Solicitor General’s Office

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 01.19.17

* The Seventh Circuit -- in an opinion by Judge Diane Sykes, a top-tier SCOTUS possibility under President Trump -- just struck down Chicago ordinances regulating shooting ranges as violative of Second Amendment rights. [ABC News] * Speaking of firearms, law professor Fredrick Vars has an excellent proposal for preventing gun suicides. [Washington Post] * Possible good news for legalizing sports betting in New Jersey: the U.S. Supreme Court wants to hear from the solicitor general on this issue (although we don't yet know who the solicitor general will be). [How Appealing] * But we think we know who the principal deputy solicitor general will be -- Noel Francisco, whose imminent departure from Jones Day is now public. [National Law Journal] * In other Justice Department news, what can we expect from Jeff Sessions's DOJ in terms of civil rights enforcement? [New York Times] * Are we seeing a "fragile recovery" in the number of people interested in law school? [ABA Journal] * If you share my curiosity about the future of Chief Judge Merrick Garland in the wake of his unsuccessful SCOTUS nomination, it seems that the distinguished jurist is back on the bench -- at least for now. [National Law Journal]

By David Lat
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 01.03.17

* Kellyanne Conway, President-elect Trump's campaign manager, has accepted a position as his counselor once his administration takes over at the White House, and now her husband, George Conway of Wachtell Lipton, has found himself on the shortlist to become the U.S. solicitor general. He's argued only one Supreme Court case, which is unusual for those being considered for the position. [Bloomberg Politics] * In his year-end report on the federal judiciary, Chief Justice John Roberts managed to steer clear of controversial topics -- such as the high court being short handed since Justice Scalia's death or the Senate's failure to confirm Judge Merrill Garland -- instead choosing to focus on the "underappreciated" role of district court judges, writing that "[t]his is no job for impulsive, timid, or inattentive souls." [Washington Post] * "There’s no legitimacy to a Supreme Court justice in a seat that’s been stolen from one administration and handed to another. We need to do everything we possibly can to block it." When it comes to the confirmation process for President-elect Trump's SCOTUS nominee, we can expect to see a battle thanks to Senate Democrats in the wake of Senate Republicans' obstruction of Judge Garland's nomination. [The Guardian] * One day before they were set to go into effect, Judge Reed O'Connor of the Northern District of Texas issued a nationwide injunction on the enforcement of the Affordable Care Act's protections for transgender and abortion-related healthcare services. O'Connor is the same judge who issued a nationwide injunction on the enforcement of the Obama administration's transgender protections in schools. [BuzzFeed] * Convicted Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof, who is representing himself for the penalty phase of his trial, has rejected a defense based on mental illness because he is "morally opposed to psychology." He'll make an opening statement, but won't call any witnesses or present any evidence. If Roof is sentenced to death, it will be the first time a jury has done so in a case involving a federal hate crimes law. [New York Times]

By Staci Zaretsky
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 12.12.16

* The new treatise on race and the law in the post-Obama age. [The Crime Report] * A deep dive into the Iowans on Trump's SCOTUS shortlist. [Des Moines Register] * And two of the Coloradans too. [Denver Post; Denver Post] * Plus more on who might be Trump's pick for Solicitor General. [Empirical SCOTUS] * Rural areas really need lawyers. [KCUR] * The latest legal challenge to Brexit. [The Independent] * Does Mark Zuckerberg have political aspirations? [Law and More] * RIP retired federal judge, Miles Lord. [ABC]

By Kathryn Rubino