Airbnb

* Does attorney-client privilege extend to business communications? We need answers, SCOTUS! [Bloomberg Law]

* It’s not always about the size of the firm… [Law.com]

* I did not expect to read about the Constitutional implications of renting on Airbnb, yet here we are. [Inquirer]

* Here’s a representation problem much bigger than whether or not Ariel looks like how she did when you were a kid. [WHEC]

* Jury to decide the legal significance of Ahmaud Arbery’s murder pulls the “I have a black friend” rule to look a little less racist. Still racist enough for the judge to call it “intentional discrimination” though. [CNN]

* Biden shows off his new judge picks. [Law360]

* How many oopsies does it take for a judge to admit he broke the law? 1, 2… 138! [ABA Journal]

* Say you live in a police state without saying you live in a police state — here are some nifty guidelines on if you should record the police, even if it’s legal. [FOX8]

* Airbnb renters in Texas found out they were being spied on and may have signed away their right to sue. [WFLA]

* A federal judge has struck down restrictions imposed on cruise lines by the CDC. Break out the Hawaiian shirts and Dramamine tablets… [Washington Post]

* O.J. Simpson is continuing to appeal judgments related to civil suits over the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. [Washington Times]

* A Reno lawyer, who was allegedly present during the January 6th Capitol riots, is running to be governor of Nevada. [Nevada Appeal]

* AirBNB is taking legal action against a guest who hosted a party and severely damaged a home. [Fox News]

* A lawsuit claims security at a Jerry Springer show failed to protect him from being attacked. Thinking assumption of the risk may be argued… [Stamford Advocate]

* Apparently Donald Trump dictated the Donald Trump Jr. statement that’s going to land his son in trouble. Here’s a bit of free advice: when you’re the subject of a criminal probe, let your lawyers draft your statements as opposed to washed up steak salesmen. [Washington Post] * Hooboy! Ad links Airbnb to terrorism. That’s… […]

* Ty Cobb, a former federal prosecutor, has resigned from his post as a partner at Hogan Lovells to join President Trump’s legal team as the investigation into the campaign’s possible collusion with Russia continues to expand. Cobb, who’s related to the baseball player of the same name, leaves behind more than 30 years of history at the firm to collaborate with Marc Kasowitz, which should be interesting, to say the least. Dat stache, tho… [Bloomberg; New York Times]

* In other news, yet another member of President Trump’s legal team, Jay Sekulow, appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press and CBS’s Face the Nation yesterday in an attempt to solidify claims that his client, the commander-in-chief, had no knowledge of Don Jr.’s emails and meeting with the Russians, and that “there was nothing illegal to cover up” anyway. [Newsweek]

* Meanwhile, it looks like Trump’s lawyers knew about Don Jr.’s emails and meeting with the Russians more than three weeks ago, which makes the president’s assertion that he’d learned of it “a couple of days ago” all the more far fetched. In fact, per a recent FEC filing, President Trump’s reelection campaign paid $50,000 to Don Jr.’s criminal-defense lawyer, Alan Futerfas, on June 26, two weeks before the email scandal was made public. [Yahoo News; Daily Beast]

* “I think a politician or a public figure of note can have a Twitter account of public note which would not be deemed to be a public forum. But in the Trump Administration, what he says on his tweets are as much public in nature as a press conference.” Renowned First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams explains why the litigants who sued President Trump for blocking their Twitter accounts might just have a shot when it comes to winning their case. [Big Law Business]

* “I wouldn’t rent to u if u were the last person on earth. One word says it all. Asian.” An Airbnb host has been taken to task by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing after canceling a UCLA School of Law student’s cabin reservation based on race. Airbnb must also develop a discipline system for discriminatory hosts. We may have more on this later. [The Recorder]

* Airbnb will allow the government to audit hosts in order to test for racial discrimination. [The Guardian]

* Texas cop shoots and kills an unarmed black 15-year-old. [The Root]

* There’s no video, but Popehat has a nice little tale about an airline and airport police completely failing. [Popehat]

* If this had happened to Ann Coulter, conservatives would be concerned. But since it only happened to left-leaning women in Kentucky… crickets. [ABC]

* The Supreme Court doesn’t want to touch California’s ban on gay conversion therapy. Banning gay conversion therapy is, of course, the only reason to be happy Donald Trump hasn’t been repealed and replaced by Mike Pence. [ABA Journal]

* In case you missed it, on Friday night I debated Jenner Block’s Lindsay Harrison about the Constitution, and Seema Iyer about sex offenders. Check out the webcast here. [WNYC Studios]

* Richard Posner and Jed Rakoff face off over the death penalty. [Slate]

Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.

