Blue Slips Archives - Above the Law https://abovethelaw.com/tag/blue-slips/ A Legal Web Site – News, Insights, and Opinions on Law Firms, Lawyers, Law School, Law Suits, Judges and Courts Fri, 06 Dec 2024 16:44:17 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.1 208237768 Mitch McConnell’s ‘Brazen’ Judicial Hypocrisy https://abovethelaw.com/2024/12/mitch-mcconnells-brazen-judicial-hypocrisy/ Wed, 04 Dec 2024 20:15:38 +0000 https://abovethelaw.com/?p=1078233 He can shut the hell up.

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Federal Judges Declaring Backsies On Retirement Since Trump Won The Election https://abovethelaw.com/2024/12/federal-judges-declaring-backsies-on-retirement-since-trump-won-the-election/ Mon, 02 Dec 2024 22:03:59 +0000 https://abovethelaw.com/?p=1078126 More fallout from Trump's win.

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GOP Senator Blocks Judicial Pick Over Transgender Rights https://abovethelaw.com/2023/04/gop-senator-blocks-judicial-pick-over-transgender-rights/ Wed, 05 Apr 2023 14:42:15 +0000 https://abovethelaw.com/?p=953169 The battle over blue slips heats up.

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An Insider’s Perspective On President Trump’s Transformation Of The Federal Judiciary https://abovethelaw.com/2019/04/an-insiders-perspective-on-president-trumps-transformation-of-the-federal-judiciary/ Tue, 30 Apr 2019 19:15:22 +0000 https://abovethelaw.com/?p=541421 Mike Davis, former Chief Nominations Counsel to former Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, played a key role in the confirmation process.

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Morning Docket: 03.29.19 https://abovethelaw.com/2019/03/morning-docket-03-29-19/ Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:25:20 +0000 https://abovethelaw.com/?p=535629 * President Trump claims that the FBI and the DOJ will be investigating the Jussie Smollett case because it’s an “absolute embarrassment to our country.” Meanwhile, in more realistic news, Chicago wants the Empire actor to pay $130,000 to cover the costs of the officers who worked on the case. [Wall Street Journal]

* According to Diane Feinstein, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat, “the blue slip is essentially dead.” May the century-old tradition rest in peace. [Big Law Business]

* Jessie Liu, Trump’s pick for third-in-command at the Justice Department upon the recommendation of Attorney General William Barr, has withdrawn from consideration after facing conservative opposition for her association with the National Association of Women Lawyers, an organization she once led. [Reuters]

* C. Allen Parker, the former Cravath presiding partner who brought Biglaw the $180K salary scale and left the firm to become general counsel at Wells Fargo, will now serve as interim CEO and president at the troubled bank. Best of luck... [Corporate Counsel]

* In case you missed it, the NRA is planning to oppose renewal of the Violence Against Women Act due to provisions that would prevent people who have committed domestic abuse from obtaining firearms. That’s just swell. [The Hill]

* Roberta Kaplan, the founding partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink who represented Edith Windsor in the landmark Supreme Court case that obliterated the Defense of Marriage Act and co-founded the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, will be speaking at Harvard Law’s 2019 Class Day Ceremony. Congratulations! [Harvard Law Today]

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Non Sequiturs: 03.03.19 https://abovethelaw.com/2019/03/non-sequiturs-03-03-19/ Sun, 03 Mar 2019 22:30:20 +0000 https://abovethelaw.com/?p=529599 * Several weeks after its release, Over My Dead Body, Wondery's new podcast exploring the Dan Markel case, continues to top the podcast charts -- and creators Matthew Shaer and Eric Benson have some thoughts on why the case has seized the public imagination. [Inside Edition]

* The Keith Tharpe case, far from representing an isolated injustice, reflects and embodies the racist roots of the death penalty in America, according to Stephen Cooper. [CounterPunch]

* The fight against racism in the justice system has been going on (and will continue) for many years -- and as Texas lawyer John Browning has discovered, trailblazing African American attorneys were fighting to integrate the bar of the Lone Star State as early as the 1800s. [Texas Lawyer]

* I've previously argued against treating blue slips as senatorial vetoes of judicial nominees, based on their consequences for the federal judiciary -- and as Thomas Jipping points out, history supports treating blue slips as a senatorial courtesy, nothing more. [Bench Memos / National Review]

* Don't be fooled by the high level of unanimity in the Supreme Court's first few decisions of the Term; greater disagreement lurks in the "shadow docket," as Adam Feldman explains. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* The compromise appropriations bill that saved us from another government shutdown could also advance the Trump Administration's "remain in Mexico" policy for asylum seekers from Central America -- which Stewart Baker believes "may offer a better solution to the immigration crisis than the construction of a few miles of new wall." [Lawfare via Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

* Actor James Woods is out of the woods in a defamation lawsuit arising out of an erroneous tweet of his, thanks to this interesting ruling by the Sixth Circuit. [How Appealing]

