Pope Francis

* Pope Francis has changed church law to allow women slightly larger roles in church services. Maybe he was inspired by the movie On the Basis of Sex… [Washington Post]

* An NYPD lawyer is under investigation for allegedly threatening to shoot another attorney in her unit. [New York Daily News]

* A show based on the film The Lincoln Lawyer has been greenlit for a 10-episode run on Netflix. [Deadline]

* A black lawyer claims he was racially profiled by law enforcement for not wearing a suit in court. [New York Post]

* A lawsuit against the publisher of Dungeons and Dragons has been settled. Maybe they resolved the case using 20-sided dice… [Polygon]

Or does the Court only get religious when it's crushing the rights of women and gays?

* Maybe Comey already has a job lined up. [Chronicle of Higher Ed]

* A deeper dive into Gorsuch’s first opinion and how it stacks up with those of the other justices. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Newt Gingrich sets land speed record on flip-flopping with his latest Bob Mueller tweet. [Salon]

* I already said it this morning, but it bears repeating. [Lawfare]

* Is it discriminatory to broadcast Cleveland Indians games? Canadian tribunal allows this argument to move forward. [Turtle Talk]

* What’s the official state exercise of Illinois? [Lowering the Bar]

* Interesting legal battle going on within the Catholic Church. [Canon Law Blog]

The one thing they have in common is they both get sued.

Leaders of the legal profession could learn a thing or two about social media from leaders of the Catholic Church.

* Vatican officials confirmed — or rather, didn’t deny — that Pope Francis did, in fact, have a secret meeting with infamous Kentucky clerk Kim Davis. Hmm, apparently all it takes is denying people their newfound civil rights to get an audience with the Pope. [WSJ Law Blog]

* The ABA Accreditation Committee will recommend that the ABA approve the merger between Hamline and William Mitchell. The merger byproduct could be operational in 2016 if all goes well. Is this something we should be excited about? [Hamline University]

* On the ninth day of deliberations in the criminal trial of Dewey & LeBoeuf’s former executives, jurors were still unable to come to a consensus, and one juror mentioned she’d have to leave early on October 9. Oy vey! Dewey think this jury is hung? [Am Law Daily]

* Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin stayed the execution of Richard Glossip — you may recognize his name from his recent unsuccessful Supreme Court case — because the drugs the Corrections Department received didn’t match protocol. Figures. [Associated Press]

* “We are heartened the district attorney has agreed that even a misdemeanor charge would be inappropriate.” Prosecutors will not be charging Caitlyn Jenner with vehicular manslaughter in the fatal car crash she was involved in earlier this year. [USA Today]

Even the Pope has an opinion on Kim Davis.

* Well, this is one way to deal with the Free the Nipple campaign: ban sideboob and underboob. And while you’re at it, legalize public boners because consistency is hard. Heh. [Vice]

* The Pope’s homelessness chops are on point. [What About Paris?]

* This is the absolute best way to troll prestige whores. [Daily Lawyer Tips]

* Is this the best recommendation letter ever? [Lawyers, Guns & Money]

* This is how bigamy cases go down in the world of Facebook. [Legal Juice]

* Using forensic evidence to document human rights abuses. [Pacific Standard]

* What’s going on with Janet Yellen? [Dealbreaker]

* Interesting to legal nerds (and maybe others). The Justice Department’s very influential Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) — the division that produced the torture memos, among other things — cranks out a lot of law professors. [Yale Journal on Regulation]

Catholics, who make up just under a quarter of the U.S. population, enjoy outsized representation at the highest levels of law and government.

Pope lays the smack at the U.N. about the environment.

I wish all the justices skipped the Pope's speech, but I'm surprised these three did.

* Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Anthony Kennedy, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be in attendance during Pope Francis’s Congressional address. Here’s hoping a certain someone doesn’t nod off in the middle of it. [National Law Journal]

* This courthouse clerk is accused of trying to go out with a little too much style after being fired from his job. He allegedly tossed thousands of pages of court documents in the garbage before leaving the building, and he now faces up to 10 years in prison. [Houston Chronicle]

* Lawrence Mitchell, the former dean of Case Western Reserve University School of Law, was supposed to return to the school this year after taking a sabbatical. Instead, he resigned. When it comes to this creeper, maybe that’s a good thing. [Cleveland Scene]

* Sorry to burst your bubble, law schools, but if you think spending millions to complete major building projects during a serious downturn in applicants will result in a “Field of Dreams” type of situation, you’re flat-out wrong. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* Good news, everyone! Thanks to this appeals court decision, registered sex offenders in Wisconsin will now be able to take pictures of children in public. Child predators have never, ever been so excited to assert their First Amendment rights. [WSJ Law Blog]

Does Cuba think God doesn't know what its doing?

* Williams & Connolly has been subpoenaed as a part of the ongoing Lance Armstrong fraud case brought by former teammate Floyd Landis. I’m just glad I don’t have to put together that privilege log [Legal Times]

* Two Biglaw partners, Hydee Feldstein a former partner at Sullivan & Cromwell and Paul Hastings and Peter Gregora a partner emeritus at Irell & Manella, face off in divorce court over $20 million that’s gone “missing.” It’s probably under the couch, whenever stuff goes missing in my house it’s under the couch. [The Recorder]

* Legal research prevails: after “thorough” research Georgia prosecutors have dropped murder charges against Kenlissia Jones for taking the abortion pill. [Washington Post]

* Pope Francis is establishing a court to deal with the bishops who woefully mishandled clerical child sex abuse allegations. Just another reason why Pope Francis is making it okay to be a Catholic again. [Wall Street Journal]

* Leaders in Nepal finally reached an agreement for a new constitution. After years of infighting the terrible tragedy of the Nepalese earthquake motivated the parties to work together. [Jurist]

* Ever wonder what it takes to make a successful law blog? Wonder no more — and read tips from our own David Lat. [Law360]

How did the Holy Father compare Jesus to a defense attorney in a recent homily?

Which high-powered adviser is Patton Boggs talking to, and why?

A wide-ranging interview with Justice Scalia, covering everything from his pet peeves (women cursing), his tastes in television, and his desire to hire more law clerks from "lesser" law schools.

Justice Scalia is your man if you need assistance, Pope Francis.

* Prosecutor charges America’s official groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, for failing to accurately predict the weather. Good to know Pennsylvania prosecutors are on top of the groundhog beat after messing up the “sexual predator coaching a football program” beat for about a decade. [Washington Times] * UPDATE: Judge Easterbrook is getting hitched to former Anchorage City Clerk Barbara Gruenstein on May 12. [Anchorage Daily News] * Tattoo convention discusses copyrights. As long as I don’t have to remove the giant butterfly tat on the small of my back I’m cool. [Washington Post] * “Pope Francis changes Holy Thursday plans to celebrate Mass in prison.” OK, ready yourself for the Pope Francis “Man in Black” phase. [Catholic News Service] * Defending yourself from solicitation charges counts as “Official Senate Business?” Actually, that sounds about right. [Lowering the Bar] * UChiLawGo sums up the end of law school. [UChiLawGo] * Sad news, “Mississippi State Rep. Jessica Upshaw (R), an attorney who had been a lawmaker since 2004, was found dead at the home of former state Rep. Clint Rotenberry (R) in Mendenhall, Mississippi…Mississippi Bureau of Investigation spokesman Warren Strain said it did not appear to be a natural death.” This is the fifth Mississippi lawmaker to die in five months. The other four all died of natural causes…so they say. [Jezebel] * David and Elie will be showing up at Georgetown this Thursday afternoon. RSVP at the linked ACS site. [ACS]