SCOTUSblog

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.18.21

* A client fired his lawyer at a Zoom hearing recently saying his attorney was a "bum ass dude." Don't know how the legal news cycle worked before Zoom hearings... [Boing Boing] * A lawyer accepted a $1 billion lottery check on behalf of his clients. [Hometown Life] * The Texas Attorney General is suing a utility in order to forgive have high electricity bills stemming from extreme weather earlier this year. [New York Daily News] * Republican's state Attorneys General are threatening to sue the Biden Administration over the recently passed stimulus bill. [Hill] * SCOTUSblog is running a March Madness contest to see who was the best Supreme Court Justice of all time. Now this is a bracket with which I can finally be involved... [SCOTUSblog]

By Jordan Rothman
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 03.25.18

* Brad Karp and Christopher Boehning of Paul, Weiss make the case in favor of stripping gun manufacturers and sellers of their statutory immunity from suit in most negligence and product liability actions. [New York Times] * Remember the Moonlight Fire case? Ten state AGs have filed an amicus brief in support of the cert petition. [U.S. Supreme Court] * It's almost time to file your taxes -- and the Supreme Court just made it a little bit easier to cheat on them. [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason] * In other SCOTUS news, the Court is taking its sweet time in handing down opinions this Term, as Adam Feldman observes. [Empirical SCOTUS] * And speaking of Adam Feldman, he's now working with SCOTUSblog -- congratulations to both parties! [SCOTUSblog] * Leading media lawyer Charles Glasser looks at the challenges that corrections pose to the media (both print and digital). [Daily Caller] * Vineeta Vijayaraghavan points out that gun violence doesn't spare the elite, noting that firearms killed three of her Harvard classmates (including Professor Dan Markel). [USA Today] * Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics consulting firm, has been widely condemned for its work on the 2016 Trump election campaign -- but it's not clear that its conduct violated data-protection laws or even Facebook policies, according to Tim Pullan of ThoughtRiver. [Artificial Lawyer] * Professor Michael Dorf remembers lawyer, author, and editor Julie Hilden, who passed away earlier this month. [Dorf on Law]

By David Lat
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.29.16

* It looks like SCOTUSblog's Tom Goldstein was onto something, because Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is reportedly being vetted to fill Justice Antonin Scalia's seat on the Supreme Court. The D.D.C. judge once clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer, and may wind up working alongside him on the high court as an associate justice (which could be a first). [National Law Journal] * Justice Scalia's death quickly affected some SCOTUS litigants: Dow Chemical settled an antitrust class-action suit for $835M because "[g]rowing political uncertainties ... and increased likelihood for unfavorable outcomes for business involved in class-action suits have changed Dow's risk assessment of the situation." [Big Law Business / Bloomberg] * Abortion returns to the SCOTUS this week, and litigants are wondering which version of Justice Kennedy they'll receive when a decision is made. If Gonzales v. Carhart Kennedy makes an appearance, states across the South in the Fifth Circuit could kiss abortion goodbye. Here's hoping for Planned Parenthood v. Casey Kennedy. [MSNBC] * Student activists from Harvard Law and Brandeis University protested an awards ceremony where Dean Martha Minow was honored for "making a lasting contribution to racial, ethnic or religious relations." The protestors felt the award's timing was ironic considering the ongoing racial divisiveness at the law school. [Harvard Crimson] * Career alternatives for disbarred attorneys who "knowingly misappropriated client funds": chief compliance officer of one of the largest banks in the world by market capitalization? Ritu Singh is lucky compliance is so hot right now, because accusations of past financial crimes apparently aren't dealbreakers in terms of hiring. [New York Post]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.10.15

* "The reality is, the university has done a lot to be a part of the solution. This undoes a lot of that work." Students and professors at St. Louis University School of Law are up in arms because Bob McCulloch, the prosecutor in the Ferguson case, is coming to speak at an event on police practices. [ABC News] * "Travel by coach will make it impossible for the attorneys to work and or sleep effectively upon our arrival." Defense lawyers for three suspected terrorists motioned for a judge to give them business-class seats on a plane while federal prosecutors bum it back in coach. [New York Daily News] * SCOTUSblog has been denied a Supreme Court press pass, yet again. Lyle Denniston, the site's main reporter, had to go to great lengths in an attempt to circumvent the high court's new journalist credentialing process. [Associated Press] * “I would really think long and hard before defying a federal court order." SCOTUS declined to issue a stay that would keep gay marriage at bay in Alabama, but some judges are still refusing to marry gay couples. Thanks Roy Moore. [Los Angeles Times] * Paul Weiss: lookin' nice! In a look at some of the early numbers from the latest Am Law 100 rankings, the firm increased its gross revenue year over year by 10.9 percent, allowing Paul Weiss to finally break the billion-dollar mark in revenue. [Am Law Daily]

