* Remember how AG Bill Barr announced that lawyers would be getting swapped out on the census citizenship case? This federal judge has rejected the change because the DOJ “provide[d] no reasons, let alone ‘satisfactory reasons,’ for the substitution of counsel.” [New York Law Journal]
* After two hours of oral argument, judges on the Fifth Circuit seemed unsure of whether the Affordable Care Act would live to see another day. This case is likely headed to the Supreme Court no matter what, as health insurance for 20 million people protections for pre-existing conditions are in the crossfire. [POLITICO]
* Daniel Bress of Kirkland & Ellis was confirmed to the Ninth Circuit (or the “9th Circus,” as President Trump once referred to the appellate court) in a party-line vote. He’ll replace the disgraced Alex Kozinski, who resigned in 2017 amid allegations of sexual misconduct. [Washington Post]
* Chief Justice Leo Strine of the Delaware Supreme Court will be retiring at the end of October, leaving time for Governor John Carney to select a replacement for the man who shaped the law on takeovers. [Reuters]
* Jeffrey McIntyre, a partner at Husch Blackwell, left the firm after he was reprimanded by the Wisconsin Supreme Court for punching a bar manager in the face and driving while intoxicated, both of which he was charged for and submitted guilty pleas. [Wisconsin State Journal; ABA Journal]
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* According to Senator Mitch McConnell, Judges Raymond Kethledge and Thomas Hardiman would be the easiest to confirm, so he's been trying to steer President Trump into choosing one of them to replace Justice Kennedy. On Saturday, the president was still undecided on his pick. Stay tuned for more... [New York Times]
* On Sunday, President Trump still hadn't picked a judge to replace Justice Kennedy on the Supreme Court, but said he was "very close to making a decision." At this point, we only know that the president has seemingly "los[t] much of his interest in" Judge Kethledge. Tune in tonight for his pick. Who will get his final SCOTUS rose?! [CNN]
* Despite the DOJ's request for an extension on a deadline to reunite families that were separated at the border, Judge Dana Sabraw said the deadline must be complied with "unless there is an articulable reason." Apparently "safety" is a concern now, but this would've been much easier if children hadn't been lost in the system. [The Hill]
* In case you missed it, Judge Lynn Hughes of the Southern District of Texas, who is often the benchslapper, once more became the benchslappee when the Fifth Circuit called him out for allegedly making sexist remarks on the bench. [Texas Lawyer]
* Remember Keila Ravelo, the partner who allegedly bilked Hunton & Williams and Willkie Farr out of $7.8 million to lead a life of luxury? Following her November guilty plea on felony charges, she was recently disbarred. [American Lawyer]
* The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today on the Trump travel ban case. What's at stake here, aside from the high court potentially allowing the travel ban to become permanent? The legacy of the Roberts Court also hangs in the balance. A decision upholding the ban could very well be the next Dred Scott, Plessy, or Korematsu, and forever marring this Court's record. [Take Care]
* Is AG Jeff Sessions recusing himself from the investigation into Michael Cohen, or isn't he? According to the DOJ, Sessions isn't involved in any investigations "related in any way to the campaigns for president," but according to news sources, he hasn't decided to recuse himself from the Cohen probe quite yet. [Politico; Bloomberg]
* Judge John Bates of the District of Columbia has ruled that the Trump administration's decision to end the DACA program was "arbitrary and capricious" and "virtually unexplained," and therefore "unlawful." Judge Bates ordered that the government must not only continue DACA, but accept new applicants. He stayed his ruling for 90 days to give DHS a chance to explain itself. [Washington Post]
* Kyle Duncan, President Trump's fifteenth federal appeals court nominee who's known for litigating disputes involving voter ID requirements, same-sex marriage bans, transgender bathroom access, and the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive mandate, was very narrowly confirmed to the Fifth Circuit. [Big Law Business]
* According to the Harvard Law Women's Law Association, there's a glass ceiling at the school. The faculty is "overwhelmingly male," and the administration is "turning a blind eye" to the success of women once they're enrolled. Something has to change so women can achieve as much success as their male classmates. [Harvard Law Record]
* Joel Cohen makes the case for appointing a special master to review the attorney-client privilege claims in the case of Michael Cohen (no relation). [Law and Crime]
* A fun profile of Judge Kimba M. Wood (S.D.N.Y.), who's presiding over the Cohen case -- and who "doesn't need to eat the whole barrel to know it's not a pickle." [Politico]
* Circuit judges can play it safe, in the hopes of making it to the Supreme Court someday, or they can be bold (which might help their SCOTUS chances, or might hurt them); Judge James Ho is going for the second approach. [U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit]
* Professor Eugene Volokh: "What is this, Mean Girls: Supreme Court Edition?" [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]
* Still on SCOTUS, which leading appellate lawyers (according to Chambers & Partners) have the most active practices before the high court? [Empirical SCOTUS]
* What's the best new legal-information product out there, and what's the best new product feature or function? Survey says.... [Dewey B Strategic]
