Greg Gianforte

Ed. note: Above the Law will not be publishing on Monday, May 29, in honor of Memorial Day. We’ll see you on Tuesday, May 30 — which is when we plan to issue our latest ATL Law School Rankings.

* A Texas police chief is under investigation for allegedly calling a woman a “black bitch” after an altercation in a Walmart parking lot. The police chief was giving his 14-year-old daughter driving lessons at the time, and I’m comfortable drawing a straight line from the police/father’s behavior to 53% of white women voting for Donald Trump. [The Root]

* I think this link has something to do with art. Potentially, there’s a lawsuit about somebody who copies art? I really don’t know. Somebody at Above the Law sent me a link about art, told me to put it here, but didn’t summarize the relevant art facts to me, and… well, I’m just not going to muster the focus to read a whole story about art. [Jezebel]

* Joel Cohen, Judge Jed S. Rakoff, and Judge Richard Posner debate “alternative facts,” because this is now an issue in our crumbling society. [Slate]

* Long Island family awarded over $8 million because cops Tased disabled man four times. [New York Law Journal]

* Preet Bharara says recently elected Montana Congressperson, Greg ‘The Body-Slammer’ Gianforte, would “face deportation” if he was an immigrant. [The Hill]

* Most respectable publications are reporting on Trump’s embarrassing performance in Europe. Do you think that has filtered all the way down to the white supremacist media that is in charge of the country? [Breitbart]

* The Russia investigation now turns to President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner — proud holder of a law degree from NYU (and a really great set of abs). [Washington Post]

* Former Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), currently senior counsel at Kasowitz Benson, has withdrawn from consideration as FBI Director (as my colleague Staci Zaretsky predicted, after Marc Kasowitz got hired by President Trump to represent him in the Russia probe). [New York Times]

* Congratulations to Judge Amul Thapar, President Trump’s first lower-court nominee, on his confirmation to the Sixth Circuit — although it’s disappointing that no Democrats voted in favor of this eminently qualified (and diverse) candidate. [How Appealing]

* Despite allegedly roughing up a reporter (for which he’s apologized), Republican Greg Gianforte won the race for Montana’s sole seat in the House of Representatives (as my colleague Joe Patrice predicted he would). [New York Times]

* How did Michelle Obama react when Barack Obama declined to pursue a coveted Supreme Court clerkship? Tony Mauro tells the tale. [Law.com]

* The ABA continues to fight the good (or not so good?) fight in defense of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. [ABA Journal]

* It seems that some folks on Capitol Hill like my proposed solution to the use of “blue slips” in the judicial confirmation process. [Washington Post via How Appealing]

* The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office concludes that a slew of murder convictions based on dubious evidence from embattled detective Louis Scarcella must be thrown out — and yet Scarcella engaged in no wrongdoing. [New York Times]

* Biglaw firms are suffering from an oversupply of lawyers, and a quarter of respondents to a recent survey said their associates don’t have enough work — which might explain why at least one firm has turned to laying off first-year associates. Yikes. [ABA Journal]

* As voters head to the polls in Montana, they’re finding out that frontrunner Greg Gianforte allegedly beat up a reporter in front of a bunch of witnesses. Will this doom his chances? Pfft. I present the case study of Michael Grimm. [Huffington Post]

* Here comes the “Marc Kasowitz’s ties to Russia” stories. Newsflash: Russians have a lot of businesses that get sued. Let’s not make an equivalence between representing a Russian bank and handing them classified intelligence. [CNN]

* The D.C. Circuit seems like they might actually save the CFPB. At least until there’s an appeal to some politically hostile higher court. [Law.com]

* Google fighting to avoid becoming a generic term. This is apparently called “genericide” which I’d never heard of. I’ll have to Bing that. [Law360]

* Dentons cutting jobs in the UK. [Legal Week]

* If you want to know more about lobbying, Bracewell lobbyist Josh Zive just started a podcast called “The Lobby Shop.” Apparently “Big Bags O’ Bribes” reflects negatively on the practice. [National Law Journal]