Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.28.26

* Corporate pardons were never a thing. Trump has issued nine. [The New Republic]

* Freshfields losing European partners worried about U.S. growth. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Comey seeks to 86 the 8647 suit. [NPR]

* Trump heading to the Supreme Court with his effort to use Post Office to block voting by mail in Democratic states. [Reuters]

* "Abruptly changes" is never an encouraging description of a law school dean switch. [Penn Live]

* Blanche confirmation vote held over again as holdout Republicans seek slush fund assurances the Acting AG has refused to provide. [ABC News]

* Meanwhile, Blanche also got grilled about Justice Department seeking to dismiss case against alleged crypto ponzi scheme mastermind. Maybe he should have waited until after his hearings for this one. [Bloomberg Law News]

* FBI posts AI-generated hype video for Kash Patel narrated by an AI cloned voice of Stan Lee. Very normal. [Yahoo]

* Seventh Circuit allows lawsuit to progress against Chobani, arguing that naturally developing sugar put the brand above the legal maximum to claim "sugar free." [Law360]

Morning Docket: 07.27.26

* One of the architects of Kirkland's rise now sees AI as the profession's future. [WSJ]

* Kalshi angrily rails against Wisconsin law making it illegal to gamble on elections as "voter suppression." Because think of all the voters who might come out to the polls if they were bribed by someone with significant action on the outcome! [NPR]

* Former DOJ lawyer testified against Blanche, so her state's Republican Senators whipped up their followers who then started sending her death threats. [Missouri Independent]

* Trump pledges to make world safe for war criminals with dismantling of International Criminal Court. [The Guardian]

* The DOJ Honors program is no longer a popular or prestigious path as law students balk at prospect of committing sanctionable conduct before their careers even start. [Bloomberg Law News]

* The sudden rise of a zombie court. [Court Watch]

* Appeals court blocks Trump's attempt to commandeer Post Office to selectively ban mail-in voting. [Reuters]

* The Alien Tort Statute fades into the background. [One First]

Morning Docket: 07.24.26

* SCOTUSBlog founder Tom Goldstein's sentencing set for today. Anyone want action on what he gets? [Reuters]

* Plaintiff hired spies to extract intel about defendant's case from Biglaw partner. This James Bond reboot sucks. [Roll on Friday]

* DOJ gives up effort to force journalists to testify about reporting on the security problems with the new Air Force One that literally everyone knew existed. [NY Times]

* Government imposing more tariffs. [Law360]

* Supreme Court critics said the Grants Pass decision would inflict needless suffering on already vulnerable people, but it's been two years and... those critics were absolutely right. [Balls and Strikes]

* DOJ to fast-track mergers by gutting antitrust division's initial information requests. [Bloomberg]

* Europe slaps $1 billion antitrust fine on Google. This may be confusing to American audiences, but it really is possible to punish anticompetitive behavior. [AP News]

Morning Docket: 07.23.26

* Holland & Knight sued for $1.2 billion by embattled client hit with multiple state AG cases. [Reuters]

* Delaware adapting to future of AI managed companies. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Peter Navarro's contempt conviction upheld by D.C. Circuit. [Roll Call]

* Senate Republicans get behind crypto bill that would curtail Trump's cash cow. Bold strategy for them, let's see if it pays off for them. [Law360]

* Europe approves Paramount merger on its end. [Deadline]

* Judge questions talc powder's cancer connection. [Reuters]

* A guide to going to getting a JD in an LLM world (not those tax students). [Reverting Meanward]

Morning Docket: 07.22.26

* Epstein victims urge Senate to reject Todd Blanche nomination because... well, because of the whole "using the DOJ to run interference for sex abusers" thing. [Washington Post]

* Appalachian School of Law pushing for merger against some local opposition. [Cardinal News]

* RFK Jr cuts off Medicaid in California and Minnesota in retaliatory action against Blue states. [Axios]

* Professor Orin Kerr recirculates his "So You're About to Start Law School" lecture. [Volokh Conspiracy]

* Second Circuit rules that a judge overstepped in freeing Columbia student nabbed by ICE -- arguably in a targeted campaign against pro-Palestinian activists -- because the case must work its way through immigration courts before the district court can act. [Guardian]

* EEOC moves to end workplace demographic reports... because you don't have to combat discrimination if there's no evidence of discrimination! [Law360]

* Judge blocks administration from stripping work permits while lawsuit over maintaining asylum status proceeds. [Al Jazeera]

* Rep. Cory Mills under DOJ investigation. [ABC News]

* The $50 million malpractice lawsuit against Ashurst Perkins Coie tests diligence of diligence. [JD Journal]

Morning Docket: 07.21.26

* Anthropic settles copyright case for $1.5B dollars. [Reuters]

* Roughly half of Americans think the Supreme Court decides the cases based on politics. The other half are currently assisting a Nigerian prince recover his money. [ABA Journal]

* The entire American AI industry runs on financing that looks an awful lot like Enron. Good news for future eDiscovery demos in about 5 years! [Bloomberg Law News]

* Court hits pause on Paramount merger. [CNBC]

