said ‘I do,’ did they really, really mean it? The New York “Stokes Unit” is responsible for probing green card marriages. [New York Times]

* Time for BP to create a new well? President Obama wants the oil-spilling company to set up a multibillion-dollar escrow account from which to pay damage claims. [Los Angeles Times]

* More on the Generation Wars: Gen Y isn’t as concerned with how much they’re making as with how much they’re making in comparison to every one else. [Bloomberg via Law and More]

* In case you had plans to commit adultery with a client’s spouse… [ABA Journal]

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