Textualism

Kavanaugh bends over backward to pass the buck on his affirmative action vote.

Let's just hope Big Alcohol doesn't steal the NRA's approach and start paying for textualist judges to sit on cases involving drunk teenagers. 14 year-olds were definitely getting sloshed at The Founding ™.

To be fair, this would be a textualist explanation for why Thomas Jefferson was such a crappy father to his enslaved children.

'From the makers of Chicken of the Sea, try Salmon of the Air!'

* Attorney General Jeff Sessions is planning to challenge immigration judges over their authority to close cases without rendering decisions — because in doing so, they’re allowing immigrants to remain in this country without legal status of any kind. [ABA Journal]

* Has a new era in textualism arrived at the Supreme Court? An examination of the use textualism by justices and attorneys at the high court since 2013. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* According to a new survey, a “sizeable” amount of sexual harassment goes down at annual academic meetings. We hope this isn’t the case at the 2018 meeting of the American Association of Law Schools, which is wrapping up tomorrow. [TaxProf Blog]

* Attorney Charles Harder may have brought Gawker to its knees, but Michael Wolff, the author of the book that the president wants banished, isn’t afraid of him. [Law and More]

* Check out the 11 craziest crime stories from the year that was. Some of these are almost too hard to believe happened in real life. [Versus Texas]

* Earlier this week, Justice Elena Kagan went back to the law school she used to call her home to discuss statutory interpretation. It seems the former Harvard Law School dean fancies herself a “textualist” these days, just like her hunting buddy. Gee, thanks for that, Justice Scalia. [Harvard Crimson]

* A recent graduate of Appalachian School of Law with an affinity for criminal law has been accused of murder after shooting his uncle’s girlfriend in the chest and killing her. He waived his preliminary hearing, and the charges he’s facing will now go straight to a grand jury. [WV MetroNews]

* As Election 2016 inches closer, Biglaw firms are beginning to show their political stripes. Paul Weiss is holding a big old fundraiser for Hillary Clinton tonight. Look out, big spenders, because tickets for this event cost $2,700 each. [Washington Free Beacon]

* After nearly three decades as chairman, Gary LeClair of LeClairRyan is stepping down and letting someone else take over — three someone elses, to be precise. The firm’s leadership structure is changing completely. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* A senior analyst at BrownGreer was the recent victim of a carjacking. He was forced by his assailant to lead police on a chase, and was later shot in the head. He was last listed as being in critical, but stable condition. We wish him well. [Richmond Times-Dispatch]

A federal judge offers a spirited defense of using legislative history in statutory interpretation.

A wide-ranging interview with Justice Scalia, covering everything from his pet peeves (women cursing), his tastes in television, and his desire to hire more law clerks from "lesser" law schools.

Here is Judge Richard Posner's (delicately worded) response to Justice Scalia calling him a liar.

Justice Scalia recently spoke before a packed house in New York -- and Above the Law was there to cover it. What did he have to say -- about Judge Richard Posner, among other things?

Justice Scalia and legal writing guru Bryan Garner have written a new book. What's it all about?