* Which justices dissent most frequently in constitutional cases? The top few probably won't surprise you, but Adam Feldman has other interesting data too. [Empirical SCOTUS]
* A hefty -- think 132 pages -- ruling from the Tenth Circuit, overturning a Native American man's murder conviction and death sentence, could have major implications. [How Appealing]
* Warm words from Eugene Volokh for his co-blogger Nick Rosenkranz, a possible Second Circuit nominee. [Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]
* Drew Rossow poses an interesting question: Could Your Roomba Soon Be Sucking Up Your Privacy Rights? [Huffington Post]
* Ann Althouse analysis on President Trump's controversial "fire and fury" comments. [Althouse]
* "THE HORROR. THE HORROR. Newark Terrorized by Whole Foods." [National Review via Instapundit]
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* The Second Circuit vacates the corruption convictions of former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Congratulations to his counsel, the high-powered litigation boutique of MoloLamken (which handled the appeal as well as the trial). [How Appealing]
* And congrats to federal judicial nominees John K. Bush (Sixth Circuit) and Kevin Newsom (Eleventh Circuit), who just got voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. [Washington Examiner]
* In other nomination news, the White House seems to be taking its time in announcing a Ninth Circuit nominee from Oregon. Delay may strengthen the case for frontrunner Ryan Bounds; his main competition, Chief Judge Michael Mosman, gets older by the day (turning 61 later this year). [Portland Tribune]
* Meet Michael Murray, an ex-SCOTUS clerk and Jones Day alum, who is the Justice Department's new point person on pot. (Fun fact: Kevin Newsom, Ryan Bounds, and Michael Murray all clerked for my former boss, Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain of the Ninth Circuit.) [U.S. News]
* Former Ropes & Gray COO Hugh A. Simons wonders: "Are Law Firms Too Sophisticated for Their Own Good?" [Am Law Daily]
* Will law school applications see a "Trump Bump," as idealistic aspiring attorneys seek law degrees to join the resistance? We might have more on this later. [Law.com]
* Yes, lawyers should stand up for their beliefs -- but they also can (and must) understand the arguments on the other side, as new Yale Law dean Heather Gerken explains. [Time]
* The Ninth Circuit has ruled in the Case of the Tweeting Judge. We might have more on this later as well. [How Appealing]
* Congratulations to Stephen Kane, an alum of O'Melveny & Myers and Lex Machina, on securing $1.8 million in funding for his FairClaims startup -- which he describes as "a virtual Judge Judy." [TechCrunch]
* The gaggle of Jones Day lawyers who joined the Trump administration received a blanket waiver from ethical rules because what's the point when there's no integrity left to protect? [National Law Journal]
* The ABA is discussing a massive overhaul of its law school accreditation regime in order to appease critics from the Department of Education (at least the former DOE). Hey, DOE... we already solved this problem for you! [Law.com]
* Historically the Silk Road connected China to Europe. According to the Second Circuit it connects Ross William Ulbricht to a life sentence. [Law360]
* Because it wasn't big enough yet, Dentons opens an office in Myanmar. [Legal Week]
* In-house counsel complain that they receive too much marketing material. But that's not stopping firms from piling on more, because in-house lawyers don't know what's good for them. [Am Law Daily]
* George Mason students have filed a lawsuit accusing the school of violating public records law in an effort to obscure funding the school -- especially ASS Law -- may receive from the Koch brothers. [Courthouse News Service]
* "Lawyer who killed lover’s dog blames being lone Jew at boarding school." I'm just going to leave this here. [NY Post]
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* The untold story behind the Anita Hill hearings. [Highline]
* This could be big: a Second Circuit concurrence says Title VII already includes prohibitions against sexual orientation discrimination. [Slate]
* How the GOP learned to stop worrying and love regulations. [Politico]
* Jeff Sessions makes the first move against sanctuary cities. [Pacific Standard]
* What lawyers can learn from watching television. [Law and More]
* Pay equity moves to the hockey rink. [The Hill]
