Amicus Briefs

Ready! Aim! Litigate!

Tu stultus es, indeed.

They say they 'would not have been able to realize their personal and/or professional goals were it not for their ability to control their reproductive lives.'

* Which lawyers write the best Supreme Court amicus briefs? Adam Feldman uses Ross Guberman’s BriefCatch tool to find out. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* In advance of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s SCOTUS confirmation hearings, Carrie Severino has this handy roundup of eight important Kavanaugh opinions. [Bench Memos / National Review]

* Speaking of which, Professor Steve Vladeck raises some good possible questions for the nominee about the interaction between Morrison v. Olson and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. [Lawfare]

* I don’t think Roe is getting overruled — but if it were to be overturned, what would happen to state abortion prohibitions that have not been officially repealed? [Josh Blackman]

* On that same subject, Professor Michael Dorf wonders: could Justice Thomas save abortion rights? [Take Care]

* Wherein Jonathan Adler and James Ho (now Judge James Ho) agree with Elie Mystal on the wrongness of that recent Washington Post op-ed about birthright citizenship. [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

* Is your legal department a “goat rodeo”? You’re not alone, according to Casey Flaherty. [3 Geeks and a Law Blog]

* Barbara Jones, a former federal judge who now serves as a partner at Bracewell (a firm where Rudy Giuliani was once a name partner), has been appointed as a special master in Michael Cohen’s case to decide which materials that were seized from his office are protected by attorney-client privilege and which materials can be reviewed by prosecutors. [New York Post]

* This just got really interesting: The anonymous Proskauer partner who is suing the firm in a $50 million gender bias case has come forward and revealed her name. Jane Doe is better known as Connie Bertram, head of the firm’s labor and employment practice in D.C. and co-head of the firm’s whistleblowing and retaliation group. [American Lawyer]

* Veteran Supreme Court advocate Lisa Blatt of Arnold & Porter received a rare honor at the high court earlier this week during oral arguments in Trump v. Hawaii when Justice Stephen Breyer mentioned her as the author of an amicus brief. This almost never happens. Congratulations on a job well done! [National Law Journal]

* The Stanford Law Class of 1998 has the special sauce for producing female deans at top law schools. Kimberly Yuracko of Northwestern, Kerry Abrams of Duke, and Gillian Lester of Columbia all graduated in the same year. [The Recorder]

* Cooley Law School is back in compliance with ABA accreditation standards. Apparently the school is now admitting candidates who appear capable of finishing law school and gaining admission to a state bar (even though recent bar exam pass-rate statistics seem to strongly disagree with that assessment). [ABA Journal]

* President Obama is making his call for criminal justice reform in the Harvard Law Review. [Harvard Law Review]

* Take cover, the amici are coming! [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Ho-Love is doubling down on Philly. [Biz Journals]

* The polling game ain’t what it use to be, and so Nate Silver turns his attention to making college football more like a debate tournament. [FiveThirtyEight]

* A look back at the sensational Menendez trial. [Law and More]

* A tribute to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the Ninth Circuit, who takes senior status this week. [National Review]

* Advice to help make that resolution stick. [Huffington Post]

* The the fraud claims against Arizona Summit Law School by former student Paula Lorona was dismissed. Judge Neil Wake found the plaintiff failed to prove the school materially misrepresented the qualifications of students admitted through the school’s alternative admissions procedure. Lorona’s claims of retaliatory discharge, ADA and gender discrimination remain. [National Law Journal]

* An amicus brief filed with Supreme Court Wednesday uses a variety of historically significant mug shots to make its point about the importance of the media’s access to these booking pictures. [Law.com]

* A look at Melania Trump’s defamation case and the real implications for freedom of the press. [CNN]

* An interview with Loving director Mike Nichols in which he discusses the his responsibility in telling the story behind this important Supreme Court case. [LA Times]

* In America your personal information is for sale. What privacy rules might be put in place to stem the flow of data? [ABA Journal]

* Some thoughts from Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer of Microsoft, on his company’s big win before the Second Circuit. [On the Issues]

