Zubik v. Burwell

The T. Swift SCOTUS Mashup You Never Knew You Needed

Frustrated with the Supreme Court? There's a Taylor Swift gif for that.

Proof That Eight Supreme Court Justices Is Not Enough

The Court is suppose to give clarity to the law. It cannot do that. It cannot rule like this.

Non-Sequiturs: 05.17.16

* Does anyone have any idea what Merrick Garland should be doing right now? If so, give him a buzz -- he needs your help. [The Onion] * Interview with a restaurant lawyer. See, you can specialize in anything. [First We Feast] * If law professors act like divas, should they get tenure? Does it matter how much the publish? [Tax Prof Blog] * Advice for those interested in becoming a legal writing specialist. [Reboot Your Law Practice] * Surprised by the Supreme Court punting on Zubik? You shouldn't be, it was entirely predictable. [Empirical SCOTUS] * Thanks to Arizona Law, undergrads who haven't decided what to do can keep their options open with the GRE. [NPR] * This is why legislators have to be careful about what they vote for -- otherwise unscrupulous politicians will change the name of a bill to make it look like it provides support for a potential pandemic, when it does nothing about it. [The Slot]

The Ghost Of Antonin Scalia Felt In Recent Supreme Court Decision

The impact of Justice Scalia's death is still being felt.

Non-Sequiturs: 04.05.16

* Students at Villanova Law School got the day off to recover after Kris Jenkins's epic buzzer beater and the school's first NCAA men's basketball championship in 30 years. [NBC Philadelphia] * University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law has a great plan to help students deal with stress: puppies! [Daily Utah Chronicle] * Tracing Mahatma Gandhi's peace disobedience protests, which began 86 years ago this week, back to his roots as a lawyer. [Guile is Good] * If you send a text, and the person you send it to reads it while driving, could you be found liable for an injuries they cause while driving distracted? This scenario, seemingly taken from a law school fact pattern, just might be true. [Personal Injury Attorney Blog] * An in-depth look at how Zubik v. Burwell relates to other First Amendment free exercise cases. [Empirical SCOTUS] * Are there actually practice pointers you can pick up from watching Better Call Saul? [Reboot Your Law Practice]

Morning Docket: 03.30.16

* An odd order? Perhaps in an attempt to avoid yet another 4-4 split in a controversial case, SCOTUS justices have ordered parties on both sides of the contraceptive coverage battle in Zubik to file briefs describing how such coverage could be provided without religious groups having to put forth much effort to formally object. [Associated Press] * "It's mind bogglingly obvious, but often gets lost in the mix. Apart from checking there aren't any conflicts, clients are rarely put at the heart of these mergers." Go figure, but according to a new report by professional services consultancy Gulland Padfield, law firm mergers usually don't benefit clients in any way, shape, or form. [Am Law Daily] * It seems that Russian cybercriminal "Oleras" has hired hackers to break into the computer systems of 48 Biglaw firms so he can collect confidential client data and then trade on the stolen insider information. Thus far, he's been unsuccessful. Has your law firm been targeted? If you'd like to know, check the list here. [Crain's Chicago Business] * The NFL is so pissed that the New York Times recently published a story linking the league to the tobacco industry that it not only wrote a two-part rebuttal that was more than 3000 words long, but it also sicced Paul Weiss attorneys on the paper of record in search of a retraction, claiming that the story was defamatory in nature. [Yahoo! Sports] * "I will not go down. I want Bill Cosby in court." A Los Angeles judge has ruled that model Janice Dickinson's defamation case against Bill Cosby can move forward so that a jury can decide whether her allegations of rape are truthful, and further, whether a "liar" comment made by the comedian's ex-lawyer, Marty Singer, was defamatory. [Telegram]

Non-Sequiturs: 03.23.16

* The Supreme Court is behind some of the epic lines voters have experienced during the primaries. [The Nation] * Did Justice Kennedy just reveal himself to be hostile to the contraception mandate accommodation in today's oral arguments in Zubik v. Burwell? [Slate] * Senator Pat Toomey may be caving on the Merrick Garland front -- the Pennsylvania Republican has agreed to take a meeting with the judge. [Politico] * This is the actual problem with the most recent interpretation of Superman. [Lawyers, Guns and Money] * Making the connection between reproductive freedom and LGBTQ rights. [Huffington Post] * Opining on the ultimate fate of Edward Snowden. [Law and More] * Charting the spread of marijuana legalization. [Pacific Standard Magazine]