Department of Education

* Proskauer tells the EEOC that there’s nothing “sinister” about employers demanding that sexual harassment victims sign away their legal rights to be railroaded through employer-chosen kangaroo courts and then forcibly silenced. Welcome to 2018. [National Law Journal]

* In emoluments news, Judge Peter Messitte asked the Justice Department if, based on their chosen defense, “Wouldn’t that be bribery?” which he seemed to think would be a bad thing as if the Supreme Court hadn’t legalized bribery in McDonnell. [US News]

* Chris Christie is starting his own law firm and somehow Rudy Giuliani has already managed to lie about that. [NJ.com]

* Betsy DeVos succeeded in keeping fraud victims indebted to the government. She was also ordered to stop pursuing collection actions against the victims, but she still gets to destroy their credit ratings, which is still a great day for kleptocracy. [Courthouse News Service]

* Nelson Mullins merging with Broad and Cassel as part of the growing trend of super-regional firms designed to keep the Am Law elite at bay. [Daily Report]

* In a lesson on putting carts ahead of horses, the former general counsel for Portland, Oregon’s public school district was just admitted to the bar… after the state bar lodged ethics violations against him for serving in that role without a law license in the state. [Portland Tribune]

* 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]

* On Tuesday, a Major League Baseball game had fewer than 6,000 in attendance. At the same time, the Second Circuit has to grapple with the fact that we still give this sport an antitrust exemption. [Law360]

* Justice William O’Neill of the Ohio Supreme Court took to Facebook to blast Cleveland Browns players for staging a silent, reverential protest of racial violence in America. With that, O’Neill successfully completes the first step in running for governor. [ABA Journal]

* “How do you go from the sixth-largest media market to the 40th and call it a win?” Antitrust attorney James Quinn on the NFL’s decision to move the Raiders to Las Vegas. [New York Law Journal]

* The battle between the St. Louis Cardinals and an animal welfare organization has stepped up a notch. I promise there’s non-sports legal news after the jump. [Deadspin]

* Hilarity ensues when Jeff Flake holds a hearing on splitting the Ninth Circuit and the hard-core Trump people use it to troll him. [The Recorder]

* Children conceived from frozen sperm can’t get survivor benefits. Well, this is a wacky one. [Law.com]

* Department of Education outlines the options available to Charlotte Law students. [Inside Higher Ed]

* Ministry objects to SPLC “hate group” label issued over a history of staunch anti-LGBT activism. [Sun-Sentinel]

* “We have a very crappy judicial system.” Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit says the Supreme Court has far too few justices, and is calling for 10 more to be added to the high court’s ranks, as he thinks the current arrangement on the bench is “[m]ediocre and highly politicized.” Tell ’em how you really feel, Your Honor. [Chicago Tribune]

* “This is deeply disturbing.” The Justice Department’s civil rights division is planning to sue colleges and universities that engage in “intentional race-based discrimination” in their affirmative action policies — that is, discrimination against white applicants. Hmm, wasn’t this recently before SCOTUS… twice? [New York Times]

* RIP, billables: Microsoft wants to completely eliminate the billable hour by entering into alternative fee arrangements with all of the firms it works with in the future. Twelve Biglaw firms and one intellectual property firm will spearhead this movement as the company’s strategic partners. [Big Law Business]

* The Department of Education has filed a motion for summary judgment in a suit brought by the ABA over public service loan forgiveness, claiming that its forgiveness eligibility determinations won’t be final until 10 years have passed and that any eligibility letters sent thus far are nonbinding and merely advisory. How comforting for law grads drowning in debt? [Law.com; ABA Journal]

* The Senate has confirmed King & Spalding partner Christopher Wray as the new director of the FBI. During his hearings, Wray said he’d resign if he were ever asked to do something immoral or illegal, as his “commitment is to the rule of law, to the Constitution, to follow the facts wherever they may lead.” [CNN]