Transgender Discrimination

Nineteen states have banned transgender athletes from playing on sports teams that do not align with the gender indicated on the student’s birth certificate, and there are many more bills cruelly slashing their way through state houses.

The battle over blue slips heats up.

Even the dean thinks this violates the school's antidiscrimination policy.

* The Senate rejects the latest GOP effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act — with Senator John McCain casting the decisive “no” vote. [Washington Post]

* Riley Safer Holmes and Cancila continues its rapid expansion, adding 13 new lawyers — including eight from Bryan Cave, led by former managing partner Joseph McCoy. [Law360]

* More bad news for the LGBT community from the Trump administration: the Justice Department takes the position that Title VII doesn’t cover discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. [How Appealing]

* Meanwhile, civil rights and LGBT groups get ready to file suit if President Trump’s plan to ban transgender people from the military becomes a reality (which is not yet the case). [National Law Journal]

* And these groups might just prevail — Michael Richter and Anna Pohl, chairs of the New York City Bar Association’s Military Affairs and LGBT Rights Committees, lay out the case for why the transgender ban is unconstitutional. [The Hill]

* Stephanie Francis Ward takes a long, hard look at the woes of Charlotte School of Law — and the rest of the beleaguered Infilaw consortium of law schools. [ABA Journal]

* Closing statements in the Martin Shkreli case paint very different pictures of the infamous “Pharma Bro.” [Law.com]

* Nuisance claims, or nuisance suits? Judge James Donato (N.D. Cal.) seems skeptical of a purported class-action case targeting Pokémon GO (which recently added Legendaries to the game). [The Recorder]

If Trump disrespects the military, we're going to have bigger problems.

Trump can make the military bigoted, but he has to actually make them.

It's not about helping people, it is about cold, hard cash.

* Antonin Scalia’s papers donated to… Harvard, obviously. What did you expect? Did you seriously think it was going to be ASSLaw or Ave Maria or something? [Harvard Gazette]

* What state is looking to legalize dachshund racing? Because daddy needs a new pair of shoes! [Lowering the Bar]

* The surprise dismissal of the Gavin Grimm case complicated the struggle for transgender rights, but it was far from a death knell. [Rewire]

* Professor Tribe thinks accusing Obama of illegal wiretapping is grounds for Trump’s impeachment. Somewhere, Mike Pence is putting together a nice little scrapbook of all these articles. [Raw Story]

* On that note, John Dean is back in the news to explain Watergate to Trump. [The Hill]

* With TaxProfBlog’s Paul Caron taking over as dean of Pepperdine, here are some changes we expect to see. [PrawfsBlawg]

* Sex and the Constitution (affiliate link) is not just a book, it’s also peak 3L course name. [Concurring Opinions]

* Discussing cybersecurity and our new Russian overlords. [Lawfare]

* Law student raps about bar prep to the tune of Gangsta’s Paradise. Most of the Anglo-centric jokes go over our heads, but it’s some good stuff. [Legal Cheek]

* The Tenth Amendment has become a dog whistle the Trump administration is happy to use. [GQ]

* There’s a new immigration regime: A look at the consequences for non-citizens accused of a crime. [Versus Texas]

* The machines are coming, and lawyers are helping them. [Law In Order]

* There may still be protection in Title IX for trans students. [Rewire]

* Two lawyers that got caught up in a bizarre international incident. [Wise NY]

* When clear rights of accused criminals are violated, what’s a defense lawyer to do? [Katz Justice]

* Star power sells legal services. [Law and More]

* BREAKING: Lawyer gets promotion. Film at 11. [Big Law Business]

* A look at law school clinics aimed at providing services to veterans. [Mic]

* Explaining the American constitutional crisis to Russian law students. [Tucson.com]

* When age bias comes for you. [Medium]

* How much is too much jewelry for the office? [Corporette]

* Make no mistake: there are two kinds of justice in this country. [Law and More]

* The complexity of taxing Snuggies. [TaxProf Blog]

* Color me f*cking shocked. [Slate]

* Livestream: State of Washington v. Trump. [U.S. Courts for the Ninth Circuit]

* What does the decision to broadcast this case mean for court transparency? [Fix the Court]

* Here’s what lawyers really say to each other. [Guile is Good]

* A critique of the IRS’s decision to not allow tax deductions for the cost of gender reassignment surgery. [Tax Prof Blog]

* Navigating the fallibility of the judicial system requires more nuance than Twitter allows. [New York Magazine]

* Trump threatens lawmaker’s career, is greeted with laughter. [Huffington Post]

* The job market the class of 2017 will encounter. [Law and More]

Yay! Good news!

It's hard out here for an employment lawyer.

This associate says she was subject to hostility because she had a newborn at home.

