SCOTUS Nomination

Ed. note: As mentioned on Wednesday, we will be publishing today, but at a reduced level. We’ll be back in full force on Monday. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

* President-elect Donald Trump will likely pick a lawyer as his nominee for Secretary of State: Rudy Giuliani (NYU Law ’68) or Mitt Romney (Harvard Law ’75). [New York Times]

* Where do broken hearts go? Some precedents for Chief Judge Merrick Garland to follow from unsuccessful Supreme Court nominees. [Associated Press via How Appealing]

* A pre-Thanksgiving ruling from the Florida Supreme Court that gave one prisoner something to be grateful for could signal more upheaval to come in the nation’s second largest death row. [BuzzFeed]

* Three more judges participated in Pennsylvania’s “Porngate” email exchanges — but it seems that Bruce Beemer, the state’s new attorney general, won’t be naming names. [ABA Journal]

* What does the future hold for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and its chief, Chicago Law grad and former SCOTUS clerk Richard Cordray? [New York Times]

* It’s not just a plot line from Suits: Reginald Taylor, accused of posing as a lawyer by stealing an attorney’s bar number, apparently delivered decent results for his clients. [The Daily Beast]

* Don’t mess with (federal judges from) Texas, Mr. President; Judge Amos Mazzant, who blocked President Obama’s proposed extension of overtime pay, isn’t the first Lone Star jurist to cause problems for the Obama Administration. [New York Times via How Appealing]

* Thinking of hitting the movies over the long weekend? Tony Mauro shares our own Harry Graff’s enthusiasm for Loving. [National Law Journal]

* Led Zeppelin doesn’t want drug or alcohol evidence coming into the upcoming “Stairway to Heaven” suit. Good luck… it’s not possible to talk about that song without drugs. [National Law Journal]

* A lot of small and solo lawyers are shy about big bills. They shouldn’t be. [Business of Law Blog / LexisNexis]

* “10 Supreme Court Novels to Get Your Mind Off the Nomination Battle.” Great, now we’ve got to wait until Senator Grassley gets through all of these before he sets up a hearing. [ABA Journal]

* Speaking of Judge Garland, Fix the Court sees this nomination as an opportunity to generate some momentum around the concept of Supreme Court term limits. [Fix the Court]

* Apparently the key to getting good grades from narcissistic professors is to be a narcissist yourself. That seems odd because you’d expect narcissists to chafe at someone striving to steal the spotlight but “game recognize game,” I guess. [TaxProf Blog]

* Remember when we said that the Florida bar exam results were bad? They were really bad. [Bar Exam Stats]

* A Rutgers Law professor is in hot water over allegedly mishandled funds. [Legal Profession Blog]

* BarBri Law Preview has a $10k scholarship for a lucky 1L this coming year. If you want it to be you (or someone you know), then act fast because the deadline is Friday. [BarBri Law Preview]

* Shocker! North Carolina’s voter ID law primarily impacted young voters of color. (Actually, I am not surprised at all.) [Democracy Now]

* Embrace the nerdiness of Merrrick Garland, you know you want to. [Comic Book Resources]

* Does the #HulkvGawk case mean that being an internet smart-ass isn’t cool anymore? God, I hope not. [Law and More]

* It is easy to blame the poor for their lot in life, much harder to do anything about the underlying issues. [Lawyers, Guns and Money]

* Merrick Garland: theater critic. [The Crimson]

* It’s science! Here is what data science tells us about Merrick Garland. [Ravel Law]

* Looking for an easy way for your clients to pay? A new option is coming your way. [My Case]

* Fingers crossed! GOP opposition to President Obama’s SCOTUS nomination is cracking. [Huffington Post]