By Staci Zaretsky
Biglaw

Non-Sequiturs: 06.23.14

* 8 reasons that lawyers are like condoms. Not included: on the inside, they’re just dicks. [Legal Cheek] * A bunch of reporters that no one reads anymore take out their frustrations on SCOTUSblog for having the audacity to be good at its job. [ABA Journal] * Presented without commentary — a dean is not pleased with us. [PrawfsBlawg] * Jobs for law grads may be scarce, but WSJ wants you to know that Biglaw specifically is hiring again. So for a few of you, you’re set until you try to lateral. [Gawker] * Deluding yourself is a valuable career strategy. [Law and More] * Guy is suing an airline because he went to Grenada when he wanted to go to Granada. This gave me a great excuse to rematch the classic Newhart episode, Oh, THAT Morrocco. [Daily Mail] * A woman who tried to save some ducklings now faces life in prison. The moral of the story, as always, is screw animals. [USA Today] * The real winner in the protracted courtship of Patton Boggs was Akin Gump. [Washingtonian] * Teaching the law has suffered because of the influx of stupid “Law and…” courses. [TaxProf Blog] * But Oklahoma knows how to fix the problems with law school — give you an iPad! Video below… [YouTube]

By Joe Patrice
Blogging

Morning Docket: 06.03.14

* “I don’t think the government should be in the credentialing business.” Thanks to the whims of politicians, SCOTUSblog is having trouble getting media credentials to continue its coverage of the Supreme Court’s cases. [New York Times] * How you like me now? In Redeeming the Dream (affiliate link), a new book co-authored with David Boies, Ted Olson says he experienced “some blowback” when he announced he was taking on the Prop 8 gay marriage case. [WSJ Law Blog] * Steve Davis and Steve DiCarmine of failed firm fame think it’s “unfair” they have to defend themselves in a criminal case and an SEC case at the same time. They want the SEC case to be halted. Dewey think the judge will say yes? [Law360 (sub. req.)] * Back in 2011, Pillsbury decided to ship its back-office operations to Nashville, and now it’s hiring a small contingent of lawyers to work there. FYI, an Ivy League degree may not be necessary. [Washington Post] * Only in Florida would a judge allegedly challenge a public defender to a fight out back during a hearing and start throwing punches. We’ll definitely have more on this fiasco later today. [WFTV Eyewitness News] * Peter Mutharika, a former law professor who taught at Washington University in St. Louis Law for about 40 years, is now the new president of Malawi, where it’s illegal to fart. Congrats! [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

By Staci Zaretsky
Civil Rights

Non-Sequiturs: 03.27.13

* First the law school rankings, now urine-based video games? It’s been a whirlwind week of heavy journalism for U.S. News. [U.S. News] * Did you ask for a diorama of the Supreme Court? Because I did… [Washington Post] * What do SCOTUSblog and “Girls” share in common? If you guessed that Tom Goldstein spends most of his day at the office naked, you’re (probably) wrong. [Peabody Awards] * Casinos have systematically driven men out of the bartending and cocktail serving market. They use a fig leaf to protect themselves from Title VII… apparently literally. [Workplace Prof Blog] * Dartmouth professor Sonu Bedi argues that same-sex marriage is really about the separation of church and state. You say potato, I say egregious denial of basic rights. [Huffington Post] * UBS trying to get out of an SEC case. Color me surprised. [Dealbreaker] * Central New Mexico Community College does not want to hear that sex talk. It makes Sol the Suncat sad. [Popehat] * As mentioned before, there’s a new legal dispute over whether or not Sherlock Holmes has lapsed into the public domain. Alex Heimbach of Slate puts the case under the proverbial magnifying glass. [Slate]

By Joe Patrice
2nd Circuit

Non-Sequiturs: 02.07.13

* Above the Law promotes real-world change! Complaint filed against a Texas judge after Elie calls him out for being RACEIST! [ABA Journal] * If you were thinking of calling your friend from the Philippines a “skank” on Facebook, you may want to reconsider. [Philippine Inquirer] * If you’re a powerful financial executive, lay off the bath salts. [DealBreaker] * Judicial throwdown at the Second Circuit! Short version: Judge Raagi thinks Judge Jacobs should care way more about punishing guys sexting underage girls. Judge Jacobs thinks Judge Raagi watches too much Dexter. [Second Circuit / FindLaw] * Federal District Judge John Lungstrum calls out a couple trial teams for terrible trial work. Biglaw litigators may not be the best trial attorneys? You don’t say. [New York Personal Injury Attorney Blog] * Kenneth Anderson describes the U.S. government’s longstanding love affair with “imminence” in the context of the Obama drone strike white paper. To borrow from Rev. Lovejoy’s sermon: “Imminence…sweet imminence.” [Lawfare] * Judges: If you’re going to base a decision on a particular fact… don’t include pictures in the opinion that directly contradict that finding. Check out page six, line two and Appendix 2 [Court of Appeals, State of Oregon] * SCOTUSBlog and Bloomberg Law have a competition for law students. Beat your peers AND the SCOTUSBlog team and win $5000. [SCOTUSBlog]

By David Lat