Wednesday Writs for 3/6

Em Carpenter

Em was one of those argumentative children who was sarcastically encouraged to become a lawyer, so she did. She is a proud life-long West Virginian, and, paradoxically, a liberal. In addition to writing about society, politics and culture, she enjoys cooking, podcasts, reading, and pretending to be a runner. She will correct your grammar. You can find her on Twitter.

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15 Responses

  1. Saul Degraw says:

    In a pure partyline vote, Alison Rushing has just been appointed to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals:

    https://www.vox.com/2019/3/5/18251573/allison-rushing-confirmation-senate-republicans-judges

    Lots of things stick out here:

    1. Trump could be swept out of office in a landslide in 2020 but he and the Evangelicals will have a long-lasting legacy because of the ramjob of appointing young to youngish, reactionary firebrands. Someone like Rushing can be on the bench for decades long after Trump and her initial cheerleaders are gone;

    2. Her resume is fairly typical. Elite law schools followed by working in big law at Williams & Connolly and clerking for various right-wing judges like Gorsuch and I think Thomas. What stands out is that she worked for an organization called Alliance Defending Freedom. This Orwellian named organization wants to recriminalize homosexuality.

    3. How the fuck does Williams & Connolly justify having a page dedicated to diversity and inclusion while hiring someone who worked for a hate group?

    4. How the fuck do right-wing groups come up with such Orwellian names and say them with straight faces?Report

    • Aaron David in reply to Saul Degraw says:

      Because reality has a liberal bias…Report

      • Saul Degraw in reply to Aaron David says:

        Your march to the right is continuing apace I seeReport

        • Aaron David in reply to Saul Degraw says:

          I am not moving to the right, I simply note hypocrisy.

          If you want to blame someone for judges, along with not being able to stop them, blame Harry Reid. You can also blame “inclusion and diversity” for becoming a necessary joke that every corporation needs to have an office for on hyperactive lawyers. And as for Orwellian names, how does the SPLC do in that regard?

          The Left had a good run, but many of the rules they set up are now being used against them. Attorney, heal thyself.Report

          • Stillwater in reply to Aaron David says:

            If you want to blame someone for judges, along with not being able to stop them, blame Harry Reid.

            That you think Harry Reid deserves THE blame for conservative judges (not to mention, *this particular judge*) is pretty compelling evidence that you’re moving to the right. 🙂Report

          • Aaron David in reply to Aaron David says:

            Yes, we should all forget the Nuclear Option. But you are right, we should remember the Biden rule about SCOTUS picks in an election year, or how to Bork successfully.Report

          • Stillwater in reply to Aaron David says:

            You’re making my case for me!Report

    • DensityDuck in reply to Saul Degraw says:

      Yes, you think they’d have workshopped “Trust And Safety Council” before rolling it out.Report

  2. Jaybird says:

    The Weinstein case has a lot of legal tumult around it (that might even tie into the point that Clarence Thomas was making in your first link).

    Ronald Sullivan is a professor at Harvard Law. He signed up to defend Weinstein (presumably in exchange for money) and students (not *ALL* students, but *SOME* students) are protesting saying that Sullivan representing Weinstein makes them feel “unsafe” because Sullivan willing to do this sort of thing promotes Rape Culture.

    At the risk of editorializing in my comment here, it seems to me that the Harvard Crimson has its long knives out.

    I know I always say this sort of thing but, eventually, the culture is going to change for real and we’ll see the presumption of innocence as worth abandoning.Report

    • Em Carpenter in reply to Jaybird says:

      I actually meant to include the Harvard thing. That is ridiculous. I really take offense when people impugn defense attorneys on the basis of who the rep.
      Also, “unsafe”. Please.Report

    • PD Shaw in reply to Jaybird says:

      I assume these are not law students, just the unwashed masses of students.

      I’m reminded of a piece written by a law professor at (I believe) Florida International University, who opined that youth are not capable of disinterest when exposed to controversial views and thus colleges should not so expose students because their reactions, violence and vandalism, are predictable.Report

    • pillsy in reply to Jaybird says:

      Very good Isaac Chotiner interview of Ronald Sullivan.

      He’s pretty sympathetic to the students [1] and pretty withering about the way the Administration has handled this, which conforms nicely to my priors.

      PS: Thanks for finding the OT article, Jaybird!

      [1] I saw a complaint on the Twitters that he kind of infantilizes them, but meh.Report

  3. CJColucci says:

    Several years ago, the NYC Bar Association hosted a debate on pretrial publicity between Alan Dershowitz and then-US Attorney Rudy Giuliani. I didn’t go because I couldn’t figure out who was representing the anti-publicity side.
    Also, on a lark, I called Cellino and Barnes after watching a commercial to ask which was Cellino and which was Barnes. They worked very hard to tell me which was which without saying that Barnes is the bald one. Their more recent commecials show which is which.Report

    • Kolohe in reply to CJColucci says:

      I didn’t realize until listening to a podcast today (as one of the podcast hosts didn’t either) that the jingle lawyers are based on a real firm, and not just a take on a style of attorney commercial that’s pretty common throughout the US.Report