Libel

* The Judicial Conference of the United States convened yesterday, but not one word was said about the allegations against Justice Brett Kavanaugh or the procedures in place to address misconduct for those of his ilk (i.e., appellate judges who are elevated to the Supreme Court). So much for that… [National Law Journal]

* “He does not want to sue the New York Times. That’s going to open up a Pandora’s box for him.” But if he did, could Justice Kavanaugh sue the Times for libel and win? Unlikely. [Fox News]

* The Justice Department filed suit against NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden for failing to turn over his book to the government for clearance before it was published, and now the DOJ wants all proceeds earned from sales to be turned over instead. [CNBC]

* Did you think law school was full of jerks? Think again. According to the results of the latest Law School Survey of Student Engagement, law students are actually quite nice, thank you very much. [Law.com]

* In case you missed it, Robert Cicale, the Long Island judge who allegedly broke into a former intern’s home to steal her panties, pleaded guilty to attempted burglary and will have to register as a sex offender. [New York Post]

* Checks and balances, how do they work? President Donald Trump seems to be looking for anyone and anything to blame for his first 100 days in office being bungled, and he’s finally settled on the rule system that controls the Senate, calling it a “very rough system,” an “archaic system” that’s “really a bad thing for the country.” [The Guardian]

* In other news, according to Reince Priebus, President Trump’s chief of staff, something that the White House has looked into is changing libel laws to make it easier to sue news organizations, but “[h]ow it gets executed or whether that goes anywhere is a different story.” Wow. [CNN]

* One things for sure — there’s no Supreme Court retirement watch here: Described as “exuberant,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently exclaimed that she “love[s] her job,” and that Justice Elena Kagan must be absolutely thrilled about Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation, since that means she’ll no longer have to suffer through the incredibly boring tasks typically given to the high court’s junior justice. [National Law Journal]

* “The logic of the decision is hard to accept. You’re OK’ing a system that perpetuates the inequity in compensation for women.” In a disheartening opinion, the Ninth Circuit said employers may legally pay women less than their male counterparts for the same work based exclusively on differences in their prior salaries, even though those differences were recently ruled discriminatory under the Equal Pay Act by a lower court. [CBS News]

* A second suspect has been arrested in the fatal April 10 shooting of Cook County Associate Judge Raymond Myles. Earl Wilson, 45, a man who is “no stranger to the criminal justice system,” was charged with first-degree murder. Per prosecutors, this was a robbery gone wrong, and Myles was not supposed to be killed. Myles is the first Chicago-area judge to be fatally shot in more than three decades. [Chicago Tribune]

* Late last week, the Hollywood Reporter released its annual ranking of the best attorneys who serve the nation’s most glamorous celebrities — the Hollywood 100 — which is always celebrated like “lawyer Christmas in Hollywood for a day.” How many Biglaw attorneys made the list in the tenth edition of the rankings, and how well represented are each of their firms? We’ll have more on this later. [Big Law Business]

* Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam, the nation’s first female Muslim judge and the first African-American woman to serve on New York’s highest court, was found dead in the Hudson River. We’ll have more on this later. [New York Daily News]

* The Ukraine-related activities of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort are under legal scrutiny — and one of his daughters, lawyer Andrea Manafort, described some of her father’s actions as “legally questionable.” [New York Times]

* Hawaii says “aloha” to the Ninth Circuit in its challenge to Trump Travel Ban 2.0 — and seeks initial en banc review, bypassing a three-judge panel. [ABA Journal]

* So the filibuster is now dead for SCOTUS nominees; are blue slips for lower-court nominees next? [Roll Call via How Appealing]

* Melania Trump settles her defamation litigation with the Daily Mail, getting an apology, a retraction, coverage of her legal fees, and what her lawyer Charles Harder describes as “millions of dollars in damages.” [New York Law Journal]

* Biglaw firms aren’t the only workplaces with gender pay gaps; it’s an issue for in-house legal departments too, including Google’s. [Corporate Counsel]

* Seriously, North Carolina? After its half-hearted repeal of the “bathroom bill,” three lawmakers in the state want to ban gay marriage. [WNCN]

* Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit seems to be a fan of Justice Neil Gorsuch’s views on Chevron deference. [Law.com]

* And Justice Elena Kagan will be throwing a party to welcome Justice Gorsuch to the Court. [Washington Post via How Appealing]

* Amazon Echo: The first “smart” witness? [Ohio Bar Association]

* Appeals court finds showing a jury clips of Ben Affleck’s “The Town” didn’t unfairly prejudice the trial of bank robbers that allegedly drew inspiration from the movie. But isn’t that cruel and unusual punishment for that poor jury? [The Hollywood Reporter]

* I mean, you know Obama won’t do this, but it is fun to think about a libel case against Trump for his insane Tweeting. [Slate]

* 144,000 pages of documents on Neil Gorsuch were dumped on the Senate Judiciary Committee. [Politico]

* Speaking of SCOTUS, tune in to Twitter next Tuesday to hear a panel of experts — including our own David Lat — discuss the future of the Supreme Court. [Bloomberg BNA]

