Clarence Thomas
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 05.05.23
* Leonard Leo had Kellyanne Conway funnel tens of thousands of dollars from a non-profit to Ginni Thomas without a paper trail and with the explicit direction “No mention of Ginni, of course.” Totally normal and above-board thing to do! [Washington Post]
* Ed Sheeran prevailed in his copyright case as sharing chord progressions don’t make songs similar. [Law360]
* If a whistle blows in the woods and the bank can retaliate without repercussion, does it make a sound? The Supreme Court seems hopeful that the answer is no. [Bloomberg Law News]
* Ivanka Trump targeted by NYAG over discovery obligations with investigators leery of “why her volume of emails dropped from 1,200 per month in 2014 to 37 in 2016.” Yes, what could have happened in 2016 that inspired some urgency to curtail the digital paper trail? [Huffington Post]
* Google and Sonos head to trial in patent dispute over smart devices. Hey, Alexa? Why are you laughing? [Reuters]
* Biglaw financials are strong… so of course everyone’s talking about layoffs because America is going to gaslight itself into a recession one way or another. [American Lawyer]
* Court issues more sanctions over false voter fraud claims, tagging Arizona gubernatorial loser Kari Lake. Which probably makes her the front-runner for Trump’s running mate. [The Hill]
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Courts
Sonia Sotomayor Ruled On Copyright Cases While Disclosing Book Fees Which Is Sort Of Like Years Of Covering Up Yacht Trips And Private School Tuition
This is not the defense of Clarence Thomas that these folks think it is. - Sponsored
Mitigating M&A Cyber Risk: Pre- & Post-Acquisition Due Diligence
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Courts
It's Going To Be A Lot Harder For Clarence Thomas To Justify The Most Recent Ethics Scandal
The latest Clarence Thomas ethics scandal.
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 05.04.23
* Harlan Crow paid for Clarence Thomas to send his kid to private school?!?! Honestly, I’m starting to think ProPublica brilliantly slow-played all these stories to give the Wall Street Journal and Fox maximum opportunity to embarrass themselves by going all in on “personal hospitality exception” before dropping this. [ProPublica]
* Now Trump says he will probably attend his own rape trial. But his legal team has yet to amend its prior position that it would not call any witnesses so he’s just planning to hang out. [Reuters]
* CFTC Inspector General suspended pending investigation into squelching whistleblower complaints. [Law360]
* DeSantis selling merchandise designed to invoke the Disney trademark because he hasn’t given them enough to sue him over. [Bloomberg Law News]
* And because no one in Florida government understands that admitting to abusing public office is a problem for its legal claims, the legislature is passing bills to crackdown on the Disney Monorail. [Forbes]
* Lewis Brisbois chair steps down following mass exodus. [The Recorder]
* McDonald’s franchise caught employing 10-year-olds. [NPR]
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Courts
Okay, Even Lindsey Graham Knows Something Needs To Be Done About The Supreme Court
You know things are bad when the GOP is warming up to concept of Supreme Court ethics. -
Courts
The Supreme Court Ethics Scandal That Just Won't End
Yes, there's still more to say about Clarence Thomas. -
Courts
Roberts Says Separation Of Powers Means He Can’t Testify, Senate Should Remind Him It Also Means 'Good Luck, Paying Your Bills, A**hole!'
To borrow from Supreme Court history, 'John Roberts has made his decision; now let him figure out how to pay for it!' -
Courts
Biglaw Head Bought Neil Gorsuch's Property In 2017. Yes, We Are Just Learning About It Now.
This is not how judicial ethics is supposed to work. - Sponsored
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Courts
Chief Justice Roberts Has The Opportunity To Do Something Extremely Funny About Judicial Ethics
Don't buy the bait and switch — we all know who we should be hearing from. -
Courts
Judge Ho Blows Off Clarence Thomas Taking $500K In Vacations Because Some Other Judges Own Stocks So... You Know... Something Something.
There are bad arguments and then there's whatever Judge Ho was trying to do here. -
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Courts
Ted Cruz Wants You To Believe That The 'Real' Racism Is Holding Powerful Multimillionaires Entrusted To Enforce And Obey The Law Accountable
If only people were as lenient toward people in need as they are to some of the most protected, powerful, and wealthy among us. -
Courts
Clarence Thomas's Piss-Ass Excuse For Not Disclosing Megadonor Real Estate Sale
So, is Clarence Thomas a bad faith actor or just not very good at this interpreting the law thing?
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Mitigating M&A Cyber Risk: Pre- & Post-Acquisition Due Diligence
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 04.17.23
* Dominion’s defamation trial against Fox delayed at the last moment, raising speculation that Fox may be trying to settle approximately a two years too late. [CNN]
* US News delays release of law school rankings following freak out from schools worried about what their own stupid boycott caused. [Reuters]
* Clarence Thomas is amending his old financial disclosures to include the shady revelations of the past few weeks. He claims this is all unnecessary because he lost money on these deals despite the statute being very clear that profit and loss are irrelevant to disclosure. But who really believes in holding people to the explicit text of a statute, huh? [Huffington Post]
* Federal Circuit is investigating the fitness of one of its 95-year-old judges. Not that there’s really much they can do about it. [Bloomberg Law News]
* Is it bad when your lawyer is recusing himself because he had to testify to the grand jury about you? That seems bad. [Washington Post]
* Ron Klain heads back to O’Melveny. [Axios]
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Courts
Appearance Of Bribery: Political Megadonor Wants Us To Believe He Bought And Improved Justice's Mom's House Off The Record Because Of History Or Something
With the way Harlan Crow is funding efforts to immortalize Clarence Thomas, Justi Tom Tom is going to end up making cameos in Marvel films. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 04.14.23
* Somehow the Clarence Thomas ethical morass got worse. [ProPublica]
* Biglaw firms consider recapturing the magic of lockdown profits by severely curtailing travel for in-person meetings. Yeah, that’s what the clients want in 2023… firms to Zoom them to save $5K. [American Lawyer]
* Liberals claim calls for Dianne Feinstein to resign are “sexist.” Which is exactly what the same liberals said about calls for Ruth Bader Ginsburg to resign and how did that work out for you? [Bloomberg Law News]
* SCOTUS refuses to halt student debt settlement involving schools that the government characterized as functional diploma mills. Don’t worry, they’re still on track to strike down the student debt settlement that could help the most people. [Reuters]
* Former client is “batshit crazy” says attorney. I don’t know about this specific client, but there’s a generalizable ring of truth to this. [Law360]
* DeSantis signs 6-week abortion law which, as political mistakes go, is right up there with “pissing off Disney.” [AP]
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Podcasts
What's Half A Million Dollars Among Friends And Easily Corruptible Government Figures?
Clarence Thomas takes some me time. -
Courts, Finance
Should Any GOP Megadonors Wish To Ply An ATL Columnist With Luxury Travel, See Email Below
Although the ethical obligations of Supreme Court Justices are notoriously lax and ill-defined, disclosure of gifts at the level Harlan Crow has bestowed on Clarence Thomas would seemingly be the bare minimum. -
Courts
Senate Judiciary Committee To Hold Hearing On Supreme Court Ethical Standards
Don't expect much from John Roberts's leadership on this issue. -
Courts
Thomas Responded To His Paper Trail Of Law Breaking With 'My Friends Said It Was Okay.' We Should Expect Better Of Our Judiciary.
We should expect 'Supreme' Jurists to have 'Supreme' Ethics. Is that really too much to ask?