* Bad laws will cost you. [The Slot]
* "I’m guessing they have had a number of long days and potentially sleepless nights." The government lawyers behind the efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with the American Health Care Act have had a rough go of things. Who are they, which law schools did they attend, and which Biglaw firms did they work for before becoming Hill lawyers? [National Law Journal]
* Don't forget about Merrick: A third of Democratic senators have pledged to vote against confirming Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch. At this time, it remains unclear as to whether there will be a united effort by Democrats to oppose his confirmation when the Senate Judiciary Committee votes on April 3. [Reuters]
* Guess who isn't boycotting Hawaii? People who apparently have a vendetta against this federal jurist. Judge Derrick Watson of the District of Hawaii has been receiving death threats ever since he blocked President Donald Trump's revised travel ban on March 15. He is now receiving 24-hour protection from the U.S. Marshals Service. [The Hill]
* The Second Circuit has upheld New York's ban on non-lawyers investing in law firms. Personal injury firm Jacoby & Meyers argued that the state's prohibition on non-lawyer investment violated lawyers' First Amendment right to associate with clients, but the court found that connection to be "simply too attenuated." [New York Law Journal]
* Ithaca may be gorges, but it can't compete with the Big Apple with it comes to hands-on learning about issues dealing with cutting-edge tech. Cornell Law is launching a semester-long Program in Information and Technology Law at its Tech campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City that's slated to begin in Spring 2018. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Judge Edward J. McManus, the longest serving of any incumbent judge in the United States (and third-longest servng in the history of the United States), RIP. [N.D. Iowa]
* For those of you too busy this week to follow Judge Neil Gorsuch's confirmation hearing, here's a nice collection of the highlights by Benjamin Wallace-Wells. [New Yorker via How Appealing]
* SCOTUS confirmation hearings are often compared to kabuki theater; law professor cum novelist Jay Wexler reimagines the Gorsuch hearing as, well, actual kabuki theater. [McSweeney's]
* Insider trading: it's not entirely about the benjamins, as therapist and executive coach Andrew Snyder explains. [LinkedIn]
* Is the Second Circuit sitting on juicy information about President Trump's ties to Russia? [WiseLawNY]
* Law school applicants with high LSAT scores: which schools do they favor? [SSRN]
* Speaking of legal education, what are the secrets to law school success? Vanderbilt 3L Niya McCray shares her thoughts. [Amazon (affiliate link)]
* Fantastic analogy, now all the geeks love you. [io9]
* The Senate wants an update from the FBI and Justice Department on exactly what went down with Mike Flynn's resignation. [Daily Kos]
* Fox News settled sexual harassment claims, but did they violate SEC rules in the process? [Law and More]
* What Neil Gorsuch will really be like on the Supreme Court. [The Onion]
* Was a narcoleptic CIA agent discriminated against because of their disability? [Wake Forest Law Review]
* The IRS is moving against Obamacare. [TaxProf Blog]
* SiriusXM's big Second Circuit victory. [Hollywood Reporter]
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* Several prominent lawyers and legal scholars are filing a lawsuit alleging that Donald Trump is violating the Emoluments Clause by letting his businesses accept money from foreign governments -- but the litigation looks like a long shot to some. [New York Times via How Appealing]
* Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson (previously profiled here) is returning to private practice -- and, not surprisingly, to Paul, Weiss. [American Lawyer]
* Judge Andrew Hanen (S.D. Tex.), who brutally benchslapped the Obama Justice Department last year, has withdrawn the sanctions he imposed on the DOJ, finding that the misstatements in question were inadvertent. [ABA Journal]
* If you've been handicapping the Supreme Court race, adjust the odds in favor of Judge Neil Gorsuch (10th Cir.) -- he's conservative but less contentious than some other nominees, as noted by Jan Crawford. [CBS News]