* The Fifth Circuit, sitting en banc, rules that Texas’s voter ID law violates the Voting Rights Act by having discriminatory effects on minority voters (but remands on the issue of discriminatory purpose). [How Appealing]

* It appears that yes, Roger Ailes is on his way out at Fox News — thanks in part to the work of lawyers from Paul, Weiss. [New York Times]

* Matt and Melissa Graves, the parents whose two-year-old son was killed by an alligator at Disney’s Grand Floridian resort, will not be suing Disney. [Washington Post]

* Congratulations to exoneree Jarrett Adams, who served nearly eight years in prison for a crime he did not commit, on his admission to the New York bar. [ABA Journal]

* Republican VP nominee Mike Pence is a lawyer, and his Democratic counterpart probably will be as well: shortlisters Tim Kaine, Thomas Perez, and Tom Vilsack are all lawyers, and James Stavridis is a law dean. [New York Times]

* A California man gets convicted in a plot to kill two prosecutors, two FBI agents, and federal judge Andrew Guilford — with a wood chipper. [Los Angeles Times via ABA Journal]

* A New York appeals court affirms a ruling in favor of Boies Schiller in a malpractice suit brought by fashion model Mary Anne Fletcher. [Big Law Business]

* A bit more about former Attorney General Eric Holder’s work for Airbnb (a development we noted yesterday). [American Lawyer]

* Will Pokémon Go open up a battlefield of legal troubles for Nintendo? [Ohio State Bar Association]

* Better Call Saul’s Jimmy McGill is a great example of the trickster lawyer. [Guile is Good]

* ComicCon is coming, and most of the vendors owe a lot to the doctrine of fair use. [ReCreate Coalition]

* A soured love affair turns into sanctions for discovery violations. [Legal Profession Blog]

* Lawyers get a reputation for being slow to change, but you need to adapt to a changing landscape. [Reboot Your Law Practice]

* To excel as a lawyer you need to compete against yourself while still keeping your eye on the prize. [Katz on Justice]

* High school debaters around the country are debating U.S. domestic surveillance with more depth and nuance than Congress. Maybe they should set the bar just a little bit higher than that. [The Intercept]

* You want to organize against Airbnb? Get ready for some strange bedfellows. [Cityland]

* Judge Posner sees the bullsh*t behind Republicans’ strategy for (not) filling Justice Scalia’s seat. [Washington Post]

* Maryland Court of Appeals set a potentially dangerous new precedent in the case against the police officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray. [Slate]

* A noteworthy ruling giving the green light to litigation financing. [Burford Capital]

* The growing movement to amend France’s self-defense laws to include domestic violence. [Jezebel]

* Even some Republicans are calling Indiana’s new abortion law overreaching, not that the statement stopped the bill from passing the legislature. [Huffington Post]

* More people lining up on the “of course we need to replace Scalia soon” bandwagon, and this time it’s folks who really care about the ethical running of the Court. [Fix the Court]

* Studying for the February bar exam? Here are some tips to make it through. [Associate’s Mind]

* Stories of Justice Scalia bullying the “little people” may tarnish his legacy. [Washington Monthly]

* A purported class action has been filed against Facebook for those texts notifying you of friends’ birthdays. [Forbes]

* So what does Obama think about “originalists” who vow to prevent him from making any nominee to the Court? Bonus point if you said he’d drop the f-bomb. [C-SPAN]

* A frank look at Justice Scalia’s real legacy by Columbia Law Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw. [Democracy Now]

* Did the Supreme Court just become the defining issue of the 2016 election? [The Nation]

* Tips for making success a habit. [Reboot Your Law Practice]

* Almost everyone has a story (or has a friend who has one) about an AirBnB gone awry — it’s the price of our new shared economy — but is this the weirdest story of all? [San Francisco Chronicle]

* The only graphic you’ll ever need to keep track of your state-by-state obligations for expert witnesses under Daubert and Frye. [The Expert Institute]

* What would Humphrey Bogart be like as an attorney? [Guile is Good]

* “There’s too much at stake—too much money and interest.” Biglaw firms in West Africa are surviving, nay, thriving, despite the fact that the area is afflicted by the terrors of Ebola. [Am Law Daily]

* “[T]ake a step back, to pause to consider, I hope, a change of course.” The head of the FBI is pissed about cell encryption, and he wants tech companies to cut it out with this privacy stuff. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney has a new chief financial officer. At Pittsburgh’s third-largest firm, the former litigation practice director could really make a name for himself. [Pittsburgh Business Times]

* Former employees — even lawyers — of the recently failed Canadian firm Heenan Blaikie are filing suit, seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in severance pay. Good luck with that, eh? [Globe and Mail]

* According to NY AG Eric Schneiderman, 72% of Airbnb rental sites in New York City are operating illegally. This is going to be problematic for those who enjoy the services of faux hotels. [New York Times]