* Before the Second Circuit, Microsoft enjoyed a lot of support from amici — which can make a difference before the U.S. Supreme Court, according to this analysis by Adam Feldman. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Nell Minow, the corporate governance guru (and sister of Harvard Law Dean Martha Minow), has some assigned reading for America’s politicians: Professor William Birdthistle’s Empire of the Fund: The Way We Save Now (affiliate link). [Huffington Post]

* My former colleague Maura Grossman, ediscovery queen of Wachtell Lipton, has left the firm to open her own consulting practice and serve as a research professor. [Am Law Daily]

* Social media for lawyers: it’s all fun and games until someone loses their good reputation. [Reboot Your Law Practice]

* If you are a lawyer between 24 and 49 who’s currently working in the northeast, a Ph.D. student would like to talk to you about debt (which you most likely have lots of — although none is needed to participate in the study). [Abby Stivers]

* A final reminder for our L.A. readers that the law firm battle of the bands is taking place tonight — so come out to support a good cause (and have a great time)! [Family Violence Appellate Project]

* The 2016 election cycle has been a doozy, and we still have six months left. Rick Hasen, Tom Mann, and Norm Ornstein discuss going from political dysfunction to Trump. [Election Law Blog]

* Father Michael Reilly is being sued for cursing and using other offensive language in the course of his work at Saint Joseph’s by the Sea High School on Staten Island. [New York Daily News]

* Who files the most amicus briefs with the Supreme Court? A report by the numbers. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Is it possible to get funding for a truly unique idea in real estate investment? [The Real Estate Philosopher]

* Deep thoughts on covering the legal industry with Above the Law’s editor-at-large, Elie Mystal. [Mimesis]

* What’s it like to be out at a Biglaw firm? [Big Law Business]

* The Supreme Court has approved a rule change to dramatically increase the government’s ability to hack into computers and phones worldwide. [Slate]

What's the best way to help bend the arc of the moral universe a little further toward justice?

* An in-depth look at Netflix’s most lovable lawyer, Foggy Nelson. [Netflix Life]

* Berkeley Law is not alone in dealing with scandals. Where is Olivia Pope when you need her? [Law and More]

* Wasting time, but churning bills, creating PDFs. [Daily Lawyer Tips]

* Environmental law will never be the same now that Justice Scalia’s dead. Mother Nature, for one, is grateful. [Huffington Post]

* Court rules there is no constitutional right to BDSM. [Slate]

* A battle over Texas’s voter ID law is coming back to the Fifth Circuit, just in time for the 2016 election. And if the Supreme Court stays split in its presumed 4-4 breakdown, the Fifth Circuit could get the final word on the law. [The Atlantic]

* A fascinating look inside the shady business of wrangling amicus briefs. [Chicago Tribune]

* Is Camille Paglia flirting with Donald Trump support? [Lawyers, Guns and Money]

* Corporate lawyers agree: leaving a vacancy on the Supreme Court is a terrible idea. [Wall Street Journal]

* This peeping Tom better have a big bankroll: A jury awarded sportscaster Erin Andrews $55 million in her case against a stalker who recorded unauthorized nude videos of her in a hotel. Defense attorneys seem peeved that she won since her “career skyrocketed” and wasn’t completely destroyed by the incident. [NBC News]

* “[W]e are sort of reaching the height of the most frustrating part of this process for those of you who are trying to cover it.” Even if the judges purportedly being vetted for a Supreme Court nomination had visited the White House to speak with President Obama, the public would never know it thanks to the strict secrecy protocols involved. [CNN]

* Despite the fact that most Supreme Court justices don’t themselves read the numerous amicus curiae briefs filed in support of the cases being heard before the high court, according to a new study, it takes an “amicus machine” — including amicus wranglers and whisperers — and a lot of hard work to get them into shape. [New York Times]

* Uh-oh… some 4-4 ideological splits may be in our future this Term. In the wake of Justice Scalia’s death, Justice Alito and Justice Thomas seem to have decided to team up to stabilize the Supreme Court’s conservative wing, joining in each other’s dissents from the majority’s unsigned opinions in otherwise routine matters. [WSJ Law Blog]

* February may have been a great month for those with Leap Day birthdays, but it was pretty terrible for the legal profession. Per the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, 1,500 jobs were lost last month. In other news, we’ve not yet fully recovered from the recession in terms of employment numbers. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

The phenomenon of "The People's Brief" moves into the realm of abortion cases.

