Will Baude

A dizzyingly circular display.

Attempting to deflect the storm of bad press for the Federalist Society is jarring.

* “How Tough-on-Crime Prosecutors Contribute to Mass Incarceration.” My review of Emily Bazelon’s new book, Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration (affiliate link). [New York Times Book Review]

* When it comes to prosecutors, as former prosecutor Joel Cohen explains, it’s all about discretion. [New York Law Journal]

* Judge Nancy Gertner (Ret.) defends Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins’s exercise of her prosecutorial discretion — and argues that Thomas Turco’s criticisms of Rollins are unfair. [Boston Globe]

* Another ex-prosecutor, Quinn Emanuel partner Alex Spiro, is representing tennis star Naomi Osaka in the “repugnant” lawsuit filed against her by her former coach. [Tennis365]

* Former federal prosecutors, many of them now partners at Biglaw firms, represent more than half of the defense lawyers in Operation Varsity Blues, aka the college admissions scandal. [Big Law Business]

* High-stakes litigation is just one of many factors contributing to Biglaw’s robust profit margin these days — hovering around 40 percent, its highest value in almost 30 years, according to Madhav Srinivasan of Hunton Andrews Kurth. [Law.com]

* Ronald Collins interviews Joan Biskupic about her latest judicial biography, The Chief: The Life and Turbulent Times of Chief Justice John Roberts (affiliate link). [SCOTUSblog]

* And speaking of SCOTUS, Will Baude believes that the death penalty “is justifiable and constitutional” — but argues that the Court has not acquitted itself well in its recent handling of capital cases. [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

Ed. note: We will not be publishing on Monday, September 3, in observance of Labor Day.

* Law librarian Jean O’Grady rounds up the many books written by or about the late Senator John McCain — and extends her “condolences to his families and friends on the passing of a remarkable man.” [Dewey B Strategic]

* Getting Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court will become easier if Senator McCain’s successor is appointed before the confirmation vote — but as Adam Feldman explains, Judge Kavanaugh’s path to SCOTUS already looks quite clear. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* And here’s more good news for Judge Kavanaugh: the American Bar Association just unanimously rated him “Well Qualified” for the Supreme Court, as Ed Whelan reports. [Bench Memos / National Review]

* Would a Justice Kavanaugh come out in favor of the new Law Clerk Hiring Plan? As Will Baude notes, there does some to be an ideological aspect to this, with liberals more pro-Plan than conservatives. [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

* Law prof Ann Althouse calls out the Washington Post for going after the Trump Administration regarding a policy that was in place under Presidents Obama and Bush as well. [Althouse]
https://althouse.blogspot.com/2018/08/wapo-is-so-full-of-anti-trump-headlines.html

* If you’ll be spending Labor Day at the beach, is it okay to take your top off? Here’s some guidance. [Seinfeld Law]

* Joel Cohen acknowledges that Michael Cohen (no relation) has some incentive to tell prosecutors what they want to hear, but cautions that “we shouldn’t take this all too far.” [Law & Crime]

* Shawn Gaines of Relativity outlines the ediscovery company’s ambitious plan to create a “legal tech app store.” [Artificial Lawyer]

* It’s checkout time at the Supreme Court, and courtroom correspondent Mark Walsh is ready to reveal what’s in his shopping cart. [SCOTUSblog]

* Being cited by the Supreme Court is usually something to boast about — but not always, as Adam Feldman notes in this thoughtful analysis of how much oral arguments matter. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Will Baude breaks down the Court’s intriguing debate over stare decisis in South Dakota v. Wayfair. [PrawfsBlawg]

* Joel Cohen looks at why the federal judiciary gets better treatment from the press than the other two branches of government — and whether the differential is justified. [The Hill]

* Orin Kerr identifies an interesting issue: if a police officer uses Google Translate to try and request consent to search from a non-English speaker in that person’s own language, is the consent valid if Google Translate botched the translation? [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

* There’s a long and bipartisan tradition of… the federal government spying on reporters, as Charles Glasser explains. [Daily Caller]

