Eighth Amendment

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 06.29.18

* Justice Kennedy may be stepping down from the Supreme Court, but that doesn't mean he won't have a job. The dean of the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law already called the soon-to-be retireee and offered him a teaching position. Will Kennedy become a law professor? [Sacramento Business Journal] * The suspect in the Capital Gazette shooting has been identified as Jarrod Ramos. Ramos filed and lost a defamation suit against the newspaper in 2012 for correctly reporting that he'd pleaded guilty to criminal harassment. At least five people were killed during the shooting spree, and several others were seriously injured. [CNBC] * Does the death penalty violate the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution? At this rate, we may never find out because the Supreme Court keeps turning down cases challenging the issue. Justice Breyer is getting really upset about this, and dissented in both of the Court's denials this week. [National Law Journal] * Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is known to her fans as the Notorious R.B.G., and now she's got an album that's bears the exact same name. "Notorious R.B.G in Song" is a musical tribute that was created by her children, and even includes jokes about her horrible cooking skills. [WOSU Radio] * Remember Leicester Bryce Stovell, the lawyer who claimed via failed lawsuit that he was NBA legend LeBron James's father? He just got disbarred. [American Lawyer]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 01.19.16

* The New York Times editorial board believes SCOTUS justices "already have all the evidence they need to join the rest of the civilized world and end the death penalty once and for all" -- and they may get the chance to do so this Term (but won't). [New York Times] * A Texas lawyer has filed the first "birther" lawsuit against Republican candidate Ted Cruz, seeking a declaratory judgment that the Canadian-born senator isn't eligible to run for president. The filing is a pretty entertaining read in that it's completely insane. [KHOU 11 News] * Just when ex-Dewey & LeBoeuf chair Steven Davis thought his legal troubles were over, Citibank swooped in to slap him with a suit seeking repayment of a $400,000 loan for his capital contribution to the failed firm. [New York Law Journal via ABA Journal] * The U.S. Copyright Office has formed an academic partnership with George Mason University School of Law. We bet students and law school administrators alike are probably hoping it'll turn into an employment partnership as well. [IP Watchdog] * Lower-ranked law schools ought to thank their lucky stars that U.S. News "ranking competition" exists, because if not for fear they'd sink in the rankings, higher-ranked schools would've enrolled students typically bound for unranked schools. [Forbes] * Not only has Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's first bid to get a new trial been rejected, but in what's been called a "symbolic gesture," the convicted Boston Marathon bomber has now been ordered to pay more than $101 million in restitution to his victims. [Boston Globe]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 09.16.15

* Justices Kennedy and Breyer seemed to be champing at the bit for a prolonged solitary confinement case last Term, and now they may have the opportunity to weigh in on one. Let's see if the Supreme Court decides to let Justice Kennedy swing his vote around. [New York Times] * We all know that Mark Cuban isn't that big of a fan of the Securities and Exchange Commission, but now he's trying to inject himself into the debate over the agency's use of in-house administrative law judges by way of filing a brief in support. [WSJ Law Blog] * Winston & Strawn elected Jeffrey Kessler to serve as its co-chair. He's got experience running firms with others -- he once served as a member of Dewey's four-partner Office of the Chairman before the firm completely imploded. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA] * IU Maurer Law is teaming up with Chapman and Cutler, an Am Law 200 firm, to create a two-year rotational program in finance and law. There's just one catch: this is only for recent college graduates, not law school graduates. Oops! [Indiana Daily Student] * Lucrative niche alert: They're calling this the green rush, but we don't need to remind attorneys that green is also the color of money. By 2020, the market for legal recreational marijuana is going to be booming, with billions of dollars in business. [Fortune]

By Staci Zaretsky