Gun Control

Assuming Trump was not lying about owning guns in the first place so as to please easily duped NRA members, as a convicted felon he must surrender his firearms.

One officer yelled, 'Hands up.' It didn’t register, so we looked at them blankly. We were so confused.

The Founders really should have been clearer with their clauses.

* Biden signed an executive order that, among other things, limits the use of federal funding for conversion therapy. Woop Woop! [The Guardian]

* A vocal majority: Most New Yorkers would like fewer guns on the streets. [NY Post]

* By the way, SCOTUS ruled that border agents can make warrantless arrests in most major American cities. No biggie. [Fox]

* You know, there’s probably a joke to be made about not paying people on the federal holiday meant to commemorate the end of slavery. [AP]

* Today, unions. Tomorrow, strikes! [The Guardian]

* Ever wonder what the law would look like if we treated AR-15s more like pit bulls? No, not that Pitbull. [The Hill]

* There’s a fail-safe for pregnancies that become dangerous if Roe isn’t safeguarded. Biden will have to step up, though. [The Atlantic]

* Not only are there Nazis in the police force, they’re making a killing! [AP]

* A healthy reminder that your experience may vary if you’re thinking about Biglaw to pay off your shiny new six figures of debt. [Reddit]

It's a useful exercise in many different contexts to ignore what people say and instead look at their actions. Case in point: Trump on guns.

Screw 'thoughts and prayers.' Screw 'there are no words.'

This senator is calling out his colleagues for their inaction and begging for change.

Now, when things reopen, we can all go see a Jim Jefferies show together.

Alex Jones, um, celebrates the new year with $100,000 in legal sanctions and fines.

Trump's most significant gun control policy achievement to date outstrips Obama's by nearly a full order of magnitude.

* Lawyers for Brendan Dassey of Making a Murderer have filed a writ of certiorari, asking the Supreme Court to review a decision made by the en banc Seventh Circuit that upheld his conviction for murder. Earlier, a federal magistrate overturned his conviction and a panel of the Seventh Circuit affirmed. This is totally going to be in the show’s sequel. [ABC 2 WBAY]

* A step in the right direction for gun control? During a Medal of Valor ceremony at the White House, President Trump announced that he’d directed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to draft regulations that would effectively ban the use of bump stocks. Now we’ll just wait a few months to see some action on AR-15s… [USA Today]

* Could it be? Could Justice Neil Gorsuch be on your side when it comes to privacy? Believe it or not, “[h]e may even become the Supreme Court’s next swing vote on Fourth Amendment issues,” and this term he’ll have more than an ample opportunity to swing on the issues of digital privacy and police search warrants. [VICE News]

* If you thought you couldn’t get rid of your student loans in bankruptcy, you were likely be right, but that could change. The Trump administration is looking into what it takes for borrowers to meet the “undue hardship” threshold for the discharge of federal loans in bankruptcy, and may clarify the standard. [Wall Street Journal]

* In perhaps the best student event ever, Howard Law rented out an entire movie theater so that students, faculty, staff, and alumni could see an opening-night screening of Black Panther. The school’s SBA co-hosted the awesomeness with Georgetown Law’s Black Law Students Association. Congratulations! [Law.com]

Please welcome conservative columnist Kayleigh McEnany back to the pages of Above the Law!

* Texas is real pissed they can’t execute anyone. [BuzzFeed]

* I feel justified about posting this because the appeal involves Holland & Knight, but really it is an excellent story about the human cost of America’s longest war and you should read it. [New York Times]

* Do you think the Supreme Court should release audio on the same day oral arguments take place? Then sign here. [Fix the Court]

* Yeah, I’d wanna settle this case quick if I were the McKinney, Texas, Police Department. [Slate]

* 2017 is shaping up to be the NRA’s wet dream. [Salon]

* Judge is super concerned about the Constitution once corporate profits are on the line. [Reuters]