* Speaking of the media, Jean O’Grady points out a helpful new resource from CQ for consumers of news, along with tips for how to tell whether or not a story is “fake news.” [Dewey B Strategic]

* If reforms come to university boardrooms, let’s hope they include law schools as well. [ProfessorBainbridge via Instapundit]

* An interesting new use of voice-activated technology, courtesy of Wolters Kluwer: getting insights into federal tax law. [Artificial Lawyer]

* If you’ll be in New York on Tuesday, July 17, raise your glass with fellow young lawyers, summer associates, and law students, at the UJA’s Summer Law Happy Hour. [UJA Federation of New York]

* Professor Ann Althouse wants to know: What’s the theory that take-home exams redress gender inequity? [Althouse]

* Legal analytics versus legal research: what’s the difference? Owen Byrd of Lex Machina explains. [Law Technology Today]

* Professor Noah Feldman is not a fan of the Ninth Circuit’s recent ruling on Trump Travel Ban 2.0. [Bloomberg View via How Appealing]

* And Professor Sam Bray is not a fan of nationwide injunctions in the travel ban litigation. [Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]

* My colleague Elie Mystal yesterday offered an ideological critique of Justice Ginsburg’s opinion in Morales-Santana; Professor Will Baude has a technical one (and I think he might be right). [PrawfsBlawg]

* Mollie Hemingway respectfully dissents from the James Comey lovefest.
[The Federalist]

Could this become a trend in the federal appellate courts?

The benchslaps are fun, but the debate is real and important.

* A look at the ethical issues that arise when Saul takes a detour into “elder law.” [The Legal Ethics of Better Call Saul]

* Guess the law firm whose D.C. managing partner just said, “You would be hard-pressed to find another law firm of almost 200 lawyers that gets less name recognition than we do.” [National Law Journal]

* Everything is bigger in Texas — including the number of lawyers (300!) behind the effort to overturn the one-year suspension of prominent capital defense lawyer David Dow. [Slate]

* Linda Greenhouse on the Supreme Court’s “identity crisis” on voting rights. [New York Times]

* In defense of Pace Law’s “fire sale” for prospective students with strong GPAs and LSAT scores. [Jane Genova]

* Congrats to Professor Will Baude on landing a regular gig for the New York Times! [Volokh Conspiracy]

* Several members of the Philippine American Bar Association (PABA) took to television to discuss Supreme Ambitions (affiliate link), as well as PABA’s great work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMak8hayBOs

Who just dethroned the Harvard Law Review as the nation's #1 law journal?

Isn't this oral argument painful to listen to?

* I’ve never heard of a “copyist.” Apparently it’s what you call people who “steal” intellectual property that isn’t actually protected. I’d care, but I’m too busy trying to figure out how The Onion would write this blurb. [You Thought We Wouldn't Notice] * And now time for your annoying “why do LAWYERS get money instead of PLAINTIFFS??????” post: The Stop-and-Frisk edition. While I wait for some of you to get off the turnip truck, I’ll note that I don’t begrudge the lawyers who helped bring to light the horrible NYPD tactics one cent. [New York Observer] * Tom Cruise’s lawyer almost got Tom Cruise’s ass beat down by Mark Wahlberg’s fists. [Gawker] * IED explodes in a district attorney’s office in Oregon. No one was injured. So jokes about Stanford blowing up Oregon’s BCS title chances remain totally appropriate and cool. [ABA Journal] * Every year, people ask if the February LSAT is “too late” if you want to start law school the next fall. And every year, I want to say “How in the f*** can you not get your s*** together to take the LSAT earlier, but just have to start attending law school as soon as possible?” [LawSchooli.com] * Will the Ninth Circuit follow up its oral benchslap with a written one? One professor doubts it. [Volokh Conspiracy]

Here are some highlights for Chief Judge Kozinski's remarks at Yale Law School yesterday.

Which legal eagle is making her first solo flight before SCOTUS?