* Arizona Supreme Court rules that attorney-client privilege does not extend to communications with the party's mother. And, since it's Arizona, here's the court's official AI reporter to explain. [AZ Courts via YouTube]

* Border Czar Tom Homan more angry that people criticize ICE for killing innocent people than the fact that ICE is killing innocent people. [The New Republic]

* Lwsuit claims Puka Nacua bit a woman. [USA Today]

* Cop charged with covering bodycam to take pictures of naked prisoners. [Ars Technica]

Morning Docket: 07.20.26

* After the Trump family and his administration prevailed upon Romanian officials to release suspected international sex traffickers, the Tate brothers are now set to be extradited to the UK. [Forbes]

* Litigation funders getting squeezed on both sides. Some states have attempted to ban their work, and elsewhere investors are putting money behind law firms directly rather than work with a funder. [Bloomberg Law News]

* ACLU gearing up to take on state surveillance tactics, which are much more Orwellian than you might think. [WIRED]

* Woman who began law school at 47 now heads an all-woman law firm. [People]

* Hawaii Supreme Court rejects effort to graft U.S. Supreme Court due process musings onto a state constitutional issue... and then launches a wide-ranging critique of SCOTUS running roughshod over constitutional law generally. [Slate]

* Trump calls on federal judges to rewrite science textbook to better match his administration's priorities. [Reuters]

* James Comey advises Todd Blanche to "bone up on the rules." Todd Blanche then presumably started trying to figure out if "bone up" can be prosecuted as a violent threat. [NBC News]

* Judge's lawyer says his client is still fit for the bench despite record of... problematic comments. [ABA Journal]

Morning Docket: 07.17.26

* Last night, Trump delivered a speech ostensibly about election security, but it was mostly a commercial for the 25th Amendment. [Election Law Blog]

* Madison Square Garden sues WIRED over article claiming the stadium "used surveillance to track celebrities’ race, gender identity, and sexual orientation." Can you believe a despicable owner who already admits to routinely using face recognition to ban lawyers from events could do such a thing? [USA Today]

* Trump selling financial firms early access to his posts. Because it's not insider trading when it's government officials creating market moving events! [WSJ]

* Todd Blanche was told his confirmation might depend on meeting with Epstein survivors. So he did... and the survivors describe Blanche's conduct at the meeting as "abrasive" and "condescending." Truly shocking for a guy who dedicated the past year to covering up the Epstein files. [ABC]

* M&A deal breach litigation increases. Surely that's not a sign that companies see disturbing shifts in market conditions, right? [Bloomberg Law News]

* Boutiques recruiting big time talent with higher compensation. [Reuters]

* Barrister suspended for role in planning gangland hit. Remember, this is a customer service industry. [Roll on Friday]

* Simpson Thacher accused of never explaining key issues to client. He's suing for $100 million. [Law360]

Morning Docket: 07.16.26

* DOJ and SEC agree to freeze discovery in SEC's civil case over the Biglaw insider trading scheme, clarifying that the criminal case will be the main event. [Court Listener]

* WilmerHale faces class action over data breach. [Law360]

* R. Kelly believes he can fly straight out of prison, asking Donald Trump for clemency by citing DOJ weaponization against him. [TMZ]

* Subpoenas for Biglaw capitulators "reopen wounds." Self-inflicted wounds, but wounds nonetheless. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Thomson Reuters sells majority stake in print business to KKR. TR keeps editorial control and the intellectual property rights. [Reuters]

* Federal government refuses to give New Mexico access to Epstein files as part of a state investigation. [Axios]

* Lively-Baldoni lawsuit drama continues with allegations of "extremely excessive" legal research. [ABA Journal]

* Lisa Graves of Court Accountability chats with our own Joe Patrice about the Supreme Court Term. Marvel at how Joe's background looks vaguely like a bunch of jabots. [Legal AF Podcast]

* The Kavanaugh hearings were Lindsey Graham in a nutshell. [The Nation]

* Fox News sued for claiming data center critics are Chinese agents. [Courthouse News Service]

Morning Docket: 07.15.26

* The DOJ subpoenas the Biglaw firms who surrendered to the Trump administration. It's almost as though cutting a deal with a bad faith actor was bound to cause trouble. [New York Times]

* Todd Blanche hearings kick off today as Trump's personal lawyer seeks official Attorney General title. [NPR]

* When Blanche was up for the deputy AG job, 116 lawyers who worked with him at the SDNY wrote a letter of support. They're... not writing a letter this time. [MSNow]

* James Comey moves to consolidate dismissal motions in the 8647 case. Even as a victim of malicious prosecution, the man still cares about reducing the page count a judge has to deal with! [ABC News 12]

* Jackson Walker effort to settle its bankruptcy judge romance problem for just shy of $5 million clears hurdle. [Law360]

*Fifth Circuit decides it's time to stop worrying about school segregation. If only there had been some clue that Republican judges were committed to undermining Brown v. Board... [Reuters]

* Competing law school policies on AI reveal industry in flux. [Inside Higher Ed]