* Because having a law school named after him wasn't enough, Philadelphia trial lawyer Thomas R. Kline is now honored by a giant marble statue. [Philly.com]
* The Wisconsin Supreme Court will decide an important case about academic freedom (and Above the Law gets cited in the amicus brief of the National Association of Scholars -- see footnote 29). [Badger Pundit]
* Congratulations to former Miss America winner Deidre Downs Gunn and attorney and writer Abbott Jones on their recent nuptials! [People]
* And congratulations to the recipients of 2018's Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 Awards! [LGBT Bar]
* 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]
* Hogan Lovells shows the love to its support staff -- as long as they head for the exits -- by offering voluntary retirement to 400 employees. [Legal Week]
* Another jailhouse pal of Sigfredo Garcia, one of the defendants in the Dan Markel murder case, claims that Garcia acknowledged participating in the killing. [Tallahassee Democrat]
* The Texas-sized drama over those open Fifth Circuit seats shows no signs of being resolved anytime soon. [BuzzFeed via How Appealing]
* One of outgoing dean Daniel Rodriguez's biggest achievements at Northwestern Law: bringing down average student indebtedness by roughly a third. [Law.com]
* The gold that Donald Trump is showering upon his lawyers in the Russia probe reportedly comes from donations to his re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee. [Reuters via ABA Journal]
* Speaking of the Russia inquiry, can White House counsel Don McGahn claim attorney-client privilege to withhold information from special counsel Robert Mueller? [Reuters via How Appealing]
* Unintended consequences: the high cost of Biglaw associates is driving entry-level hiring of in-house lawyers. [Am Law Daily]
* What's behind the trend of women leaving Biglaw to start their own boutiques? [Big Law Business]
* An off-duty African-American police officer responded to gunfire heard from his apartment by grabbing his service weapon and heading out to assist his fellow officers. How do you think this blurb is going to end? If you answered "I don't have enough facts yet to know the outcome," you are an idiot or a child. If you answered "the white officers shot him," you are right, of course. If you answered, "the white officers detained him, realized their mistake, released him, and then a late arriving officer shot him, and the police lied about it for a day until a newspaper reported out the story," then you somehow knew that this went down in St. Louis. [New York Daily News]
* The Fifth Circuit lifted a ban on a bill that will allow Mississippi to discriminate against the gay community. Story time: I saw this story in Morning Docket, and just now tried to Google it for comment in this column. I couldn't remember the exact details, so I just typed in "Mississippi gay bashing bill." Couldn't find what I was looking for. I thought a little and then tried "Mississippi religious freedom law," boom, Google gave me all the links. Here's the thing: I refuse to use the language of the oppressors. This bill is not about religious freedom, it's about gay bashing. I'm going to call it as such, I'm going to tag it as such, and I hope others will join me in reserving "religious freedom" for worshipers while telling bigots exactly what they are. [USA Today]
* Undercover police officer handcuffs three teenagers on the National Mall for... selling water without a permit. The kids were black, of course. At this point, I'm pretty sure a police officer could be dying of thirst and I could have an entire river sloshing around in my backpack and I wouldn't tip it out so that the officer could lick the water off of my foot. BECAUSE IF I REACHED FOR THE WATER THE DESICCATED OFFICER WOULD STILL SHOOT ME AND SAY HE THOUGHT I WAS GOING FOR A GUN. [U.S. News]
* Recipients of the prestigious Rangel and Pickering fellowships, aimed at helping minority applicants get started at the State Department, have been told by Trump's State Department that only temporary, non-career positions are available to them this year. I think I'm okay with that, insofar as I don't want any foreigner thinking that non-white Americans have a lot to do with this embarrassment of a country. We just work here. [Independent]
* I've got to do some plugs in a second, so my editorial sense tells me I should link to something funny to lighten the mood. Here's a story about a world-famous comedian who will be touring America, town-hall style, to raise awareness about sexual assault. [NPR]
* Join David Lat for a happy hour -- and Supreme Court talk -- in Minneapolis on Monday. [Federalist Society Events]
* I was on the Brian Lehrer Show again, this time with Kai Wright, and I broke down like seven Supreme Court cases in half an hour, including basically wetting myself when they let me lead with REAL PROPERTY in the form of the Murr v. Wisconsin decision. [Brian Lehrer Show]
* Time to check in with the Alt-Right. Breitbart has an explosive report claiming that Trump officials are quietly instructing schools to call boys and girls the pronouns of their choice. "Education Officials Quietly Push Transgender Ideology Onto Schools." It's their second most commented on story, behind a Nancy Pelosi hit job. "The deplorables didn't vote for this LGBTQLMFAO nonsense. Trump wasn't elected to continue ovomits LGBTQLMFAO PCBS legacy, Trump was elected to End it." Calling schoolchildren something that makes them feel comfortable and accepted = "Ovomits LGBTQLMFAO PCBS legacy." I will never give in to these people, and I don't care how many pollsters, spinsters, or allies tell me I have to in order to "win". [Breitbart]
