Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.16.16

* As the Obama administration pushes for recognition of transgender rights, the transgender community may have found an unlikely ally: the late Justice Antonin Scalia. His opinion in the 1998 Oncale decision on sex discrimination was cited in the administration's letter to public school officials warning them that gender-identity discrimination was prohibited by civil rights laws. A former Scalia clerk has called it an “absurd misreading of Title IX.” [Los Angeles Times] * We're now in the home stretch of the Supreme Court's term, and with upcoming rulings on affirmative action, abortion, contraceptive coverage, immigration, and Puerto Rico's debt, it's going to get harder and harder for the justices to avoid 4-4 splits. In the majority of these cases, they'll have to stop agreeing to disagree so it doesn't look like we've got a Court in controversy with many deadlocks. [Bloomberg Politics] * The State Bar of California has been criticized over a lack of transparency as to its finances, and in particular, its "rampant spending" on executive salaries. In fact, those at the top of the food chain at the California Bar earn salaries which exceed that of the state's governor, who earns nearly $180,000 per year. That's a lot of cash to fail more than half of the state's bar-exam takers (more on that later today)! [WSJ Law Blog] * "She has single-handedly stuck a knife in the back of every Uber driver in the country. The entire class was thrown under the bus and backed over." Shannon Liss-Riordan, the lawyer who arranged a $100 million settlement deal in the Uber class-action over drivers' employment status, is being attacked by her own clients, and now other lawyers are trying to have her removed as lead attorney on the case. [Chicago Tribune] * "They give their young workers Ping-Pong tables and take away their constitutional rights." That's not a work perk companies are willing to brag about. More and more technology startups are embracing arbitration agreements to prevent their employees from filing lawsuits over workplace disputes that could have potentially ruinous financial effects on their bottom lines if they were litigated in court. [DealBook / New York Times]

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Justice Antonin Scalia (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty)

Justice Antonin Scalia: transgender rights hero? (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty)

* As the Obama administration pushes for recognition of transgender rights, the transgender community may have found an unlikely ally: the late Justice Antonin Scalia. His opinion in the 1998 Oncale decision on sex discrimination was cited in the administration’s letter to public school officials warning them that gender-identity discrimination was prohibited by civil rights laws. A former Scalia clerk has called it an “absurd misreading of Title IX.” [Los Angeles Times]

* We’re now in the home stretch of the Supreme Court’s term, and with upcoming rulings on affirmative action, abortion, contraceptive coverage, immigration, and Puerto Rico’s debt, it’s going to get harder and harder for the justices to avoid 4-4 splits. In the majority of these cases, they’ll have to stop agreeing to disagree so it doesn’t look like we’ve got a Court in controversy with many deadlocks. [Bloomberg Politics]

* The State Bar of California has been criticized over a lack of transparency as to its finances, and in particular, its “rampant spending” on executive salaries. In fact, those at the top of the food chain at the California Bar earn salaries which exceed that of the state’s governor, who earns nearly $180,000 per year. That’s a lot of cash to fail more than half of the state’s bar-exam takers (more on that later today)! [WSJ Law Blog]

* “She has single-handedly stuck a knife in the back of every Uber driver in the country. The entire class was thrown under the bus and backed over.” Shannon Liss-Riordan, the lawyer who arranged a $100 million settlement deal in the Uber class-action over drivers’ employment status, is being attacked by her own clients, and now other lawyers are trying to have her removed as lead attorney on the case. [Chicago Tribune]

* “They give their young workers Ping-Pong tables and take away their constitutional rights.” That’s not a work perk companies are willing to brag about. More and more technology startups are embracing arbitration agreements to prevent their employees from filing lawsuits over workplace disputes that could have potentially ruinous financial effects on their bottom lines if they were litigated in court. [DealBook / New York Times]

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Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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