President Ronald Reagan and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy (public domain – White House Photographic Office)
* Having placed Justice Anthony Kennedy’s Supreme Court retirement in political context, let’s now put it into historical context. [Retropolis / Washington Post]
* This makes some folks quite upset, but there’s no denying it: the Roberts Court is now truly the Roberts Court (and he probably isn’t thrilled about it either). [Empirical SCOTUS]
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* Kathryn Haun — a former Kennedy clerk, by the way — has parlayed her expertise in Bitcoin, developed during her years as a federal prosecutor, into a new position leading Andreessen Horowitz’s $300 million fund focusing on cryptocurrency-related startups. Congrats, Katie! [Axios]
* Let’s not forget about President Trump’s transformation of the lower federal courts — because it’s not just about SCOTUS. [The Takeaway / WNYC]
* Check out Susman Godfrey’s new mandatory retirement policy — could this become the industry standard? [Texas Lawyer]
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* Yes, the First Amendment is awesome and all — but is it also encouraging errors in news reporting, as Charles Glasser suggests? [Daily Caller]
* Speaking of mistakes, Ed Whelan sets Ben Shapiro straight on Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a leading contender to replace Justice Kennedy. [Bench Memos / National Review]
* President Trump says he wants to pick a SCOTUS nominee who could serve on the Court for 40 years or more — and if you take the five youngest names on his list of 25, it’s entirely possible. [Althouse]
* This should come as no surprise, but now law firms are joining the chase after data scientists. [Artificial Lawyer]
* Congratulations to the Practising Law Institute (PLI) and Fastcase, innovators in their respective spaces, on their new alliance. [Dewey B Strategic]
David Lat is editor at large and founding editor of Above the Law, as well as the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at [email protected].