* What’s publishing like after tenure? [TaxProf Blog]

* New Mexico is totally cool with putting a bunch of restrictions on judges using social media. [New Mexico Appellate Law Blog]

* In the merger between LinkedIn and Microsoft, Wilson Sonsini (LinkedIn’s counsel) left their fingerprints all over the agreement. [Big Law Business]

* If the legislative body you’re a part of refuses to get down to business, I guess this is what you have to do. Rep. John Lewis is leading a sit-in on the House floor to force a vote on gun control. [Slate]

* Council on American-Islamic Relations Action Network might be held liable for someone pretending to be a lawyer. [Legal Profession Blog]

* Polygamous Mormon sect leader Lyle Jeffs is on the run, after being put on house arrest as he awaited trial for food-stamp fraud and money laundering. According to his half-brother, “Blame the judge for this. Everybody knew that he was going to do this. Everybody.” [Jezebel]

* Proposed law to stop the ‘Brock Turner Problem.’ [Huffington Post]

* ATL columnist Jeena Cho is featured in ALM’s “STEM Cells” series. [CodeX]

* A plea to strike down Mississippi’s “Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act,” which gives special privileges to opponents of gay marriage. [Bloomberg View]

* Not every litigation financier is Peter Thiel, and I think we are all pretty happy about that. [Wall Street Journal]

* What can Judge Maryanne Trump Barry teach her brother about the federal judiciary? [Real Clear Politics]

* Musings on why some law firms still haven’t matched the Cravath pay bump. [Law and More]

* These are the facts people need to know about gun laws. [Slate]

* This is what estate planning attorneys wished you knew about death and dying. [Forbes]

* Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) is leading a filibuster to demand Congress actually act on gun control. Many Democrats and Republican Senator Pat Toomey have all spoken on the issue. [Slate]

* Music is the first order of business in a copyright trial — well, when the subject of the complaint is Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, it is. [Courthouse News Service]

* An analysis of the role of a human rights worker. [Lawyers, Guns and Money]

* Gawker is under more legal threats, this time for writing an article about Donald Trump’s hair. [Law and More]

* But Nick Denton assures us, despite legal threats and filing for bankruptcy, the business will be just fine. [Gawker]

* Style tips to take you from court to the Met Gala (okay, you will probably never go to the Met Gala, but still) from Amal Clooney. [Popsugar]

* Welp, this is one way to get your legal expenses paid for: A gay porn site is willing to cover former Congressman Aaron Schock’s legal bills if only he’ll appear in a few films. [Wonkette]

* This is the Donald Trump we have all come to expect: he’s accusing Ted Cruz (over Twitter, natch) of “stealing” the Iowa Caucus. [The Slot]

* A great idea to link Black History Month with the current presidential election. [Chicago Sun-Times]

* The history of how vagrancy laws gave the police nearly unlimited power. [Time]

* Sure, Bernie Madoff is a crook, but in prison he is a rockstar — and his stock is only going up. [Law and More]

* Giving the quiet Justice Souter his due. [Anton Piatigorsky Blog]

* Taking a shot at the NRA, because as angry as most Americans are, we agree about one thing. [Funny or Die]

* Sure you’ve read the lawyer holiday gift guide, but what about stocking stuffers? [Goodreads]

* Yeah… Abigail Fisher shouldn’t be angry at affirmative action. But she seems pretty petty, so par for the course. [Black Debate Guy]

* You want responsibility in politics? Well, we’ve got some right here. Wendy Davis owns up to backing down on gun laws. [Politico]

* Do you spy any of these efficiency killers at your firm? [Attorney at Work]

* This’d be a different way to deal — make workplace safety violations felonies. [Lawyers, Guns and Money]

* A resource guide for getting through the holidays for lawyers with depression. [The Anxious Lawyer]

Lost in the unsound rhetoric and facile reasoning around gun control are the facts, according to columnist Kayleigh McEnany.