Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.23.26

* Robert Mueller died over the weekend. Mueller's investigation found widespread criminality among Trump's circle including ample evidence -- under ordinary circumstances -- to pursue obstruction charges against Trump himself. [NY Times]

* "Good, I’m glad he’s dead," Trump wrote, reacting to news of Mueller's passing with all the class one would expect. Clearly the same people who called for private citizens to be fired as insensitive for merely quoting Charlie Kirk after he was killed. [CNN]

* Jurors conclude Elon Musk tried to mislead investors when he threatened to back out of the Twitter deal. [BBC]

* Fifth Circuit knocks down FTC cease-and-desist over TurboTax misleading consumers. Happy tax season! [Law360]

* Kirkland lawyer who represented Epstein retiring from the firm. [American Lawyer]

* Supreme Court prepares to hear challenge to latest state voting obstacle. [New York Times]

* Ruemmler receiving $25 million as she departs Goldman. [Bloomberg Law News]

Morning Docket: 03.20.26

* James Comey subpoenaed in "grand conspiracy" investigation. [Reuters]

* Simpson Thacher missed a deadline and now client's merger could collapse. [Roll on Friday]

* Non-equity partners aren't loving it. [Bloomberg Law News]

* New Antitrust chief tells staff not to worry about criticism and just sit back and be the best rubberstamps for donors they can be. [Law360]

* Epstein's lawyer claims he had no knowledge of criminal activity. [BBC]

* DOJ sets up another fight over a phony prosecutor. [ABA Journal]

Morning Docket: 03.19.26

* Colorado aims to shield AI companies from unauthorized practice of law claims. No way this can go wrong! [ABA Journal]

* Luigi looks to delay trial until 2027. [Courthouse News Service]

* Justice Alito used to recuse himself from these cases... guess not so much anymore [Slate]

* Microsoft considers suing over OpenAI deal with Amazon. [Financial Times]

* Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's son-in-law is running for Congress, and transportation lobbyists are showering him with cash. [Pro Publica]

* Markwayne Mullin's DHS confirmation process is off to a disastrous start courtesy of his inability to even try to be nice to Rand Paul. [Slate]

* Firms and clients aren't talking to each other about AI. [Thomson Reuters]

Morning Docket: 03.18.26

* Chief Justice Roberts says personal attacks against judges have got to stop. But, one might ask, what if those attacks are official acts of the president? [Reuters]

* Jurors must ponder whether Elon Musk was deliberate or stupid. [Law360]

* The Senate Commerce Committee asks "Liability or Deniability?" as Section 230 turns 30. A milestone birthday that, like most 30th birthdays, will be celebrated with existential dread and questioning whether it should even still exist. [Senate Commerce Committee]

* Weil finds its new leader. [American Lawyer]

* Donald Trump wants election tamperer Tina Peters out of prison with his "full pardon" of exclusively state crimes, but after scuffling with fellow inmate, Peters has new legal trouble. [Denver Post]

* SEC announces guidelines for cryptocurrency clearing the way for fake money Ponzi schemes. [Coindesk]

* Trump administration files its defense of the Pentagon's supply chain risk designation for Anthropic arguing that Anthropic presents an incurable threat to the United States... that the government needs to use for its most sensitive applications immediately. [US News]

Morning Docket: 03.17.26

* DOJ announces that it will start hiring prosecutors straight out of law school. At this point, replacing a whole US Attorney's Office with ChatGPT wouldn't be a huge dropoff. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Supreme Court taking up case of Haitian and Syrian temporary status holders challenging the administration decision to arbitrarily cancel the program. But, the Supreme Court did not use its shadowy authority to overturn the existing stays blocking Trump action... maybe publicly insulting the Chief Justice does have consequences. [MS Now]

* CEO blows off lawyers and asks AI to get him out of a $250 million contract. Yadda yadda yadda, he owes $250 million. [404 Media]

* Judge voids illegal government appointment. [National Law Journal]

* Todd Blanche throws DOJ behind effort to help void guilty plea of a man with ties to Russian intelligence who was sent to prison for 6 years for making up a fake story about Joe Biden receiving a bribe. [Mother Jones]