* Former Wisconsin District Attorney Ken “I Am The Prize” Kratz — perhaps better known as the lead prosecutor in Netflix series “Making a Murderer” — outlines nine reasons why Steven Avery is actually guilty, despite the convict’s claims to the contrary. [The Wrap]

* Two law schools can expect to receive greater federal scrutiny when it comes to their student-aid dollars. Charleston Law and Thomas Jefferson Law join a host of for-profit beauty schools that will receive heightened cash monitoring. At least beauty school drop-outs have better job prospects. [Wall Street Journal via ABA Journal]

* More than 100 women lawyers, including former judges, law professors, and Biglaw partners, have filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court, each detailing their own abortion stories in order to “humanize the issue.” [National Law Journal; USA Today]

* DEY TERK ERR JERBS! A new presidential campaign ad for candidate Ted Cruz which discusses immigration features an “invasion” of foreign lawyers, bankers, and journalists entering the country illegally and taking American jobs. NOOOOO!!! [American Mirror]

* States that have legalized marijuana or are considering doing so are constantly making headlines, but it’s time to highlight the states where the possibility of marijuana reform seems laughable. These are the 11 states likely to be the last to legalize it. [USA Today]

* British trainee lawyer arrested for Christmas Eve murder of a young teacher. [Legal Cheek]

* Judge John Gleeson is stepping down and returning to private practice. [New York Daily News]

* 31 law professors think this case about the right of publicity and video games should be heard by the Supreme Court. [The Volokh Conspiracy]

* Are Harvard Law professors unfairly going after a former student and alleged sexual assault survivor? [Huffington Post]

* Even people in liberal states should care about the erosion of reproductive freedom rights in Red States: NYC, joined by a coalition of other cities, has filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down Texas’s restrictive abortion law. [Jezebel]

* Looks like legal work won’t be outsourced to the robots any time soon. [New York Times]

* If you are on the criminal defense side of things, you’d always better be ready for a battle. [Katz on Justice]

You can sign on to a well-drafted amicus brief heading to the Supreme Court.

* Silk Road’s Ross Ulbricht found guilty. [Law360

* Valentine’s Day gifts for lawyers. [Law and More]

* “7 Things You Only Find Out as a Lawyer to the Poor.” [Cracked]

* On the day high school athletes sign away their futures, this article explains that law school is almost as bad when it comes to transfers. [Inside Higher Ed]

* The lawyer who won Survivor: Racism Survivor: Cook Islands is now in charge of keeping Facebook users from throwing privacy hissy-fits. [Fusion]

* Win your case… still lose your license. [Associated Press via Philly.com]

* On the subject of law-related scents, does you law school have a custom fragrance yet? [TaxProf Blog]

* Should law professors serve as both parties and counsel on amicus briefs? An interesting question of ivory towerness. [Josh Blackman’s Blog]

* The duty to vaccinate: or not all libertarians are as crazy as Rand Paul. [The Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]

* D.C. Circuit upholds FTC decision that Pom Wonderful deceived consumers with disease-fighting claims. Next thing you know they’re going to say Red Bull doesn’t really give you wings. [Chronicle of Higher Education]

* Macklemore is looking for an intern. Probably going to find a lawsuit instead. [LXBN]

* Now that the Super Bowl is over, Glendale can get back to focusing on how they’re going broke because of that stadium. Once again, publicly funded stadiums are a terrible idea on par with running a quick slant instead of running the best back in football up the gut for one yard. [Americans For Tax Reform]

* In case you were interested, Sheldon Silver’s former employer makes serious bank. [Page Six / New York Post]

* A quick and easy summary of amici briefs filed in King v. Burwell. [Balkinization]

* Dean Chemerinsky in a wide-ranging interview about the Supreme Court and its failings. As you’d expect from the author of The Case Against the Supreme Court (affiliate link). [Concurring Opinions]

* Richard Hsu talks to Kelly Perdew, who won the Apprentice back when the show was about finding competent businesspeople instead of helping Jose Canseco squeeze out 15 more minutes of fame. [Hsu Untied]

There's a certain level of irony at play when anti-gay marriage advocates decide the normal binary rules shouldn't apply to them....

The Supreme Court doesn't need facts, which is lucky because they don't have many.