Crime

* Former President Barack Obama has been called for jury duty in November, and unlike most Americans, he’s not looking for a way to get out of serving. [ABC Chicago]

* The pivot you’re looking for is in another castle: Now that a grand jury’s approved the first charges in the Russian collusion investigation and someone’s about to be taken into custody, President Trump took to Twitter to demand that Hillary Clinton be investigated. [New York Times]

* Paul Manafort is turning himself in. Surprise! (Is this really a surprise?) [CNN]

* Like it or not, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is planning to be around for the long haul. Don’t count on this “flaming feminist litigator” retiring any time soon. [The Hill]

* Justice Don Willett of the Texas Supreme Court, the state’s Tweeter Laureate, hasn’t tweeted a single time since he was nominated to the Fifth Circuit. How long will this god-awful silence from everyone’s favorite Twitter judge last? [Texas Lawyer]

* So long, borrower-defense rule? Betsy DeVos is thinking about only partially forgiving loans for students who were defrauded by for-profit schools. [AP]

* According to Justice Gorsuch, you don’t need to “suppress[] disagreement” to be civil. Disagreeable, eh? Maybe this is why there seems to be such animosity between him and Justice Kagan. [Associated Press]

* President Trump has reportedly promised to pay $430,000 to “defray the costs of legal fees for his associates, including former and current White House aides.” Meanwhile, some of his former associates have lawyers’ bills from the Russia probe that are higher than that. [Axios]

* President Trump has apparently been interviewing candidates (i.e., Biglaw attorneys with close connections to Rudy Giuliani and Marc Kasowitz) for key U.S. attorney positions, which is outside the norm for most presidents. Despite the gravity of the situation, Senator Lindsay Graham had a clever quip about the situation: “It’s kind of an extension of ‘The Apprentice,’ I guess.” The ratings on this will be YUGE. [CNN]

* “She can leave the country or she cannot get her abortion, those are her options?” Over the objections of the D.D.C. judge who ruled that the government must allow an undocumented 17-year-old seeking an abortion to get one, thanks to the D.C. Circuit, she needs to find a sponsor and further delay the procedure. [New York Times]

* Ex-Kaye Scholer partner Evan Greebel is on trial for conspiracy, and he’s desperately trying to distance himself from his former client, Martin Shkreli. He claims this was a big misunderstanding, and that he was victimized by Shkreli. [Big Law Business]

* Trump calls for changes to the tax laws to punish the NFL. I think this is a reference to the NFL’s tax-exempt status… which they gave up in 2015. But hey, he’s upset over a picture of players kneeling from 2014, so they’re still a year behind on this stuff over in the West Wing. [Reuters]

* Living in limbo: Kirkland’s income partners are supposed to go up and out, but upon closer examination they’re going up and… wildly well-compensated purgatory. [Law.com]

* Winston & Strawn want arbitration in their gender bias suit based on a clause in the applicable partnership agreement. Get used to this, because by this time next year every job will be forcing arbitration if the Supreme Court has anything to say about it. [Am Law Daily]

* Today in unintentionally sad: two elite female attorneys fight over a song pretty clearly about date rape. [The Recorder]

* Apple GC Bruce Sewell is retiring. Very symbolic of someone at Apple to stop working just when they release a new product. [Corporate Counsel]

* What are the seven worst words from your past for your jury to hear? Because “I think we got away with it,” have to be up there. [Law360]

* An interview with former Magic Circle lawyer Tom Vaughan MacAulay about his new book Being Simon Haines (affiliate link). [Legal Cheek]

* We’ve found Justice Washington’s notes in a circuit case he heard in 1823, which is kind of fun. [Concurring Opinions]

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.

* Justice Neil Gorsuch’s arrival as a member of the Supreme Court hasn’t been the most graceful, and word on the street is that some of his new colleagues on the bench may bear some ill will towards him. A rift might even be developing between Gorsuch and Chief Justice Roberts. [CNN]

* Because Gorsuch is the Supreme Court’s newest justice, he has to share his office with Leroy. He’s being hazed by Scalia from beyond the grave. [Associated Press]

* As part of its new legal strategy in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian election interference investigation, the Trump administration has decided to — gasp! — be cooperative. Trump’s lawyers think that maybe if they play nice, Mueller will publicly clear the president’s name a little more quickly, or at all. [New York Times]

* In other news, President Trump took to Twitter this weekend to invoke the Federal Communications Commission’s equal time rules because he’s sick and tired of “unfunny” late-night TV hosts making fun of him without an opportunity to respond in kind. Perhaps you ought to stick with Twitter, Mr. President. [Fox News]

* Much like what happened with Traci Ribeiro’s case against Sedgwick, Winston & Strawn is trying to push Constance Ramos, a partner who left the firm amid allegations of gender bias and discrimination, into arbitration. [Am Law Daily]

* Lisa Bloom has been criticized left and right for taking on Harvey Weinstein as a client. Even her own mother, Gloria Allred, objected. Because mother knows best, Bloom resigned as counsel. Lanny Davis has also left the producer’s legal team. Down two lawyers, Weinstein was fired from his own company. [New York Times]

* A Michigan judge recently awarded joint legal custody and parenting time to a rape victim’s attacker. The child involved in this case is an 8-year-old boy, and the fellow who sexually assaulted his mother also happens to be a convicted sex offender. According to the victim’s attorney, “[t]his is insane”; she’s not wrong. [Detroit News]