Anthony Kennedy

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.28.19

* The drama at WeWork has resulted in huge amounts of legal work for several top law firms. Maybe the firms will get free office space along with their fees. [American Lawyer] * A new lawsuit alleges that Southwest Airlines pilots hid a video camera in an airplane lavatory and streamed the video from the cockpit. Sounds like a weird new Mile High Club... [Washington Post] * A 78-year-old woman has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for the attempted murder of her own lawyer. Her criminal defense attorney is one brave person. [AP News] * Steve Bannon is expected to testify against Roger Stone at the latter's upcoming trial for federal charges. [National Law Journal] * Arrests have been made for the murder of Rachelle Bergeron, the New York attorney who served as the acting attorney general of the island of Yap. [BBC] * Retired Justice Anthony Kennedy was awarded the Liberty Medal yesterday for efforts to promote education about the Constitution. The award comes with a $100,000 prize — hope he's not jealous that RBG won a $1,000,000 award last week. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

By Jordan Rothman
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 11.21.18

* President Trump pardoned two turkeys yesterday with a stern warning that "House Democrats are likely to issue them both subpoenas," and that he couldn't "guarantee that [their] pardons won't be enjoined by the Ninth Circuit" since it "[a]lways happens." [NBC News] * In case you missed it, and we're pretty sure that's exactly what was intended here given the timing, President Trump submitted written answers to special counsel Robert Mueller's questions regarding Russian interference with the 2016 election. [Washington Post] * That's our Trumpy! He also wanted to order the Justice Department to prosecute his 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton and former FBI director James Comey, and reportedly only backed down when he heard he could be impeached. [New York Times] * Biglaw partners are leaving their firms to become judges, and it's because ex-White House counsel Don McGahn picked people just like him -- "traditional, conservative, blue-ribbon, white-shoe law firm lawyers" -- to fill vacancies. [American Lawyer] * Retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, a staunch defender of LGBT rights who helped keep a woman's right to choose legal, will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Lawyer next month. Congratulations, Your Honor! [American Lawyer] * Seattle University School of Law has suspended its externship program with ICE after students signed a petition stating that the agency goes against the school's mission to "empower[] leaders for a just and humane world." [Seattle Times]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 11.14.18

* Insiders say that President Donald Trump is expected to turn over his written responses to special counsel Robert Mueller's questions about Russia's interference with the 2016 election as soon as sometime this week. Ooooh boy, this should be fun. [Reuters] * According to retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, the world's culture is "becoming vulgar," and it's up to the United States to "show a culture, a discourse, a civil dialogue that’s enviable and admirable." Yeah... good luck with that. [Washington Times] * White House regulatory czar Neomi Rao has been nominated to fill Justice Brett Kavanaugh's seat on the D.C. Circuit. In case you somehow missed it, Rao had a hand in the renaning of George Mason Law to ASS Law. Congrats! [National Law Journal] * Remember Joel Sanders, the ex-CFO of Dewey & LeBoeuf? He says his "dire financial circumstances" prevent him from paying a $1M fine, but the Manhattan DA says he's trying to commit "a fraud on [the] court." [New York Law Journal] * It's not just Berkeley Law that's trying to erase its association with a racist namesake. It's just now being reported that Mercer Law School quietly removed segregationist and Southern Manifesto signatory Walter F. George's name this summer. [13WMAZ] * Stephen Scharf, film finance pioneer and co-chair of the Entertainment, Sports & Media Practice at O'Melveny & Myers, lost his battle with cancer. RIP. [THR, Esq.]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.24.18

* As she steps away from public life in the wake of her dementia diagnosis, rather than banish retired Justice Anthony Kennedy to the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building, retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor bequeathed her chambers to him. The Supreme Court will miss her. [National Law Journal] * Judges say the darndest things: Bill Cosby's bid to get a new trial and reduce his sentence was summarily turned down by Judge Steven O'Neill, who noted in a simple, one-page ruling that "no hearing or argument is required on the issues." [NBC News] * Desmarais, the elite IP litigation boutique that recently raised salaries for first-year associates to $210,000, will be making its "first and probably [] last expansion," opening a West Coast office in San Francisco to serve its Bay Area clients. [Law360] * In case you missed it, the State Bar of California’s Committee of Bar Examiners awarded Thomas Jefferson School of Law with state accreditation after an 8-7 vote, with one committee member abstaining. Now its graduates will be able to sit for the California bar exam even if the ABA revokes its accreditation. [ABA Journal] * If you've been wondering what killed the Middle Tennessee State University / Valparaiso Law School deal, one member of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission says it had to do with "genuine concern about the labor supply and demand for lawyers" -- and that seems entirely reasonable. [Murfreesboro Post]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.08.18

