Jed S. Rakoff

Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 09.15.17

* Interested in volunteering at a DACA renewal clinic? You can do it even if you're not an immigration lawyer. Sign up here to get training and match with a site in need of your assistance. [Lawyers for Good Government] * Adding healthy habits to your already packed schedule can seem like an impossible task, but you really can do it. [Corporette] * Sad but true (and not at all surprising): Americans don't know squat about the Constitution. [Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post] * Judge Jed Rakoff issues an important opinion outlining the contours of "fair use." [Copyright Alliance] * Biglaw behemoth Dentons has created a network to connect PR professionals. That's an interesting move for a firm that already counts more than 7,000 lawyers under its umbrella. [Law and More] * David Lat chats with employment lawyer Matt Steinberg about how transparency is transforming the employer/employee relationship. [Akerman]

By Above the Law
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 05.26.17

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]

By Elie Mystal
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 05.01.17

* Airbnb will allow the government to audit hosts in order to test for racial discrimination. [The Guardian] * Texas cop shoots and kills an unarmed black 15-year-old. [The Root] * There's no video, but Popehat has a nice little tale about an airline and airport police completely failing. [Popehat] * If this had happened to Ann Coulter, conservatives would be concerned. But since it only happened to left-leaning women in Kentucky... crickets. [ABC] * The Supreme Court doesn't want to touch California's ban on gay conversion therapy. Banning gay conversion therapy is, of course, the only reason to be happy Donald Trump hasn't been repealed and replaced by Mike Pence. [ABA Journal] * In case you missed it, on Friday night I debated Jenner Block's Lindsay Harrison about the Constitution, and Seema Iyer about sex offenders. Check out the webcast here. [WNYC Studios] * Richard Posner and Jed Rakoff face off over the death penalty. [Slate]

Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.

By Elie Mystal
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 12.15.16

* The jury deliberated for just two hours before convicting Dylann Roof of the Charleston church murders. [The Daily Beast] * Tables turned: how Judge Jed Rakoff (S.D.N.Y.) got the Second Circuit, which normally reviews his judgments, overturned. [Bloomberg BNA] * Keith Lee takes a deep dive into newly released law school data (the ABA 509 disclosures). [Associate's Mind] * Eugene Volokh breaks down a new Fourth Circuit ruling that protects the right of police officers to criticize department policies on Facebook. [Volokh Conspiracy] * David Lander evaluates the pluses and minuses of law schools relying upon adjunct professors to fill curricular gaps. [PrawfsBlawg] * What variables best explain the decisions of the Roberts Court? [Tennessee Law Review via Hangley Aronchick] * Check out Womble Carlyle's new podcast, Bulldog Bites. Says host Mark Henriques, "I promise it won’t feel like work. If you don’t learn something, hopefully you’ll laugh with us about something." [Womble Carlyle]

By David Lat
Banking Law

Non-Sequiturs: 11.04.14

* If you’re a law student in Philadelphia or D.C., come hang out with us this week. RSVP to tomorrow’s Philly event here. [Above the Law] * Or RSVP to Thursday’s D.C. trivia night here. [Above the Law] * Judge Jed Rakoff explains exactly why innocent people plead guilty for all those people who don’t believe it. Well, the people who don’t believe it probably don’t read the New York Review of Books, but maybe John Oliver will have Judge Rakoff on so this can go viral. [The New York Review of Books] * The sex, lies (about polygamy), and videotape article from this morning raises another important issue I’d missed: the heightened stigma faced by women with substance abuse issues. [Law and More] * 10 thoughts on business development. Don’t do what the guy in the last story did. [Medium] * Adjunct law professor threatens to quit. Law school dean surely replies, “You must not know ’bout me.” [Chronicle of Higher Education] * Georgia state legislature has the novel idea to punish the people who exploit student athletes as opposed to only the athletes themselves. Too bad that doesn’t apply to the universities. [The Legal Blitz] * Five years after New York State required banks to negotiate in “good faith” with homeowners facing foreclosure, the Second Department approved a sanction for banks that ignore this obligation. The 2009 law created the “good faith” obligation but contained no remedy for violations. That left trial judges without guidance as to how to proceed when faced with an intransigent bank. [WiseLaw NY]

By Joe Patrice