* Confirmability might be increasing in importance as a factor for picking a SCOTUS nominee now that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer pledged to block any nominee who is not "bipartisan and mainstream." [How Appealing]
* The Obama Administration didn't fare so well before SCOTUS; will the Trump Administration do any better? [New York Times]
* The Second Circuit joins the Seventh Circuit in considering whether discrimination "because of sex" encompasses discrimination based on sexual orientation. [New York Law Journal]
* The jury deliberated for just two hours before convicting Dylann Roof of the Charleston church murders. [The Daily Beast]
* Tables turned: how Judge Jed Rakoff (S.D.N.Y.) got the Second Circuit, which normally reviews his judgments, overturned. [Bloomberg BNA]
* Keith Lee takes a deep dive into newly released law school data (the ABA 509 disclosures). [Associate's Mind]
* Eugene Volokh breaks down a new Fourth Circuit ruling that protects the right of police officers to criticize department policies on Facebook. [Volokh Conspiracy]
* David Lander evaluates the pluses and minuses of law schools relying upon adjunct professors to fill curricular gaps. [PrawfsBlawg]
* What variables best explain the decisions of the Roberts Court? [Tennessee Law Review via Hangley Aronchick]
* Check out Womble Carlyle's new podcast, Bulldog Bites. Says host Mark Henriques, "I promise it won’t feel like work. If you don’t learn something, hopefully you’ll laugh with us about something." [Womble Carlyle]
* "This feels like an agency that is out of step with a crisis in its profession." The transcript from the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity is finally out, and those who voted to suspend the ABA's power to accredit law schools sought to "send a signal" about student loans and accreditation enforcement. [ABA Journal]
* "Having a woman reach this milestone opens the door for us. We are allies in the struggle and we can't do this by ourselves." Women in the law fight to break through the glass ceiling every day, and Hillary Clinton's nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate has served as an inspiration to continue the battle. [Big Law Business]
* Which are the best law schools for getting federal clerkship a after graduation? Aside from the incredibly obvious ones, you may actually be surprised by some of the schools that made the list. For those of you who are interested in getting a clerkship bonus when you head to your firm, we'll have more information on this later. [Business Insider]
* Sorry, but your law review note might get preempted... Thanks to a split between the First and Second Circuits, in its upcoming term, the Supreme Court will decide what type of benefit must be provided to prove a quid pro quo arrangement, which could likely redefine insider trading law as we've come to know it. [DealBook / New York Times]
* Talk about some expensive beauty queen drama: Genesis Davila, who was crowned as Miss Florida USA last month and then stripped of the title for allegedly using professional hair and makeup stylists in violation of the competition's rules, has filed a $15 million defamation lawsuit against the pageant's owners. [ABC Local 10 News]
* Some thoughts from Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer of Microsoft, on his company's big win before the Second Circuit. [On the Issues]
* Before the Second Circuit, Microsoft enjoyed a lot of support from amici -- which can make a difference before the U.S. Supreme Court, according to this analysis by Adam Feldman. [Empirical SCOTUS]
* Nell Minow, the corporate governance guru (and sister of Harvard Law Dean Martha Minow), has some assigned reading for America's politicians: Professor William Birdthistle's Empire of the Fund: The Way We Save Now (affiliate link). [Huffington Post]
* My former colleague Maura Grossman, ediscovery queen of Wachtell Lipton, has left the firm to open her own consulting practice and serve as a research professor. [Am Law Daily]
* Social media for lawyers: it's all fun and games until someone loses their good reputation. [Reboot Your Law Practice]
* If you are a lawyer between 24 and 49 who's currently working in the northeast, a Ph.D. student would like to talk to you about debt (which you most likely have lots of -- although none is needed to participate in the study). [Abby Stivers]
* A final reminder for our L.A. readers that the law firm battle of the bands is taking place tonight -- so come out to support a good cause (and have a great time)! [Family Violence Appellate Project]
