LGBTQ Rights

* “Everyone in America counts in the census, and today’s decision means we all will.” The Justice Department has officially confirmed that in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision, a citizenship question will not be added to the 2020 Census. [Washington Post]

* Has Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg handed off the high court’s liberal torch to Justice Elena Kagan? Based on the fact that the Notorious RBG assigned the dissent in the partisan gerrymandering case, it sure looks like it. [NPR]

* Dozens of prominent Republicans plan to submit an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of a “common sense, textualist” ruling that the Civil Rights Act outlaws discrimination against LGBT people in the workplace. [New York Times]

* Allen & Overy and O’Melveny & Myers are still in merger talks, but this has been going on for more than a year now and it seems like it’s taking forever for anything to happen. [American Lawyer]

* Michael Avenatti, the Lawyer of the Year accused of bank fraud and embezzlement, is refusing to give up his desktop, iPhone, and iPad passwords to federal prosecutors in New York. [Big Law Business]

* In case you missed it, Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh refused to condemn President Donald Trump’s attacks on the judiciary (specifically, his insults of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg), refused to say whether he believed same-sex marriage was a constitutional right, and once again denied discussing the Mueller probe with anyone at Kasowitz Benson. What will happen today? [Washington Post]

* President Donald Trump has reportedly called Attorney General Jeff Sessions “a dumb Southerner” and an “idiot” without an Ivy League law degree who “couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.” This Alabama Law professor wonders what’s so bad about a degree from Alabama Law. [New York Times]

* Per a new study from the American Bar Association, the sky is blue and women and minorities continue to face racial and gender bias within the legal profession. But, here are some tools to fight these problems. [DealBook / New York Times]

* Allen & Overy has published its 2018 gender pay gap figures, and it’s the first U.K. firm to include data from its “overwhelmingly male” partners in its disclosures. A&O’s median gender pay gap is 39 percent, a slight improvement. [Financial Times]

* It seems that the Justice Department no longer thinks that employers should be forced to consider job applicants with criminal histories, going against Obama-era guidance that the EEOC has been following since 2012. [National Law Journal]

* In an historic opinion, India’s Supreme Court ruled that gay sex between adults is not a crime, casting aside an “irrational, arbitrary, and incomprehensible” colonial-era law that made the act a punishable offense within the country. [Times of India]

* Fire alarms sounded at Miami Law as smoke poured through vents into a student lounge, and some students evacuated their classrooms, but others ran back in to save their laptops. Well, obviously — they’re law students, after all. [Miami Hurricane]

* In response to President Trump’s “relentless assault” against the press, more than 300 newspapers published editorials denouncing his attacks and defending the freedom of the press. In response, Trump said he wants “true” freedom of the press, but without the “FAKE NEWS.” Come on, even the Supreme Court wants the press to remain free. [National Law Journal]

* Gallery Books and Simon & Schuster, the publishers of Omarosa Manigault Newman’s White House memoir, are hitting back hard against President Trump’s attempts to silence her and stop its publication. this letter from Davis Wright Tremaine partner Elizabeth McNamara is freakin’ fantastic. [Deadline]

* According to prosecutors, an argument over family financial matters is allegedly what caused John Gately III to fatally shoot his brother-in-law, Mayer Brown partner Stephen Shapiro. The Supreme Court star reportedly died in an attempt to protect his wife. Gately has been denied bond and plans to plead not guilty. [American Lawyer]

* ICYMI, two judges were just confirmed to the Fourth Circuit by margins we haven’t seen in a while. Meet Julius Richardson, a federal prosecutor who once worked at Kellogg Huber (81-8), and Judge Marvin Quattlebaum, a former Nelson Mullins partner who’s been a a federal judge for six months (62-28). [Courthouse News]

* Law firm merger mania: Stinson Leonard Street will be merging with IP boutique Senniger Powers to add some extra oomph to the firm’s “market-leading IP services.” The merger is expected to close on October 1, bringing Stinson Leonard’s total headcount to almost 500 attorneys. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

