Morning Docket: 06.14.17
* Several people were reportedly shot this morning at a GOP baseball practice, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who is now in stable condition. The gunman is in custody. We may have more on this later today. [The Hill] * The Supreme Court has granted Acting Solicitor General Jeff Wall more time to file papers in order to respond to the recent Ninth Circuit decision upholding a lower court decision which blocked President Donald Trump's travel ban. This means that any action taken by the high court on the administration's emergency pleas for certiorari will be even further delayed. [Reuters] * "I am protecting the right of the president to assert [executive privilege] if he chooses." Attorney General Jeff Sessions seemed to have no desire to speak about his interactions or conversations with President Donald Trump regarding James Comey's handling of the Russia probe during his Senate hearing yesterday, and didn't feel the need to provide a real legal basis for his refusal to answer questions on the topic either. [New York Times; Washington Post] * In the meantime, even though rumors have been swirling about President Donald Trump's supposed desire to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein says he has no reason to fire Mueller at this time: "If there were good cause, I would consider it. If there were not good cause, it wouldn't matter to me what anybody says." [Law360 (sub. req.)] * Marc Kasowitz may have taken a "career-defining" role representing the "predisent," but one wonders what will happen to his law firm while he pursues this ambitious undertaking. Kasowitz Benson could suffer when it comes to recruiting new talent to the firm thanks to its leader's choice of clientele, not to mention the fact that its revenue has been on the decline. [Am Law Daily] * In an effort to fight the "historic drug epidemic" that in no way involves marijuana, AG Jeff Sessions has asked Congress to roll back the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, which prohibits the DOJ from using federal funds to prosecute states that have instituted their own laws authorizing the "use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana." [Washington Post] * Herma Hill Kay, the first female dean of Berkeley Law, RIP. [The Recorder]
