Morning Docket: 06.22.23

* If firms keep telling the press that everyone wants to go back to the office then maybe it'll be true! That certainly seems to be the strategy anyway. [American Lawyer] * Religious groups challenging abortion restrictions hoping to take advantage of the trend of courts offering exemptions to public policy to anyone who claims it offends them. Yeah... this puts a lot of weight on the idea that those opinions reflect some sort of principled Free Exercise jurisprudence instead of "we've found a new way to legalize discrimination, guys!" [Politico] * KPMG dominates the bank audit space with clients like Signature, and SVB, and First Rep-- oh. Uh oh. [Bloomberg Law News] * We're set to learn who bailed out George Santos. On one hand, public inquiry into bail sureties emboldens disingenuous attacks on bail funds, which are often critical to social justice and giving meaningful effect to the right to protest. On the other hand... George Santos is accused of misusing funds already. [NY Times] * Insider trading conviction brings juror to tears. The prospect of sending someone to prison should give jurors more pause, but Goldman bankers making insider trades isn't where one would expect an outpouring of empathy. [Law360] * Clarence Thomas's dissent in the False Claims Act case ran contrary to everything "Originalism" claims to believe. This is going to shock you, but Originalism may not be the robust, good faith interpretive strategy we've been told. [Dorf on Law] * "FTC to argue Microsoft's deal to buy Activision should be paused." GROAN. [Reuters]