* The Justice Department is seeking a stay of Judge Andrew Hanen’s benchslap and order of ethics training while it appeals the ruling — a ruling the DOJ says could cost approximately $5 million to $8 million to comply with. [Texas Lawyer]

* Cheryl D. Mills, chief of staff to Hillary Clinton at the State Department, wishes that the issue of Clinton’s private email server “had been something we thought about.” [New York Times]

* Jim Lewis, counsel to Sigfredo Garcia, the man charged last week with the murder of Professor Dan Markel, maintains that Garcia had “had nothing to do with” the crime. [Tallahassee Democrat]

* Former attorney general Eric Holder says NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden performed a “public service” by sparking a debate over government surveillance — but still must pay a price for his illegal actions. [CNN]

* The Fourth Circuit holds that the police don’t need a warrant to obtain a person’s cellphone location data. [How Appealing]

* In other Fourth Circuit news, the court won’t go en banc to rehear its prior ruling in favor of the Obama Administration’s policy that transgender students are protected under existing civil rights law (aka the “transgender bathroom case”). [BuzzFeed via How Appealing]

* Those unsealed Trump University documents we mentioned yesterday? They don’t put the Donald in the best light. [New York Times]

* And Donald Trump isn’t getting much financial love from the legal community, as measured by campaign contributions (c’mon, Jones Day lawyers, help your client out). [American Lawyer]

* Judge Joseph Portelli of New Jersey, recently reprimanded for alleged inappropriate comments to counsel, gets renominated to the bench. [ABA Journal]

* Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: congratulations and best wishes to acclaimed novelist (and Dentons partner) Scott Turow and fellow lawyer Adriane Glazier — who first met when he interviewed her years ago for a summer associate gig. [New York Times]

* David Mourey, the former assistant dean for bar preparation and academic success at Barry Law, was fired after students continued to fail the bar exam, but in a recently filed gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuit, he claims he was discriminated against because he was “singled out for discipline by an all-female management team.” We may have more on this later. [Orlando Sentinel]

* Despite the wishes of the public and rumors of his firing in the face of the Baylor University coverup of reports of rape and sexual assault by football players, “Ken Starr is [still] president and chancellor of Baylor University.” According to a university spokeswoman, the school has not yet finished reviewing Pepper Hamilton’s report on the matter, but Baylor will likely make an announcement by June 3. [Associated Press]

* “We are willing to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to.” Eleven states have filed suit against the Obama Administration in an effort to get around its guidance on transgender rights for children in schools, calling the policy a “massive social experiment.” The states suing are Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. [Reuters]

* Sumner Redstone turns 93 years old tomorrow, and he’s been in and out of court for the past few months in a battle to prove he’s mentally competent. The salacious case filed by his former female companion may have been dismissed, but now he’s attempting to fend off claims from Viacom directors who were ousted from a trust that will control his media holdings if he dies or is found incompetent. [DealBook / New York Times]

* Now that the world knows that PayPal’s co-founder provided funding for Hulk Hogan’s invasion of privacy suit against Gawker, it’s time to take a look at the lawyer who’s been representing the wrestler. Charles Harder is no stranger to Hollywood cases, and may be a longtime fan of litigation finance since he “[tries] to win and do so in a way that’s cost effective for a client, so they don’t lose when they’re winning.” [WSJ Law Blog]

* Since revenge litigation finance’s recent invention, what’s there to keep billionaires from destroying you with lawsuits? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not much, especially when “there is no obligation to disclose the litigation financing arrangements” that have been made. Ethical issues aside, we really hope the super-rich wield their new power to ruin lives through rented lawsuits carefully. [Fortune]

* Bar exam-prep companies seem to be involved in a never-ending war with each other, and shots have been fired in the latest battle. BARBRI has been sued by LLM Bar Exam in a federal antitrust action, and several law schools have been caught in the fray. We’ll have more on this later today. [WSJ Law Blog]

* New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and his legal team have until today to file an appeal of the Second Circuit’s decision in the Deflategate case. According to an attorney who once served as outside counsel to the NFL, Brady’s chances of success are “near zero” if he decides to pursue this Hail Mary. [Big Law Business]

* OOOOk-lahoma, where the crazy comes sweepin’ down the plain: Oklahoma’s state legislature wants to impeach President Barack Obama and Attorney General Loretta Lynch over the administration’s guidance on transgender bathroom accommodations. The Sooner State’s actions are “highly symbolic,” but they’re likely “doomed.” [TIME]

* Did he wear an ascot and a smoking jacket while he was deposed? Playboy magnate Hugh Hefner testified at a deposition in a case filed by a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by Bill Cosby at the Playboy Mansion while she was a minor. Thanks to a gag order, no details on Hef’s deposition are available at this time. [Reuters]

* Sorry, but you still can’t deduct the cost of your law school tuition and fees on your taxes, even if you’re an accountant/tax preparer who only enrolled to get a leg up on your tax skills and never intended to practice law, but especially if you later start a law firm with a family member. The Tax Court frowns upon things like this. [Accounting Today]

* Check your spam folders! The Ticketmaster settlement email may be in there. [Slate] * Conservative lawyer Ted Olson is drafting an amicus for companies opposed to North Carolina’s anti-transgender bathroom law, HB2. [Time] * Amanda Knox can now sue Italy for an unfair trial. [New York Post] * Will there be a long-term chilling effect […]