Amazon

* Trump countersues in the E. Jean Carroll defamation suit. He also asserts that the defamatory statements themselves are “privileged and protected under the doctrine of absolute presidential immunity.” For those of you studying for the bar, that’s what we mean when we say, “first eliminate the obviously wrong answer.” [New York Times]

* Rudy Giuliani interviewed in the January 6 probe. He’s gonna need to make some more Cameos! [AP News]

* Term limits for active status federal judges is a sensible, simple reform to maintain the integrity of the judiciary and disrupt the “race to the bottom” incentivizing the nomination of unqualified young judges. But if that’s NOT the system, then you all need to leave Judge Newman alone. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Amazon has some sort of blacklist to undermine IP attorneys, “while directing them to their own Amazon Accelerator Program and their ‘curated’ attorneys.” They’ve settled defamation claims already, but I’d imagine some state bar might be interested in knowing what, exactly, goes into joining that “curated” list. [Law.com]

* Chancellor laughs off Disney investor suit looking to make a case out of the company’s decision to oppose bigotry and, ultimately, drag Supreme Court dicta into a fight. [Law360]

* Kevin Spacey goes to court in wide-ranging sex offense trial. [Reuters]

* The Law and Order party is just openly describing themselves as terrorists now. What’s that Maya Angelou quote about trusting people when they tell you who they are the first time? That one. [Chron]

* You know the more I think about it, the less I understand why this acquisition was cleared. [Business Insider]

* Good to be back: The Rappahannock just got back a vital piece of their land. [CNN]

* Hypocrisy or Assumed Risk?: Guy who says guns make things safer doesn’t allow them at his rally. Hmm… [Business Insider]

* Blue lives might matter, but Trump’s estate matters more. [Rolling Stone]

* You’ve probably already heard about the Alito leak. How’s this impact NY? [NBC NY]

* Not in New York and have the same questions? Got you covered. [Newsweek]

* Covered A to Z: Amazon will reimburse travel expenses for its employees if they live in a state that restricted abortion access. [BBC]

* Crimes like fraud don’t pay… after the 15-year mark. [Smithsonian Mag]

* Recent history: There may still be hope for reparations to be paid out for the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. [CNN]

* Sovereignty denied: The Supreme Court decides to not rule on the Penobscot Nation’s control of their river. [AP]

* Hating from outside the club: Judge green lights suit to prevent Marjorie Taylor Greene from holding office again. [Common Dreams]

* Harvard Law prof gives legal argument for how a barrel of Russia’s food is worth twenty of Ukraine’s . [MSNBC]

* You can’t fire me in a way that matters: Judge rules employee fired for protesting work conditions has to get his job back.  [ABC News]

* Habeas Corpus? Discarded body determined to be a thrown-out sex toy. These things are really getting realistic. I hear… [Region News Source]

* COVID made the takings clause relevant again. What’s next, the Third? [Reason]

* During the Judge Jackson confirmation, several Republicans accused Democrats as being the party of pedophiles. Projection, maybe? [Slate]

* Remember that viral video of police officers busting a 75-year-old man’s head open last year? Turns out nothing wrong happened. [CBC.ca]

* Amazon pushes back against unionization, alleging that voters were bribed with marijuana. Is this why the plant isn’t legalized federally? [Business Insider]

* A working-from-home benefit is that you can keep an eye on your young ones. Better than having Alexa doing the babysitting. [Business Insider]

* Louisiana doctors will be prescribing flower come Jan 1. Gotta get greens in your diet somehow. [KALB]

* Keeping tabs on liberty can be difficult. Here’s a summary of voting rights and voting wrongs that will color 2022. [NYT]

* In New Jersey, a mom’s sentence for killing her son was overturned after judges ruled the jury had no idea what the hell they were doing. [NBC]

* Arizona legal paraprofessionals are on the way to do good work at more affordable rates. Talk about raising the bar. [Santa Fe New Mexican]

* William Shatner is going to space. For real this time. [Finance.Yahoo]

* Amazon has to disclose the algorithm they use to track their workers from A to Z. [InterestingEngineering]

* Even the surveillance state is worried about getting surveilled. Maybe I should get a VPN. [Wired]

* What? You mean to tell me the thing with face recognition and 24/7 audio capturing doesn’t stop tracking my data when I ask it to?! [WaPo]

* Smells like chamois cream: cyclist uses GPS to show his rendition of Nirvana’s Nevermind cover. [The Guardian]

* A six-point memo detailing how to overthrow the 2020 election directed at Mike Pence was discovered and circulated. My hunch is that the first point was to walk up to Joe Biden and tell him “You’re Fired.” [Esquire]

* Principal’s contract is not renewed because he dared to suggest systemic racism is a thing. [The Daily Beast]

* Texas AG goes to court over right for people to deadname their employees. This is just a goofy employment law hypo, right? [LGBTQ Nation]

* Amazon doesn’t care if you smoke(d) weed and will be lobbying for its legalization. Will they change their slogan to “Toke hard, Have fun”? [CNBC]

* There has been a new addition to the X that Y’s itself list — a chair! Related, I am now keenly aware that I don’t remember the last time I’ve cleaned my chairs.  [The First News]