* Children sue Elon Musk's AI operation for generating sexually explicit images of them. [Reuters]

* RFK Jr's bid to cancel many essential childhood vaccines blocked by federal judge. [Law360]

Morning Docket: 03.16.26

* Trump rails against Supreme Court for lack of loyalty to him. [Guardian]

* Jay Edelson warns of more "mass casualty events" brought on by AI. [TechCrunch]

* LegalZoom announces ChatGPT app. [ABA Journal]

* Headquarters of Biglaw's Dubai presence hit with debris. [Law.com International]

* Courts swat down baseless subpoenas designed to harass Federal Reserve Chair. [Law360]

* Administration pushes back over judiciary's request to maintain their own courthouses. [Reuters]

* The bizarre defamation trial against Afroman for naming the cops who busted into his house set to begin. [Billboard]

Morning Docket: 03.13.26

* CFTC considers prediction market regulation. "CFTC failing" already a solid bet. [Law360]

* Government says tariff refund system 40 percent to 80 percent complete which is... quite the spread. Almost a "they're just making stuff up" kind of estimate. [Reuters]

* In a reminder that everything is discoverable, Live Nation employees messaged each other over Slack to talk about robbing fans. [New York Post]

* Generative AI still occupies legal gray zones. [Legaltech News]

* Judge Pauline Newman appeals to the Supreme Court over her colleagues' "pocket impeachment" effort to strip her of her life tenured job. [The Hill]

* DOJ spent months repeatedly emailing the wrong address asking for state election data. [Democracy Docket]

Morning Docket: 03.12.26

* DLA Piper abandoning verein structure. [Law.com International]

* DOJ lawyer who called out immigration system and asked to be held in contempt is now running for Congress. [NY Times]

* Women law professors rise to top of most-cited faculty list. [Reuters]

* Man faces serious criminal penalties for shoving weights in fish. Competitors knew something was... fishy. [Outdoor Life]

* Quinn Emanuel gets contempt ruling overturned. [Law360]

* Democrats want to look into Brad Bondi's string of successful outcomes with his sister's DOJ. [Reuters]

* Powerful lawyers had years to prepare for the Epstein files... and didn't. [Law.com International]

Morning Docket: 03.11.26

* Ed Martin formally charged by D.C. disciplinary authorities. In case you were wondering why the DOJ is so adamant about banning local licensing authorities from investigating ethical breaches. [CNN]

* Journalists from Law360 join sibling publication writers in protesting parent company RELX signing a LexisNexis deal with ICE. Reuters journalists also asked about the various deals Thomson Reuters has with Homeland Security. [ABA Journal]

* Berkeley now has a month-long 1L course on dealing with early recruiting. Hey, offer it for the whole year! Just move Torts and Contracts to 2L... it's not like the firms care about those grades anyway. [The Recorder]

* Judiciary plans to make electronic filing and records system upgrades a priority after hacking incident. With this decision to fast-track an overhaul we could be looking at a truly modern PACER in... I don't know... 10 years or so. [Reuters]

* Judiciary sit down continued long-running discussion of lower court judges needing more security and the Chief Justice... not really doing anything about it. [Law360]

* NASDAQ changing its rules to bring on SpaceX, and historically, great things happen when the financial industry throws out all its standards to appease billionaires! [CNBC]

* Lawyer convicted of stalking legal blogger sentenced to community service and plans to appeal. [Legal Cheek]

Morning Docket: 03.10.26

* Anthropic sues over Defense Department blackballing with WilmerHale's help. [BBC]

* Court rules that the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office continues to be run by illegal appointees. [Reuters]

* Ballard Spahr enjoys healthy boost following merger. [American Lawyer]

* Ticketmaster trial thrown for a loop as administration settles its antitrust claims. [Courthouse News Service]

* AI law firm founder says she's working harder now than she did in Biglaw. [Fortune]

* Brett Kavanaugh claims anyone suggesting that the Supreme Court is issuing far more shadow docket opinions in support of the administration have "short" memories. Brett Kavanaugh is on the Supreme Court because he spent his nomination hearings swearing he didn't recall anything about his past. [Law360]

* ChatGPT sued for telling a woman to fire her lawyer. [Forbes]

