Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 04.06.26

* On the phenomenon of right-wing legal academics trying to provide cover for the Supreme Court to do whatever they want. [One First]

* Personal injury law firm with a $125 million outside investment. [Bloomberg Law]

* Judge tells Trump administration to pound sand in its quest of race-related data from colleges. [Reuters]

* The terminally online far right has their fav Attorney General candidate. [Politico]

* The Justice Department has *thoughts* about the presidential records act. [ABA Journal]

* The human cost of overturning Roe v. Wade. [Slate]

Morning Docket: 04.03.26

* With Pam Bondi out as AG, is it possible the Department of Justice will bend even further to Donald Trump's will? Maybe! [Bloomberg Law]

* Todd Blanche is taking over the DOJ on an interim basis... so about those Epstein files. [CNN]

* DLA Piper's going to trial! Over pregnancy discrimination claims. [Reuters]

* American Bar Association backs firms targeted by Executive Orders because of that whole rule of law thing. [ABA Journal]

* Judge Emil Bove asked to recuse himself. Let's see how that works out! [Law.com]

Morning Docket: 04.02.26

* DOJ has dropped some 23,000 criminal cases -- including terrorism and drug cases -- to focus on deporting law-abiding roofers instead. [ABA Journal]

* In an all-around bad day for the government, Justice Barrett's question might have done the most damage. [Slate]

* But even if Trump only gets one vote on this case, that dissent is just the seed from which the next wave of assaults will grow. [Balls and Strikes]

* Mahmoud Khalil wants Emil Bove recused from his appeal given Bove's role in telling prosecutors to say "f**k you" to judges who wouldn't go along with illegal deportations like the one attempted on Khalil. [Law360]

* Luigi's state trial delayed until the fall. [Reuters]

* Solicitor General wants some Supreme Court argument time in the Roundup case. If he does as well as he did in the birthright citizenship case, Monsanto may have to go bankrupt. [Law.com]

* After taking airport to court, sexual harassment firm has its ad displayed. [AP News]

Morning Docket: 04.01.26

* Trump claims he's attending today's birthright citizenship arguments. At his New York criminal conviction, he took over closing arguments from his lawyers, believing he could do a better job. Let's see if we get the sequel! [Politico]

* Taylor Swift sued by showgirl over Life of a Showgirl. [ABA Journal]

* The Supreme Court agreed with a gay conversion therapy outfit that laws banning merely talking about conversion violate the First Amendment right to give quack medical advice. [Slate]

* Boies Schiller looks to get paid for massive Google victory. [Reuters]

* Republican federal judge blocks construction on White House ballroom, noting that the president does not, in fact, own the White House. [Law360]

* Law firm leaders seeking out lawyer hires with AI experience. Finally there's a market for, "spending the last two years telling your grandparents that Donald Trump didn't really ride a lion in that TikTok." [Legaltech News]

Morning Docket: 03.31.26

* Over half of all federal judges report using AI as part of their workflow. [Reuters]

* Kirkland snags several Latham lawyers in Houston. [American Lawyer]

* New wrinkle in Charlie Kirk case as defense argues ATF couldn't match bullet to alleged shooter's gun. [Politico]

* Judge invokes Kafka in Defense Department press credential dust up. [Law360]

* Meta counsel says AI has changed the outsourcing game. Notice how she didn't say "the Metaverse" has changed anything. [Legalech News]

* Baldoni lawyers handed a little benchslap in Lively case. [Bloomberg Law News]

Morning Docket: 03.30.26

* 'Don't blame your associate' for messing up AI. Sure, but then why even have associates? [ABA Journal]

* The DOJ seeks superseding indictments in all the cases invalidated by pretending Alina Habba was the US Attorney. [New Jersey Law Jounral]

* Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee votes to block judges from replacing illegal appointees like Habba. Note that they didn't fix the illegality, just the ability to do anything to fix it. [Roll Call]

* Department of Defense's block on Anthropic suspended for now. [Reuters]

* BofA agrees to deal to get them off Epstein's Island. [Law360]

* Dutch order Grok to stop being nonconsensual porn generator as if Grok does anything else. [Law.com International]

Morning Docket: 03.27.26

* Do you know who won the 2020 presidential election? Because this Trump judicial nominee doesn't! [National Law Journal]

* UK voting to restrict jury trials. [Roll on Friday]

* Anthropic already secures legal victory in "what the hell is wrong with the Pentagon" case. [Law360]

* Google is not due diligence says department of duh. [Law.com]

* Maduro needs legal bills paid. [PBS]

* "White & Case employee claims he was photographed naked while unconscious at firm retreat" [Legal Cheek]

* Georgia would like its ballots back. [Reuters]

Morning Docket: 03.26.26

* Having faceplanted once already, Trump housing chief proposes all new frivolous criminal charges against Letitia James. [Guardian]

* Biglaw drew less from litigation funders last year. [American Lawyer]

* Justice Department agrees to give Michael Flynn a chunk of taxpayer money over a crime Flynn confessed to committing. [CNN]

* NAACP hires former Civil Rights Division chief Kristen Clarke. [Reuters]

* Elon Musk is citing LinkedIn in effort to get rid of Delaware chancellor. [Delaware Business Court Insider]

* As the Metaverse ends, is this the fall of virtual law offices? Did they ever actually exist? [Legaltech News]

* Lawyer gets prison for defrauding clients. [ABA Journal]

Morning Docket: 03.25.26

* Tom Goldstein asks judge to toss the verdict. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Lawyer vibecoded himself. This should end well. [Business Insider]

* The Justice Department may have leaked grand jury testimony and violated court order. THIS Justice Department? Shocking. [Courthouse News Service]

* Judge says the supply chain risk designation that the Trump administration put on Anthropic looks like retaliation. Well, she's not hallucinating! [Reuters]

* Supreme Court appears willing to bring back policy to deny refugees the right to even ask for asylum at the border. [ABA Journal]

* DOJ's new fraud chief confirmed. [Law360]

* Lateral hiring booming. [American Lawyer]

Morning Docket: 03.24.26

* NJ federal judges have picked another new U.S. Attorney. How long will it take for them to be fired and replaced illegally? [New Jersey Law Journal]

* Now departed SEC Enforcement chief had pushed back against administration officials demanding sweetheart deals for allies. [Reuters]

* Supreme Court signals interest in adding voting obstacles in advance of the Midterms. [New York Times]

* Trump DOJ looking to drop case against officers charged with knowingly using false information to secure the warrant that ended with other officers police killing Breonna Taylor. [ABA Journal]

* SEC must turn over video of its Elon Musk interview to documentary filmmaker. [Law360]

* Magistrate given a formal sanction over a private message about Winston Churchill was deemed "racially inappropriate." Of note, the judge pointed out that he was criticizing colonialism and that he probably wasn't trying to be racist about himself. [Legal Cheek]

* DOJ eliminates office providing legal counsel for indigent immigrants. [CBS News]

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]