Ed. note: In honor of Columbus Day (and Canadian Thanksgiving), Above the Law will be on a reduced publication schedule. We'll be back in full force tomorrow. * In case you somehow missed it, Brett Kavanaugh, who is "totally brilliant" per President Trump, was confirmed to the Supreme Court in one of the closest votes in American history (50 to 48). He was sworn in shortly thereafter by Chief Justice John Roberts and the recently retired Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. [New York Times] * It's certainly worth mentioning that Chief Justice Roberts received judicial misconduct complaints from the D.C. Circuit about Kavanaugh's hearing testimony, but he decided to not to do anything about them. Now, people are accusing Roberts of being involved in some sort of a Kavanuagh cover-up. [Washington Post] * As Kavanaugh mentioned during his confirmation hearing, he'll be the first Supreme Court justice to have four women law clerks. Counting his clerks, women will make up a majority of the Supreme Court's clerks for the first time in history. Nice work, Justice Brett. At least he's good for something. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ [National Law Journal] * "The women are against her." How did Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg become the feminist pop culture icon that we know and love today when she was almost bypassed for her SCOTUS nomination because women didn't trust her? [New Yorker] * We've got a situation! Jersey Shore cast member Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino will be heading to federal prison for eight months on tax evasion charges. Expect his co-stars to starting referring to him as "The Incarceration." [Courthouse News]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.23.18

* As it turns out, this Supreme Court gig was Judge Brett Kavanaugh's from the start. According to a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire released this past weekend, the judge received a call from the White House within hours of Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement announcement being made public. [National Law Journal] * But hey, at least law students say that Judge Kavanaugh has "great hair!" -- and the Trump team thinks this is a very important fact that the American public ought to know, so it's been republished on the White House website. [New York Times; TIME] * Per President Trump, taping client conversations is "inconceivable," "totally unheard of," and "perhaps illegal," but his legal team decided to waive attorney-client privilege on the secret recording made by his former lawyer Michael Cohen with regard to possible payments to a Playboy model Karen anyway. [CBS News] * Matthew Bresette, a T&E attorney who formerly served as the managing partner of Nutter McClellan's Hyannis, Massachusetts, office, recently resigned after being temporarily suspended from practicing law following his misappropriation of funds from the firm and funds from his clients' trusts. [American Lawyer] * Fordham Law School has helped one of its incoming students invoke the anger of an entire country. In announcing that Kei Komuro, who is engaged to Princess Mako of Japan, would be attending the school, he was referred to as her fiancé, even though their "betrothal ceremony has not yet been held." People are MAD! [New York Times]

By Staci Zaretsky
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 07.15.18

* What's it like to take the California bar exam as a 46-year-old law professor? Orin Kerr enlightens us. [Reason / Volokh Conspiracy] * Charles Glasser points out the dangers involved in holding a speaker responsible for actions taken by listeners. [Daily Caller] * In the Term that just ended, the Supreme Court tackled technology issues in a big way -- and the implications are far-reaching, as J.P. Schnapper-Casteras explains. [Take Care] * Elizabeth Slattery and I joined Laurence Colletti, guest host of the Lawyer 2 Lawyer podcast, to discuss Justice Anthony M. Kennedy's SCOTUS retirement and the nomination of his successor, Judge Brett Kavanaugh. [Legal Talk Network] * There has been a lot of speculation about how a Justice Brett Kavanaugh might move the Court to the right; Adam Feldman digs into the cases to make some educated guesses. [Empirical SCOTUS] * What lessons could losing the Court teach the Democrats? Here are some thoughts from Seth Lipsky and David Leonhardt. [New York Post via Instapundit] * And what lessons can lawyers learn from Judge Kavanaugh's excellent writing? Ross Guberman identifies five of them. [Legal Writing Pro] * Joel Cohen and Dale Degenshein explore what happens when a citizen "flips the bird" at the police (hint: it's not a good idea). [Law and Crime] * Congratulations to Thomson Reuters on the launch of Westlaw Edge, the latest version of its industry-leading legal research platform -- which boasts a slew of new, artificial-intelligence-driven features, helpfully explained by Jean O'Grady. [Dewey B Strategic] * And speaking of AI, congratulations to Fenwick & West on cutting the time for contract review in half, with the help of technology from Kira Systems. [Artificial Lawyer]

By David Lat
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.13.18

* Roy Moore threatens to sue Showtime because he's one of the few people left on the planet that can't recognize Sacha Baron Cohen. [Variety] * Apparently, the court frowns upon handjobs in their conference rooms. [Columbus Dispatch] * The Daily Journal published some thoughts on Justice Kennedy’s retirement from Alex Kozinski, reminding everyone again about that Kozinski-Kavanaugh connection. [Slate] * Law firm leaders are optimistic that they're about to see some growth in demand despite years and years of evidence to the contrary. [American Lawyer] * Opioid dealers incensed that they may have to pay some sort of penalty for all that "human misery." [New York Law Journal] * Washington's AG announces agreement ending fast food non-compete policies for their workers. Yes... fast food restaurants have "non-compete" agreements. [Seattle Times] * Hackers are selling access to law firms for $3500 which isn't a new phenomenon. [CNBC]

By Joe Patrice