Democrats

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.05.19

* Okay, fine, whatever, the Trump administration is apparently going to look for a way to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. We're governing by tweet these days, and this is the latest information on this debacle. [Washington Post] * And it looks like the way President Trump is thinking of adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census is through an executive order. The Justice Department has until this afternoon to straighten this out. [ABC News] * Nope, you still can't use money that was supposed to go to the Defense Department to build a border wall. The Ninth Circuit upheld an injunction on the use of these military funds just before the holiday. [Los Angeles Times] * Which Biglaw firms have received the most money from presidential candidates’ 2020 election campaigns? As you might have guessed, lawyers from Jones Day have gotten a lot to Republicans, and lawyers from Perkins Coie have gotten a lot to the Democrats. [National Law Journal] * Prosecutors have dropped the manslaughter charge filed against an Alabama woman who was five months pregnant and lost her unborn child after being shot in the stomach. Congratulations, Alabama! Way to be normal! [CBS News] * If you’re interested in going to law school, you should know that the average debt for the class of 2018 was pretty hefty at $115,481 — that’s $130,900 for private school graduates and $89,962 for public school graduates. Good luck paying it off! [Nerdwallet] * Matthew Benedict, a student at Buffalo Law, RIP. [New York Law Journal]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.28.16

* The ABA has placed Arizona Summit Law School on probation for its poor bar exam passage rates and questionable admissions practices. How will this affect the school's affiliation with Bethune-Cookman University? Will the Department of Education strip the law school of access to the federal student loan program like what happened with Charlotte School of Law? We'll have more on this later today. [Arizona Republic] * More Democratic senators have announced their opposition to the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch of the Tenth Circuit, but the White House is calling for a "fair, up-or-down vote." Hmm, when the previous administration called for a hearing followed by a "fair, up-or-down vote" for Supreme Court nominee Judge Merrick Garland of the D.C. Circuit, the request went completely ignored. [Reuters] * The Eastern District of Texas is home to more than 40 percent of all patent lawsuits, but the Supreme Court may decide to send patent trolls packing to other jurisdictions when it hands down its ruling in TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods. This case may not only resolve a Federal Circuit decision that's at odds with SCOTUS precedent, but it may bring forum shopping in patent cases to an end. [DealBook / New York Times] * As we mentioned previously, it was rumored that President Donald Trump would be nominating White House deputy counsel Makan Delrahim to lead the Justice Department's Antitrust Division. It looks like Trump finally decided to pull the trigger to elevate Delrahim to the position. He'll need to be confirmed by the Senate, which should be a relative breeze for him compared to other Trump nominees. [Law 360 (sub. req.)] * Eric Conn, a Social Security disability lawyer known as "Mr. Social Security," recently pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government money and one count of payment of gratuities in the largest Social Security fraud scheme in recent memory, submitting false medical paperwork and fake claims to the Social Security Administration to the tune of $550M. He earned himself more than $5.7M in fees as part of the scam. [WSJ Law Blog]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.26.17

* "I’m guessing they have had a number of long days and potentially sleepless nights." The government lawyers behind the efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with the American Health Care Act have had a rough go of things. Who are they, which law schools did they attend, and which Biglaw firms did they work for before becoming Hill lawyers? [National Law Journal] * Don't forget about Merrick: A third of Democratic senators have pledged to vote against confirming Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch. At this time, it remains unclear as to whether there will be a united effort by Democrats to oppose his confirmation when the Senate Judiciary Committee votes on April 3. [Reuters] * Guess who isn't boycotting Hawaii? People who apparently have a vendetta against this federal jurist. Judge Derrick Watson of the District of Hawaii has been receiving death threats ever since he blocked President Donald Trump's revised travel ban on March 15. He is now receiving 24-hour protection from the U.S. Marshals Service. [The Hill] * The Second Circuit has upheld New York's ban on non-lawyers investing in law firms. Personal injury firm Jacoby & Meyers argued that the state's prohibition on non-lawyer investment violated lawyers' First Amendment right to associate with clients, but the court found that connection to be "simply too attenuated." [New York Law Journal] * Ithaca may be gorges, but it can't compete with the Big Apple with it comes to hands-on learning about issues dealing with cutting-edge tech. Cornell Law is launching a semester-long Program in Information and Technology Law at its Tech campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City that's slated to begin in Spring 2018. [WSJ Law Blog] * Judge Edward J. McManus, the longest serving of any incumbent judge in the United States (and third-longest servng in the history of the United States), RIP. [N.D. Iowa]

By Staci Zaretsky