Morning Docket: 07.14.26

* States take up antitrust challenge to Paramount-Warner Bros. deal after DOJ looks the other way in deference to presidential donors. [Deadline]

* Fifth Circuit overturns earlier panel decision and reaffirmed that the federal government can hold those suspected of immigration violations indefinitely without bond. [Stateline]

* Remembering Lindsey Graham's Judiciary Committee legacy of craven hypocrisy. [Balls and Strikes]

* Second Circuit nixes effort to get rid of congestion pricing. [Law360]

* ICE guns down another innocent man -- not even a target of law enforcement -- this time in Maine. [CNN]

* A years-long investigation into a wrongful rape conviction in Syracuse and how the police, the university, and the courts all failed. [ProPublica]

* Todd Blanche's confirmation faces strong headwinds as some Republicans raise concerns. [Slate]

* Can the government force the NY Times to give up its sources? [Reuters]

* Lawyers unsure if AI is providing actual value. [ABA Journal]

Morning Docket: 07.13.26

* Lindsey Graham died over the weekend, removing a key Trump ally from the Judiciary Committee in advance of Todd Blanche's already controversial nomination hearings. [PBS]

* Civil rights coalition calls for Senate to reject Blanche. [Ms]

* Audit reveals the broken California alternative bar exam process. [ABA Journal]

* Judges embark on whistlestop tour to explain the increasing threats against the judiciary. [Washington Post]

* DOJ opens investigation into UAW president. If only a working person could invest in Trump's crypto business to get out of it. [WSJ]

* Rightful FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter eviscerates Yale over settlement plans. [Yale Daily News]

* Apple sues OpenAI claiming trade secret theft. [Law360]

* After convincing the Supreme Court to rip up immigration law, the Trump administration went ahead and extended work permits for Haitian refugees upon realizing the economic chaos deportation would cause. [Reuters]

Morning Docket: 07.10.26

* OpenAI accused of hiding evidence in NY Times copyright case. Reached for comment, ChatGPT said, "I'm sorry, you're right, I was supposed to produce that." [Law360]

* Lawyer dressed as police officer to spy on ex-girlfriend at Nando's. [Roll on Friday]

* Ninth Circuit judge Ryan Nelson will have his parking lot tussle with another motorist heard by the Fourth Circuit. Here's a helpful guide for him. [LA Times]

*Every federal judge in the Middle District of Tennessee recused themselves from defamation case against Candace Owens. No reason given. [MSN]

* After killing Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, ICE says there's no bodycam footage because of "back-to-back Democrat shutdowns." [Houston Chronicle]

* And now the federal government is pressuring witnesses to Araujo's killing to quickly self-deport -- which is what we generally call witness tampering. [Eliza Orlins]

*ABA successfully connected a death row inmate to pro bono attorneys who got him freed. [ABA Journal]

* Accounting firms see problems with SEC's proposal to drop quarterly reporting. Like, you know, the fraud. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Simpson Thacher heading to malpractice trial in Florida. [Reuters]

* Judge wants to hear more about how the DOJ suddenly decided to drop its case against Sullivan & Cromwell client Gautam Adani as soon as he promised investment projects. [Bloomberg]

Morning Docket: 07.09.26

* Trump asks Supreme Court to rehear birthright citizenship case, in case the English language has changed since last week. [CNBC]

* Judge Ross denies recusal request in civil case based on the claim that she barely supervised clerks on her civil docket. Or maybe her clerk denied the request. [Bloomberg Law News]

* State AGs finalize antitrust suit over Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. [CNN]

* ABA wants to see more Trump admin documents surrounding Biglaw intimidation campaign. [Law360]

* Judge refers to Smartmatic case as "The Most Whack-a-Mole of All of My Cases," which is true to the extent Whack-a-Mole is a game about malicious prosecution. [Daily Business Review]

* AI founder admits role in the big Biglaw insider trading scheme. [ABA Journal]

* Judge Dugan fined but not sentenced to any prison time over conviction for not allowing ICE to nab people from her courtroom. [NY Times]

Morning Docket: 07.08.26

* Yale Law School is working behind the scenes to convince Yale University to stop trying to cut a deal with the Trump administration. [NY Times]

* Latham cleaning up on AI power demands. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Former Wisconsin judge faces sentencing for refusing to allow ICE to use her courtroom to kidnap migrants. [Reuters]

* Biglaw pro bono chill may be thawing a bit. [American Lawyer]

* DOJ sent letters to threatening to prosecute election officials if noncitizens vote. Which they won't, since we've had years of investigations unable to prove it even happens in any significant way. [NBC News]

* Eleventh Circuit strikes higher education provision in Florida's Stop W.O.K.E. Act, with Trump appointee writing for the court "[i]f the First Amendment offers any boundary of protection at all for public university classrooms, this statute crosses it." [ACLU]

* Government wants judge to stop release of documents covering Todd Blanche's role in Epstein coverup currently due right before his confirmation hearing. [The New Republic]

* Kalshi loses effort to keep New York from treating it as a gambling site. Because it is... a gambling site. [Law360]