Supreme Court

  • Morning Docket: 06.12.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 06.12.17

    * President Donald Trump will reportedly visit the Supreme Court later this week for Justice Neil Gorsuch’s official investiture ceremony. Based on the president’s prior behavior, it may only be a matter of time before he refers to his appointee as an “absolute disaster” whose “mind is shot.” [USA Today]

    * Former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara, who was fired by President Trump after he was asked to remain in his post, says phone calls he received from Trump made in an effort to “cultivate some kind of relationship” made him uncomfortable. In response, a spokesman for Marc Kasowitz called Bharara a “resistance Democrat,” and said “he deserved to be fired.” [Washington Post]

    * In other news, Marc Kasowitz, who will likely be setting up an office on White House grounds where he can run President Trump’s defense, has reportedly told White House aides to hold off on hiring their own lawyers — a move that would only be in his client’s interest, and against their own. [New York Times]

    * In defense to a lawsuit, the Justice Department has likened President Trump to George Washington (yup!), alleging that Trump isn’t violating the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution by accepting payments for goods and services like hotel bills and golf club fees from foreign governments. [Bloomberg]

    * In the wake of former FBI director James Comey’s tell-all appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Attorney General Jeff Sessions will now have to testify himself on the ongoing probe into Russian’s election interference. Hmm, what will the recused AG have to say for himself? [New York Times]

    * “It was really disgusting and really scary.” Joseph Amico of Las Vegas was arrested after he allegedly called New York lawyer Douglas Wigdor a “n**ger lover” and threatened to blow up his firm. Wigdor is representing plaintiffs in a racial discrimination lawsuit against Fox News Channel. [New York Daily News]

    * Miguel A. Méndez, Stanford Law’s first Latino professor, RIP. [Stanford News]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 06.06.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 06.06.17

    * Prominent human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, along with her husband, welcomed twins, Ella and Alexander. Congrats! [CNN]

    * New reports suggest Donald Trump got his panties in a bunch when Jeff Sessions had an attack of ethics. [The Hill]

    * The Supreme Court’s decision in the North Carolina racial gerrymandering case isn’t all good news. [Rewire]

    * Involuntary manslaughter charges for two in connection with the Oakland Ghost Ship fire that killed 36, including a rising legal mind. [Los Angeles Times]

    * Opening statements in the biggest defamation trial in American history. [The Hollywood Reporter]

    * 89-year-old law professor still going strong. [Tax Prof Blog]

    * How should mid-trial tears be handled? [Law and More]

  • Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 06.05.17

    * Commuting to work counts as “work,” according to the European Court of Justice. I think five-year-olds everywhere would agree. [Independent]

    * Harvard College rescinded the offers of 10 prospective students for trading sexually explicit memes and messages targeting minorities. When reached for comment, the Alt-Right First Amendment brigade decried the school’s lack of “intellectual diversity” probably, before masturbating to Birth of a Nation. [Harvard Crimson]

    * Adam Feldman Empirical SCOTUS breaks down how the Court can avoid the stupid Travel Ban. [Empirical SCOTUS]

    * Bill Cosby walked into his trial with Keshia Knight Pulliam. Pulliam played “Rudy” on the popular television show “The Cosby Show,” which has now been ruined forever. [The Root]

    * Everybody is enjoying the Real Press Sec Twitter bot. [The Hill]

    * Flint is one of those places where white people are winning the race war. [New York Daily News]

    * Trump’s support didn’t predominately come for the white working class. It came from the white stupid class. [Washington Post]

    * Since the Nazis have won anyway, sure, I’m ready for some football. I guess. Who cares. I envy the dead. [Deadspin]

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  • Morning Docket: 06.05.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 06.05.17

    * The Supreme Court has a few options when it comes to President Trump’s travel ban. The justices can grant or deny certiorari to hear the case, or grant or deny a stay on lower court rulings blocking various aspects of the ban. Either way, this case could become moot before it’s ever heard. [New York Times]

    * Meanwhile, the man who’s the worst client in the universe lashed out at Justice Department lawyers this morning in a series of Tweets, demanding that the travel ban be referred to as a travel ban instead of the “watered down, politically correct version they submitted to [SCOTUS].” Congrats on undermining your case! [New York Times]

    * Get your popcorn ready, because according to two senior administration officials, President Trump will reportedly not be invoking executive privilege to block former FBI director James Comey from testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee later this week in the ongoing Russia probe. [The Hill]

    * During a speaking engagement at Harvard, the Supreme Court’s freshman, Justice Neil Gorsuch, recounted the time he met Sandy, the dean of Oxford’s naked sex doll, who was dressed in only a boa. Although she could be counted on for answers, Gorsuch said she didn’t provide him with any. [Washington Post]

    * Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will soon be the star of her very own fitness book. Co-authored by her longtime trainer Bryant Johnson and illustrator Patrick Welsh, “The RBG Workout: How She Stays Strong … and You Can Too!” (affiliate link) will be out the first week of October Term 2017. [Associated Press]

    * Womble Carlyle is entering into a transatlantic merger with British firm Bond Dickinson to become Womble Bond Dickinson. The combined firm will have about 1,080 lawyers across 23 offices, with revenues exceeding $410 million. A spokesperson claims the tie-up will not result in layoffs. [News & Observer]

  • Morning Docket: 06.02.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 06.02.17

    * Let’s get ready to rumble: the Trump administration seeks Supreme Court review — and rescue — of its travel ban. [New York Times]

    * In other federal judicial news, the Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, held that courts cannot routinely shackle defendants during proceedings; Judge Alex Kozinski wrote the majority opinion, and former Kozinski clerk Judge Sandra Ikuta wrote the dissent. [How Appealing]

    * Judge Nicholas Garaufis (E.D.N.Y.) — who isn’t shy about telling lawyers how he really feels — has a new bee in his Article III bonnet: “I’m sick and tired of lawyers from white-shoe law firms marching into my courtroom and getting a deferred-prosecution agreement for their clients.” [ABA Journal]

    * Why did President Donald Trump hire Marc Kasowitz to represent him in the Russia inquiry — and could DJT already be second-guessing that decision? [Weekly Standard]

    * Speaking of the Russia probe, Robert Mueller is getting some high-powered help: outgoing Justice Department official Andrew Weissmann joins his former boss’s team. [Law360]

    * Interesting new data from our friends at NALP: the $180K starting salary might not be as widespread as you think. [Law.com]

    * President Trump plans to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate deal — but withdrawal can’t be finalized until near the end of his term because of the accord’s legal structure and language. [Washington Post]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 05.31.17
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 05.31.17

    * What you can learn from Tiger Woods’s DUI arrest. [Versus Texas]

    * Are we in the new age of monopolies? [Salon]

    * This is reading an awful lot into unanimous Supreme Court decisions. [Washington Post]

    * New York isn’t the liberal utopia you might think it is. [Jezebel]

    * The election law gap between red states and blue states. [Election Law Blog]

    * In NYC? Then join WNYC’s All Things Considered host Jami Floyd for a conversation about Loving v. Virginia on June 12th. [The Greene Space]

    * Call off the lawyers. [Law and More]

    * What’s the opposite of banning something? [Huffington Post]

    * Theorizing over Jared Kushner’s motivation. [Slate]

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