Michelle Obama

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.04.19

* During an interview on “Face the Nation,” President Donald Trump was wishy-washy as to whether he’d be comfortable with special counsel Robert Mueller’s full report being released to the public, saying, “I don’t know. It depends. I have no idea what it’s going to say.” He was really comfortable saying it was time to “get rid” of the probe, though. [New York Times] * Speaking of the special counsel’s Russia inquiry, a former federal prosecutor predicts that Mueller will indict Donald Trump Jr. to get leverage over his father. After all, “[w]e’ve seen Mueller use people’s kids to get to folks in the past.” Will his son’s actions be President Trump’s undoing? [Newsweek] * Here’s a headline we bet you thought you’d never see: “Justice Alito Temporarily Blocks a Louisiana Abortion Law.” The sad part here is that this case may place a burden women’s abortion rights if the full Court hears it. [New York Times] * “I can’t do this for the rest of my life. I can’t sit in a room and look at documents. I won’t get into what that is, but it’s deadly. Deadly. Document production.” Doc review might have been “deadly” in Michelle Obama’s day, but has it improved? [American Lawyer] * Remember Bruce Reilly, the convicted murderer who went on to become a student at Tulane Law? He’s since graduated, and while he’d like to take the bar exam to practice as a lawyer, he doesn’t think he’ll be able to overcome his character and fitness issues. [New York Times] * Earth’s finest lawsuit? The #FijiWaterGirl (aka Kelleth Cuthberg née Kelly Steinbach), the model who inadvertently photobombed celebrities on the red carpet during the Golden Globes, has filed suit against Fiji Water for allegedly using her likeness to promote its brand without her permission. [CBS News]

By Staci Zaretsky
Non-Sequiturs

Non Sequiturs: 11.11.18

* The unstoppable Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg maintains her three-Term streak as author of the Supreme Court's first signed majority opinion -- and, interestingly enough, it's a unanimous affirmance of the Ninth Circuit (opinion by my former boss, Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain). [Empirical SCOTUS] * When he's not busy issuing landmark decisions (and feeding his clerks to SCOTUS), Judge Jed Rakoff (S.D.N.Y.) writes erudite essays for the New York Review of Books -- like his latest, a review of Joel Richard Paul's new biography of Chief Justice John Marshall (affiliate link). [New York Review of Books] * President Donald Trump is transforming the federal judiciary with his youthful and conservative appointments -- but the extent of the transformation should not be exaggerated, for reasons identified by Ed Whelan. [Bench Memos / National Review] * Ann Althouse analyzes some of the juiciest passages in Michelle Obama's new memoir (affiliate link). [Althouse] * It has been a long time -- specifically, more than four years -- since the Department of Justice has issued an opinion about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as FCPA guru Mike Koehler points out. [FCPA Professor] * Peter Schuck responds, in thoughtful and civil fashion, to the (many) critics of his and Rogers Smith's argument that the Fourteenth Amendment does not require birthright citizenship for the children of unlawfully present aliens. [PrawfsBlawg] * After last Tuesday's elections, in which Louisiana approved a state constitutional amendment requiring a unanimous jury to convict in a criminal case, Oregon is the only state that allows conviction in some criminal cases without a unanimous jury -- and Gerard Magliocca wonders if this is constitutional. [Concurring Opinions] * He's no stranger to our pages, but Isaac Lidsky -- the child actor (Saved By The Bell) turned first blind SCOTUS clerk turned successful entrepreneur -- still has many insights to share, as he does in this wide-ranging podcast with Goli Kalkhoran. [Lessons From A Quitter]

By David Lat
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.26.17

* The Russia investigation now turns to President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner -- proud holder of a law degree from NYU (and a really great set of abs). [Washington Post] * Former Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), currently senior counsel at Kasowitz Benson, has withdrawn from consideration as FBI Director (as my colleague Staci Zaretsky predicted, after Marc Kasowitz got hired by President Trump to represent him in the Russia probe). [New York Times] * Congratulations to Judge Amul Thapar, President Trump's first lower-court nominee, on his confirmation to the Sixth Circuit -- although it's disappointing that no Democrats voted in favor of this eminently qualified (and diverse) candidate. [How Appealing] * Despite allegedly roughing up a reporter (for which he's apologized), Republican Greg Gianforte won the race for Montana's sole seat in the House of Representatives (as my colleague Joe Patrice predicted he would). [New York Times] * How did Michelle Obama react when Barack Obama declined to pursue a coveted Supreme Court clerkship? Tony Mauro tells the tale. [Law.com] * The ABA continues to fight the good (or not so good?) fight in defense of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. [ABA Journal] * It seems that some folks on Capitol Hill like my proposed solution to the use of "blue slips" in the judicial confirmation process. [Washington Post via How Appealing] * The Brooklyn District Attorney's office concludes that a slew of murder convictions based on dubious evidence from embattled detective Louis Scarcella must be thrown out -- and yet Scarcella engaged in no wrongdoing. [New York Times] * Biglaw firms are suffering from an oversupply of lawyers, and a quarter of respondents to a recent survey said their associates don't have enough work -- which might explain why at least one firm has turned to laying off first-year associates. Yikes. [ABA Journal]

By David Lat
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 01.22.16

* Martha Coakley joins BU Law faculty. A job she will somehow manage to lose in a landslide to an unqualified Republican. [Boston Globe] * You’ve heard all about the Ted Cruz birther controversy, but maybe Cruz is just being trolled for being such a tremendous dick while at Harvard Law School. [Needs Further Review] * […]

By Kathryn Rubino