* Trinity Western University wants to open a law school so badly that the administration is now willing to drop the “community covenant” that would have forbidden gay students from having sex. That rule will now be optional for the student body at the Christian school. Would you want to enroll? [StarMetro Vancouver]

* Is SCOTUS walking back its landmark commitment to equal rights for the LGBTQ community? Considering what could happen in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case and the high court’s refusal to grant cert in Pidgeon, it seems like it. It’s not as if this hasn’t happened before. ::coughBrownvBoardcough:: [New Republic]

* A federal judge ruled that an American ISIS suspect who’s been detained as a “enemy combatant” in Iraq for the last three months is, in fact, entitled to a lawyer, and called the Trump administration’s quest to deny counsel in this case “both remarkable and troubling.” [New York Times]

* Everything really is bigger in Texas: According to the ABA, there are just 0.8 percent more first-year law students this year than last year, but entering classes at law schools in the Lone Star State were 4 percent larger than they were last year. Hopefully all these students will be able to lasso themselves jobs. [Texas Lawyer]

* Lawsuits have been rolling out ever since Apple admitted that it was slowing down iPhones with older batteries, and one of them was filed by two students who currently attend USC Law and hope to get the suit certified as a class-action. This is an absolutely awesome use of winter break. [RT]

* Which states are likely to legalize marijuana in the new year? Vermont, New Jersey, and Michigan may soon end their prohibitions on cannabis, either through legislative means or by puff-puff-passing a voter referendum. [Forbes]

* If you’re a journalist with three years of experience and cover the legal profession in your reporting, consider applying to be a fellow at Loyola Law School’s annual Journalist Law School. There is no cost to attend. The application deadline is February 9, 2018. [Journalist Law School]

* Judge Thomas Griesa, the Southern District of New York jurist who oversaw the Argentine debt battle in federal court, RIP. [New York Law Journal]

* The Senate rejects the latest GOP effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act — with Senator John McCain casting the decisive “no” vote. [Washington Post]

* Riley Safer Holmes and Cancila continues its rapid expansion, adding 13 new lawyers — including eight from Bryan Cave, led by former managing partner Joseph McCoy. [Law360]

* More bad news for the LGBT community from the Trump administration: the Justice Department takes the position that Title VII doesn’t cover discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. [How Appealing]

* Meanwhile, civil rights and LGBT groups get ready to file suit if President Trump’s plan to ban transgender people from the military becomes a reality (which is not yet the case). [National Law Journal]

* And these groups might just prevail — Michael Richter and Anna Pohl, chairs of the New York City Bar Association’s Military Affairs and LGBT Rights Committees, lay out the case for why the transgender ban is unconstitutional. [The Hill]

* Stephanie Francis Ward takes a long, hard look at the woes of Charlotte School of Law — and the rest of the beleaguered Infilaw consortium of law schools. [ABA Journal]

* Closing statements in the Martin Shkreli case paint very different pictures of the infamous “Pharma Bro.” [Law.com]

* Nuisance claims, or nuisance suits? Judge James Donato (N.D. Cal.) seems skeptical of a purported class-action case targeting Pokémon GO (which recently added Legendaries to the game). [The Recorder]

* President Trump’s personal legal team: “It’s utter chaos. Sometimes it can be like no one knows who is in charge.” [Washington Post]

* Adam Feldman predicts that the travel ban is going down before SCOTUS. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* The Trump tweets on banning transgender individuals from the military aren’t the only bad news for the LGBTQ community today. [Washington Blade]

* A nice win for the First Amendment and public access to court records. [Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]

* Ira Stoll wonders (with good reason): why did the New York Times account of this high-profile gender discrimination lawsuit name the law firm, but not the plaintiff? [Smarter Times]

* Clerkships guru Debra M. Strauss, who has written for our pages on the topic, is out with a second edition of Behind the Bench: The Guide to Judicial Clerkships (affiliate link).