Morning Docket: 03.09.26

* After about-face on withdrawing lawsuits against law firms, Justice Department uncorks almost 100 pages of vitriol against federal judges for ruling against the administration generally. [NY Times]

* Book publishers sue what they're calling a shadow library that provided materials for AI training. [Law360]

* John Quinn tells the Brits that American lawyers work harder. Which may be true, but you don't rub that in! [The Times]

* Profiling the judge who ordered the administration to start issuing tariff refunds. [New York Law Journal]

* The administration is pushing the Supreme Court to weaken the federal judiciary. And so far the Court seems on board. [Reuters]

* Court strikes down... basically everything about how Voice of America has been run. [NPR]

Morning Docket: 03.06.26

* Almost 200 former federal judges sign amicus brief arguing that unexplained shadow docket orders aren't binding in effort to stop the Supreme Court's vibelawyering. [National Law Journal]

* "Google’s AI Sent an Armed Man to Steal a Robot Body for It to Inhabit, Then Encouraged Him to Kill Himself, Lawsuit Alleges" This case is basically the Florida Man Turing Test. [Futurism]

* Trump administration officially declares Anthropic a supply chain risk, arguing that the company they gave access to all their classified information is now a spy because it wouldn't agree to build murder bots. Anthropic is going to sue. [Law360]

* "A number of senior associates, partners and paralegals" laid off at UK firm. [Roll on Friday]

* ICE arrested a journalist without a warrant in least surprising headline of the day. [Reuters]

* Indicted judge loses reelection. [ABA Journal]

* NY lawmakers consider banning AI from dispensing legal advice. Which is all well and good until you remember that much of the "legal advice" it would dispense would be drafts for lawyers. [StateScoop]

Morning Docket: 03.05.26

* Senate votes to NOT have a vote on approving Iran strikes. When the Framers conceived of the separation of powers, they never planned for, "what if one branch doesn't want any powers?" [CNN]

* DOJ removed 47,635 files from the public Epstein database -- including allegations involving President Trump -- assuring reporters the files are merely being "redacted" and would return shortly. If you believe that, we have an island to sell you. [Salon]

* OpenAI prepares for IPO with Wachtell and Cooley. [The Information]

* The search for lateral talent in Saudi Arabia. Exciting new opportunity, must be comfortable with Iranian rocket attacks. [Law.com International]

* Charting the revolving door: A dive into the financial ties between Trump officials and the industries they're supposed to regulate. [Pro Publica]

* Jury told Chance the Rapper stiffed his manager. Well, of course... it's not like he's Community Chest the Rapper. [Law360]

* Democratic governor set to pardon convicted MAGA election interference figure. [Guardian]

* From DOJ lawyer to polyamory author. A standard career path. [ARL Now]

Morning Docket: 03.04.26

* Judge Breyer calls out Elon Musk's lawyer for giving "false impression" to the jury in Twitter case, but she was just staying on brand as a Grok representative. [Law360]

* More states consider alternative licensure paths. [ABA Journal]

* Supreme Court seemed unconvinced that defendants can waive their rights to appeal and then be stuck with an arbitrary sentence. [National Law Journal]

* With its sparse decision striking down California law preventing schools from outing students, the Court drapes itself in dangerous power. [Vox]

* A refresher on the Court of International Trade, the folks deciding all the tariff refunds. [New York Law Journal]

* Homeland Security probes alleged comments Greg Bovino made about Jewish lawyer. [Guardian]

Morning Docket: 03.03.26

* The DOJ's long-awaited antitrust trial against Live Nation-Ticketmaster kicked off Monday. If you want tickets to the hottest trial of the year, then good news! It's free (plus applicable surcharges). [NBC News]

* Supreme Court's conservatives issue another pair of unexplained shadow docket rulings predicated on the legal principle of "Republican political priorities." [One First]

* Though the Court denied an appeal in the AI-generated art case that could have massive economic implications soon. [Courthouse News Service]

* Ben Crump writes legal thriller. [ABA Journal]

* Climate science chapter removed from manual for judges. [Reuters]

* Trial alleges Musk publicly trashed Twitter in effort to influence stock price. [Law360]

* Latham partner leads deal rankings. [Law.com International]