* Jean O'Grady is excited about Panoramic, the latest offering from Thomson Reuters, which transforms "the ambitious idea of merging workflow and billing into an actual product." [Dewey B Strategic]

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Morning Docket: 10.22.18 https://abovethelaw.com/2018/10/morning-docket-10-22-18/ Mon, 22 Oct 2018 12:37:00 +0000 https://abovethelaw.com/?p=516139 * Remember how Trump promised that he'd "fight for" the transgender community while he was campaigning? Perhaps he meant that he'd fight to erase them. The Trump administration is reportedly considering defining sex under Title IX "based on immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth." [New York Times]

* Democratic senators in Washington are refusing to return their blue slips for Perkins Coie partner Eric Miller, a Ninth Circuit nominee, and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley is pissed. Slow your roll, Chuck. I thought we didn't care about blue slips anymore? [The Recorder]

* About half of lawyers in the United Kingdom say they're not ready to deal with Brexit. That's okay. The United Kingdom isn't ready to deal with Brexit either -- and 40 percent of lawyers think their Biglaw firms will try to escape the UK because of it. [Am Law International]

* In case you missed it, Paul Manafort showed up at the Eastern District of Virginia on Friday afternoon in a wheelchair, citing health concerns as his attorney requested an expedited sentencing date. Manafort seems to have gotten what he wanted, and will be sentenced there on February 8. [National Law Journal]

* During his inauguration speech, the University of Virginia's new president, James Ryan -- a UVA Law graduate who once worked as a UVA law professor -- pledged that tuition would be free for students whose families earned less than $80,000 a year. We wonder if that applies to law school tuition as well. [WTTF Fox 5]

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Bye-Bye To Blue Slips https://abovethelaw.com/2018/05/bye-bye-to-blue-slips/ Wed, 16 May 2018 14:45:28 +0000 https://abovethelaw.com/?p=500990 The demise of blue slips is good news for the federal judiciary -- and the American people.

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Non-Sequiturs: 05.13.18 https://abovethelaw.com/2018/05/non-sequiturs-05-13-18/ Sun, 13 May 2018 21:30:42 +0000 https://abovethelaw.com/?p=500712 * An interesting (although depressing) factoid, courtesy of Ed Whelan: this former SCOTUS clerk and prominent Florida litigator has been nominated to the federal bench by three different presidents, but has yet to serve as a judge. [Bench Memos / National Review]

* If you're an older lawyer and "in transition," you need to get yourself a "temporary identity," as Jane Genova explains. [Law and More]

* If you're interested in the intersection of artificial intelligence and the law, Complex/vLex Canada's CEO, Colin Lachance, provides a framework for understanding the world of legal AI. [3 Geeks and a Law Blog]

* Jonathan Bernstein offers a rebuttal to my recent New York Times op-ed celebrating the demise of blue slips. [Bloomberg]

* When can creators depict real people without risking liability? The ambiguity of the law on this question poses significant problems, according to Jennifer Rothman, author of a new book (affiliate link) about the right of publicity. [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

* Noted media lawyer Charles Glasser wonders: when it comes to covering President Trump, are news editors "confusing the public interest with what is merely of interest to the public"? [Daily Caller]

* Thomson Reuters gets in on the blockchain action, bringing a blockchain-based legal arbitration platform, Kleros, into its Incubator Labs start-up program. [Artificial Lawyer]

* Final reminder: please support the Jersey City Free Public Library -- and enjoy some delicious Filipino food by celebrity chef Dale Talde -- by joining me on Thursday, May 17, for what should be a great evening! [Jersey City Free Public Library]

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Morning Docket: 09.15.17 https://abovethelaw.com/2017/09/morning-docket-09-15-17/ Fri, 15 Sep 2017 13:02:22 +0000 https://abovethelaw.com/?p=477367 * Yes, it's true: Jeff Sessions came thisclose to resigning as attorney general, after Donald Trump berated him following the appointment of special counsel Bob Mueller in the Russia probe. [New York Times]

* Bye-bye to blue slips? It wouldn't exactly be "nuclear," since their treatment has varied greatly over the years. [BuzzFeed]

* The State Bar of California tries to cut down the arguments in favor of a lower cut score on the bar exam. [ABA Journal]

* Technology platforms are driving an increase in transparency that's having profound consequences for the employer/employee relationship (as I recently discussed on the podcast of Akerman employment-law partner Matt Steinberg). [Akerman]

* Embattled Equifax has turned to Phyllis Sumner and King & Spalding for much-needed legal help in the wake of its massive data breach. [Law.com]

* Statutory interpretation question: can you be both the victim and the perpetrator in a child pornography case? [How Appealing]

* The ranks of nonequity partners continue to grow; has this trend gone too far? [Big Law Business]

* Prosecution of individuals in cases of corporate wrongdoing (aka the Yates Memo), and Justice Department policy on enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states where it has been decriminalized -- both are "under review" at the DOJ, according to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. [Law.com]

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