U.S. News

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 01.19.16

* The New York Times editorial board believes SCOTUS justices "already have all the evidence they need to join the rest of the civilized world and end the death penalty once and for all" -- and they may get the chance to do so this Term (but won't). [New York Times] * A Texas lawyer has filed the first "birther" lawsuit against Republican candidate Ted Cruz, seeking a declaratory judgment that the Canadian-born senator isn't eligible to run for president. The filing is a pretty entertaining read in that it's completely insane. [KHOU 11 News] * Just when ex-Dewey & LeBoeuf chair Steven Davis thought his legal troubles were over, Citibank swooped in to slap him with a suit seeking repayment of a $400,000 loan for his capital contribution to the failed firm. [New York Law Journal via ABA Journal] * The U.S. Copyright Office has formed an academic partnership with George Mason University School of Law. We bet students and law school administrators alike are probably hoping it'll turn into an employment partnership as well. [IP Watchdog] * Lower-ranked law schools ought to thank their lucky stars that U.S. News "ranking competition" exists, because if not for fear they'd sink in the rankings, higher-ranked schools would've enrolled students typically bound for unranked schools. [Forbes] * Not only has Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's first bid to get a new trial been rejected, but in what's been called a "symbolic gesture," the convicted Boston Marathon bomber has now been ordered to pay more than $101 million in restitution to his victims. [Boston Globe]

By Staci Zaretsky