Ken Paxton

* Texas AG Ken Paxton acquitted in his impeachment trial, which as a reminder was brought by the Republicans in the Texas House. [Texas Tribune]

* Don’t let the Clarence and Sam ethical quagmire distract from the other important legal reporting coming out of ProPublica. Like this deep dive into how Mississippi deals with poor defendants. [ProPublica]

* While her fellow judges engage in an end run around the Constitution to sideline Judge Pauline Newman citing a decline in mental faculties (which a leading neurologist disputes… but obviously judges understand neurology better than neurologists), she regaled a conference with her take on patent issues surrounding vaccine development. [Reuters]

* Trouble in wingnut paradise? Doctor Jenna Ellis turns on Donald Trump. [The Guardian]

* Biglaw is hemorrhaging support staff. [American Lawyer]

* T.I. headed back to court with his IP case against a doll manufacturer now that the Supreme Court futzed with IP standards in the dog toy case. [Law360]

* Banks tell CFPB that there’s no reason to have separate standards for “medical credit cards” aimed at patients trying to not go bankrupt under the American health care system because they’re really not any different than regular credit cards… despite being named “medical credit cards,” marketed toward a uniquely desperate population, and having totally different policies. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Sam Bankman-Fried denied pre-trial release after arguing that his alleged witness tampering, not unlike the value of cryptocurrency, wasn’t what it looked like on paper. [Reuters]

* After opening door a crack to allow some transparency in proceedings during the pandemic, the federal courts look to curtail live audio access. [Law360]

* Lawyer informs Texas Senate that Ken Paxton approved every bit of investigation at heart of impeachment. [Texas Tribune]

* Trial to begin to decide constitutionality of “America’s most extreme gun control law.” The law just requires gun owners to get a permit and bans magazines over 10 rounds. Again, this is what passes for the “most extreme” law in the country. [Fox News]

* Gibson Dunn alters diversity scholarship criteria as activists ramp up threats to sue law firms for pursuing initiatives to make the profession less white. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Meanwhile, two law schools are back in compliance with ABA accreditors after improving faculty diversity and likely putting them out of compliance with these litigious activists (Another law school is back in compliance after improving its finances… which is less controversial). [Law.com]

* Governor asks to change state’s public records law to keep her travel under wraps. [ABC]

* The collapse of crypto is paying off for lawyers. [NY Times]

* Federal Circuit moves to dismiss Judge Pauline Newman’s lawsuit challenging the court deciding to kick her off panels arguing that no court can question their internal affairs. Sounds like the Federal Circuit is taking a lot of lessons from the Supreme Court. [Reuters]

* A primer for Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial. [Law360]

* All-white federal district courts still exist. Because people like this still exist. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Dechert facing sanctions over dragging out discovery. [American Lawyer]

* NY begins cracking down on Airbnb. [NY Daily News]

* Elon claims that X will pay legal fees of users who lost their jobs over deplorable stuff they Tweeted. Bold promise from a guy who won’t even pay his own legal fees. [Fortune]

* Law firm demand is up as the market continues to fret about the recession that never materialized. [Reuters]

* Federal Circuit panel calls for Judge Pauline Newman to be suspended for a year for not submitting to a mental health examination to prove or disprove the mental health allegations that the Federal Circuit seeks to suspend her over. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Convicted war criminal seeks bar admission. In case you were worried about how character & fitness might eye your speeding tickets. [The Intercept]

* Ken Paxton’s lawyers recognize the broad gag order prohibiting them from discussing the case with the media beyond reciting information in public records… so they’re just going on the radio and reading selective, inflammatory passages from their filings. [KABB]

* Attorney David Oscar Markus snagged around 45 minutes with Trump attorney John Lauro. [For the Defense]

* Harvard Law professor Charles Ogletree has passed away. [Politico]

* Ken Paxton will not testify at his impeachment trial. I mean… why add perjury to this list? [Reuters]

* The revelation that the attorneys in 303 Creative tried to create fictional standing can’t force the Court to revisit the case, but could be the basis of ethical claims against the attorneys. Just because the Supreme Court is in on the fraud doesn’t make it any less of a fraud. [Yahoo Sports]

* Federal judge who had already become a go to judge for the “let’s all die of COVID” lobby, blocks White House from communicating with social media platforms, complaining that the government had done too much to push back against anti-vaxx misinformation. [Business Insider]

* It will shock you to learn that a core Trump business interest is slapped with an $18 million SEC fine. [Law360]

* The morass of web-scraping laws and the future of AI. [Bloomberg Law News]

* While everyone focused on the Supreme Court’s broad-based assault on constitutional and statutory norms last week, they also quietly kicked to the curb a challenge aimed at a law explicitly created as part of Jim Crow voter suppression. [The Guardian]

* Lawyer accused of murdering lawyer father. [NY Post]

* When you constantly admit to elements of a crime, it shouldn’t really be a surprise when you get indicted for that crime. [CNN]

* Julian Assange loses bid to avoid extradition to the United States. His camp says he has another appeal coming, but maybe he and Trump can soon reminisce about classified documents and Russian misinformation campaigns. [Reuters]

* Baker Botts eyes merger and five of its partners eye the leadership chair. It’s Game of Thrones except with more financial spreadsheets and less nudity. Presumably. [Bloomberg Law News]

* ChatGPTGate continued with a hearing and the two lawyers involved in citing the fake AI generated cases got a thorough tongue-lashing. [Law360]

* Speaking of AI, a radio host has sued ChatGPT for making up past criminal claims about him. This has been coming for awhile. [Business Insider]

* The FBI nabbed the guy involved in the allegations against Texas AG Ken Paxton, so that’s all crumbling apace. [Politico]

* ABA issues ruling on client intake. Look, they can’t all be earth-shattering the day after a president gets federally indicted. [American Lawyer]

* Ken Paxton on the verge of impeachment. And apparently that means it’s time for a good old fashioned dumpster fire… of papers outside his office. I’m sure there’s an innocent explanation. [Washington Post]

* Judge loses defamation suit over being linked to QAnon. Or so the shadowy government conspiracy would have us believe. [Reuters]

* Hugh Grant case against branch of Rupert Murdoch empire can proceed. It’s like the Dominion case but more charming. [ABC News]

* North Carolina sued over its electronic court filing system. Ah, the only corner of American technology where PACER can look like an industry leader. [Courthouse News Service]

* The Pacific Legal Foundation had themselves a DAY yesterday. They won the elderly woman tax foreclosure case everyone was up in arms about and then they got the Supreme Court to gut wetlands protections. [Law360]

* Of the previous 100 anti-LGBTQ+ statutes passed, half of them were this year. It’s fricking May. [538]

* Biglaw is amidst an era of upheaval where firms can no longer rest on their reputations.”Nobody wants their career careening from guardrail to guardrail. They don’t want huge peaks and valleys. They want stability.” Welcome to late-stage capitalism, pal. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Texas House digs into Ken Paxton’s financial issues. Ken Paxton calls the Speaker of the House a drunk. Everything is very normal in Texas. [Law360]

* Have we created a generation of lawyers incapable of schmoozing? [Roll on Friday]

* Panama grants legal rights to turtles. Cowabunga. [AP News]

* Alex Murdaugh indicted for fraud. Kind of the least of his worries at this point. [Reuters Legal]

* “Are Second Hundred Firms the New 100?” No. Next question. [American Lawyer]