* More counterfeiter lawsuits. [The Fashion Law]

* Branding in SmallLaw — more important than you think. [Law and More]

* Try, try again. [Huffington Post]

* The Supreme Court blocks the North Carolina special election until they decide whether they’ll hear the case. [Talking Points Memo]

* If Trump opens up libel laws, he could find himself in hot water. [Gizmodo]

* Paul Smith’s campaign against the gerrymander. [Slate]

* This is just glorious: former Senator Al D’Amato got kicked off of a JetBlue flight. [MarketWatch]

* At least Ivanka cares about ethics laws. [Fashionista]

* Charlotte School of Law will be open this semester. [ABA Journal]

* I’m sure this will be an even-tempered website, not at all prone to hyperbole and jumping to conclusions. [Business Insider]

* Fox News settles the sexual harassment claims against Bill O’Reilly. [New York Times]

* Biglaw’s wishful thinking. [Law and More]

* Merchants take their desire to pass on credit card costs to consumers to the Supreme Court. [Big Law Business]

* A Wisconsin judge has ordered that Brendan Dassey, one of the subjects of “Making a Murderer,” be freed from prison while the state appeals a ruling overturning his conviction, as authorities have “failed to demonstrate that Dassey represents a present danger to the community.” The date of his release is not yet known, but the state plans to file another appeal. [USA Today]

* “If you have baseball commissioner to offer me, then I can tell you what my plans are.” Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White is stepping down from her position even though she still has two years left before her term is up. The departure of the former Debevoise partner and federal prosecutor will make way for President-elect Donald Trump to start dismantling the Dodd-Frank Act. [DealBook / New York Times]

* For a man who seems to be completely obsessed with all things tremendous, big league, great, and yuge, the vast majority of the judges on President-elect Trump’s Supreme Court shortlist have at least one thing in common: They didn’t go to Ivy League law schools. That being said, just like his outsider campaign as a whole, the names on Trump’s Supreme Court pick list are a “revolt against the elites.” [New York Times]

* While he was still on the campaign trail, President-elect Trump pledged to “open up our libel laws” so celebrities and public officials can “sue [the media] and win lots of money,” but it might not be so easy to do. The Supreme Court doesn’t seem to have any designs on overturning the precedent set in New York Times v. Sullivan, and the only other way to change libel laws would be to amend the Constitution. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Chadbourne & Parke has filed a motion for summary judgment in the $100 million gender discrimination class-action suit filed by one of its current partners and one of its former partners, contending that not only are their claims “utterly baseless,” but that the plaintiff partners are not or were not employees of the firm who fall under employment discrimination laws. We’ll have more on this news later today. [Big Law Business]

* Law professor thinks he’s cracked the code to determining the results of the election. And it involves the Philadelphia Eagles. [Washington Examiner]

* Feeling a little antsy about the election? [fivethirtyeight]

* The Rolling Stone libel verdict won’t turn into a Gawker situation. [Law and More]

* Refresh. [fivethirtyeight]

* The intellectual property war over jeans. [The Fashion Law]

* Nope, nothing’s changed. [fivethirtyeight]

* How to focus on the clarity of your message. [Reboot Your Legal Practice]

* It’s going to be a long night. [fivethirtyeight]

* The ABA Forum on Communications Law will publish First Amendment lawyer Susan Seager’s Donald Trump “libel bully” article, despite its reservations about doing so — reservations that resulted in a media firestorm. The ABA said the following: “Hopefully, this matter will shine a light on the problem of frivolous lawsuits that turn the justice system into a weapon that has a chilling effect on free speech.” [ABA Journal]

* Uh-oh! Following the abrupt departure of four of its senior partners, King & Wood Mallesons has opted to pause its partner recapitalization plan in order to reassess its financial footing. The firm believes it will take about four weeks to complete that process. “If I was a partner there I would be pretty worried,” said a former partner. [Legal Week]

* “I never thought that my restroom use would ever turn into any kind of national debate.” The Supreme Court has taken up its first true transgender rights case. Many fear that the justices may return a 4-4 deadlock decision that will not create a nationwide precedent, but in that case, the Fourth Circuit’s decision would be left in place. [Reuters]

* “If these guys think they’re going to stonewall the filling of that vacancy…, then a Democratic Senate majority will say, ‘We’re not going to let you thwart the law.'” Vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine says that should he and his running mate win the election, then his party will try to eliminate SCOTUS filibuster rules. [Huffington Post]

* The Justice Department and “election year sensitivities”: Some people are wondering why FBI Director James Comey decided to announce he’d essentially reopened the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails — but had he waited to disclose the information, the FBI’s credibility could have been called into question. [WSJ Law Blog]

* James Gilliland Jr., Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton intellectual property litigation partner, RIP. We’ll have more on his untimely death later today. [CBS San Francisco]

* From prosecutor to prisoner: former Pennsylvania attorney general Kathleen Kane gets sentenced to 10 to 23 months. [CNN] * Oh, the irony: the ABA won’t publish a report calling Donald Trump a “libel bully” because of “the risk of the ABA being sued by Mr. Trump.” [New York Times] * How the AT&T/Time Warner […]