Abfrancois

I was an associate at Paul Weiss for 3 years after clerking. Every new associate used to get a talk about the firm’s history, including the fact that “Garrison” in Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison is Lloyd K. Garrison, the great grandson of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison.

With his permission, I'm sharing Dean Treanor's response to Ed Martin's letter:

I keep a collection of Mr. Martin’s public letters in a desktop folder as a reminder that all things are possible: that one can have the discernment of a starving raccoon, the writing skills of a pecking pigeon, and the charisma of a naked mole rat and still grow up to be a US Attorney.

The audience for the Whitman-Barnett Citizenship op-ed isn’t legal scholars in general or 14th Amendment scholars in particular but, short term, members of Congress &, long term, certain Justices on the Court, who will use it as fig leaf cover for the indecency they’re about to perpetrate

the idea we’re being sold that POTUS needed to personally check the reference of non-cabinet level appointee is so transparently untrue they must think the public is that dumb. But, even if that was the true reason for the call, the fact that Alito took it is why the court’s reputation is shit.

My good fortune was to clerk for the man on the far left; Judge A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.

The Caravan from Mexico didn’t see its shadow this morning so there won’t be any reporting on border crossings for the next four years

The key takeaway from the House Ethics report is not that Gaetz was paying for sex and using his office as a drug den but that Trump nominated him for AG.

Biden commutes sentences of 37 federal death row prisoners Opponents of the death penalty had urged President Biden to take this step, given the number of executions that took place during President-elect Donald Trump's first term.

When I announced my candidacy six years ago, one of the core promises I made was to never use the death penalty. But I’ve represented innocent people convicted of crimes they didn’t commit and people condemned to death. There is no place in civilized society for the death penalty.

There are two kinds of law professors in the world: the first kind grades their exams the moment they receive them; the second stares at them reproachfully for days and wakes up every morning hoping an elf graded them in the middle of the night. The first kind is a psychopath

Every 100 years, an innovative American carmaker backs an extremist German political movement.

I have this deranged obsession with beautiful old grand English houses/eatates. Except whenever I watch a documentary about them the thought that runs through my mind over and over again is: I wonder how many black people you enslaved to get this? Yet I can’t stop watching.

How Pam Bondi boosted Trump’s election fraud claims in a key swing state As Trump seeks to elevate Pam Bondi to attorney general, her work battling to overturn the 2020 vote in Pennsylvania is drawing new scrutiny.

There was so much flapdoodle flying in November 2020, the Mars comment didn't get the attention it deserved.
But Pam Bondi sent Rudy Giuliani into Pennsylvania to claim Trump had won because some of Biden's votes came from Mars.
Pam Bondi is basically Amanda Chase with a law degree.
wapo.st/4iId8X2

WOW. Third Circuit nominee Adeel Mangi's letter to Biden (but, really, to all) is today's required reading: "I have battled for justice, even if it meant there would be none for me."

And, though unnamed, Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, Jacky Rosen, and Joe Manchin get their earned response.

Max Brod with Franz Kafka

Your occasional reminder that we would not have a single one of Kafka’s novels to read if the executor of his estate had not disregarded his express instructions to burn all of his unpublished works. Thank the guy on the left.

I participated in a project of Gilbert’s on the 14th amendment years ago. My experience with him is limited but he seemed reasonably open minded.

The most important thing about the plot against birthright citizenship isn’t what SCOTUS will eventually do. It’s the fact that the plot itself expresses a regime commitment to an antebellum Constitution. To attack birthright citizenship is to reject Reconstruction.

There is no law that authorizes the US to “deport” its own citizens. So when they say they’re going to “deport families together” even if some are citizens, what they mean is they’ll force Americans to choose between staying in their country and staying with their family.

Ben Folds and Jeremy Irons should get together and start a dry cleaning business.

They could call it Ben and Jerry's.

scully: it doesn’t make any sense mulder, out of nowhere he started showing empathy and a base level curiosity about the life experience of others

mulder [tossing a manila folder on the desk]: ever hear of the woke mind virus?

Biden should commute every single federal death sentence before he leaves office. I won’t say all will be forgiven if he does but it will go a long way.

Not that this was ever in any way unclear, but given Trump’s cabinet picks, can I assume we will all stop pretending that the DEI panic was ever really about merit?

My favorite Black Friday Thanksgiving message from a brand is from Thom Browne. They’ll charge you $5,000 for a single sock and come Thanksgiving all you’ll get is a note saying “Wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving.” That’s it. No discount on the $5,000 sock.

I guess, when early tech bros declared they were here to do good and not be evil, folks for moment forgot (or pretended to forget) the first, last and always legal/fiduciary duty of a corporation.

Clearly this law professor is a rabid radical left wing nut!!!!

Not sure I understand the motivation of billionaires. No matter how many billions they get, they just want more billions and more stuff. There’s not a number of billions that will keep you from dying. While you’re here, why not do something actually cool? (No, it’s not spending 1 minute in space).

Deep breath. Taps the mic: the Grand Canyon isn’t that impressive to see in person. Pretty much a big hole in the ground. Very big. But still….

Optimist: the cup is half full

Pessimist: the cup is half empty

Lawyer: the cup is not in the record before the court and so neither is the question whether it’s half full or half empty.

Only thing I’m sure about these days is that if you put on a suit and tie and intone into the camera with a voice conveying gravitas you can say the dumbest shit in the world and people will pay you money to keep doing it. (Or just talk fast like Vivek and people will call you brilliant)

This passage from Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time has been playing in my head on a loop since November 5.