New York

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.09.18

* No collusion! Michael Cohen's shell company -- the same one used to pay hush money to Stormy Daniels -- received more than $1 million in payments from a company that's been linked to a Russian oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin. The same oligarch was sanctioned by the Trump administration for election interference. Special counsel Robert Mueller is on it. [New York Times; CNN] * If President Trump does sit down for an interview with the special counsel, he could make history if he decides to plead the Fifth Amendment. No American president has ever used the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination while still in office. [TIME] * Is your law school following the new law clerk hiring plan? It better be, if your graduates want a chance to clerk with Justice Elena Kagan. The former law school dean says she'll "take into account" in her own clerkship hiring whether law schools and lower court judges have complied with the plan. [National Law Journal] * A former professor and an alumnus from Charlotte Law School have added the American Bar Association to their suit against the defunct for-profit school, claiming in an amended complaint that the ABA negligently certified the school and "failed to act as a reasonable accreditor" -- which makes sense. [Law360 (sub. req.)] * A 15-member panel comprised of Florida State University faculty, staff, students, and alumni want the name of their law school building to be changed. It's currently named after former Florida Chief Justice B.K. Roberts, who worked to keep the University of Florida's law school segregated. [News 4 JAX] * Sorry, Tommy and Kiko, but you're going to have to stay in your cages. The New York Court of Appeals refused to hear a habeus appeal on behalf of the chimpanzees, allowing a ruling that they are not legal persons and therefore have no legal rights to stand. At least the concurring opinion was a little less dour. [Reuters]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.28.18

* Is the Supreme Court about to take a right turn? With lengthy delays in issuing opinions and apparent infighting that's leaked onto the bench during oral arguments, pundits think that the high court may soon become as "politically fractured as the rest of Washington." [CNN] * Speaking of SCOTUS, the justices spent an hour debating whether they should abandon the longstanding rule in Marks, which guides whose holding controls when the decision is split. [National Law Journal] * New York, California, and several other states will sue to prevent the U.S. government from asking about citizenship status in the 2020 census whether people are citizens, contending that such a question could stop immigrants from participating and skew the makeup of Congress. [Reuters] * Uber will pay $10 million to settle a discrimination class-action that was brought on behalf of hundreds of women and minority software engineers. [The Recorder] * Remember the little boy who was decapitated while riding the world's tallest water slide in 2016? The co-owner of the waterpark where it happened was arrested earlier this week and charged with second-degree murder. [New York Times]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 01.17.18

* The Trump administration is planning to ask the Supreme Court for assistance in dismantling DACA. That is, because "[i]t defies both law and common sense" that a "single district court in San Francisco" has halted the Trump's plans, the Supreme Court must intervene. [Washington Post] * Unlike the vast majority of law review articles, here's one you may actually care about: According to the Harvard Law Review, Trump's tweets aren't law. We're thrilled to report this isn't fake news. [National Law Journal] * Some law schools are moving full steam ahead in their quest to accept the GRE over the LSAT for admissions purposes, but not this one. Marquette is going to sit around and wait for the ABA to make a decision before it does anything. [Marquette Wire] * Twenty-two state attorneys general have filed suit against the FCC in an effort to stop the repeal of net neutrality rules. Cross your fingers that something good happens here before your bill for internet access goes up. [San Francisco Chronicle] * Facing a $4.4 billion budget deficit, Governor Andrew Cuomo wants New York to pay for a study to see what the health, economic, and criminal justice impacts of legalizing recreational marijuana would be in the state. [New York Law Journal] * Yesterday, New Jersey lawmakers unanimously voted to approve former Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir Grewal's nomination to be state attorney general. Grewal is the first Sikh attorney general in U.S. history. Congratulations! [NJ.com]

By Staci Zaretsky
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 11.17.17

* The Federalist Society is proposing a court-packing scheme because that's what the Founders would have, you know, never wanted. [Think Progress] * A deep dive into Justice Kennedy's likely role in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. [Empirical SCOTUS] * New York may not be having a constitutional convention, but that's not going to stop the state's chief judge from reforming its "byzantine" court system. [New York Law Journal] * Frugal or a failure to launch? You be the judge. [Corporette] * One of the finest sentences of the week: "a free-speech advisory group at Ohio University 'discussed the critical importance of transparency' — and then unanimously voted to close its meetings to the public." [Chronicle of Higher Ed] * There really is nothing like Above the Law out there. [Law and More] * Savoring the small moments that bring joy to a lawyer. We all need to find what keeps us happy and grounded. For me, it's Trent Garmon's writing. [Joy in the Law]

By Above the Law