Quote of the week in the SCOTUSBlog newsletter today goes back a few years to a moment I remember. www.scotusblog.com/2026/02/scot...

Happy to report that Orrick appellate associate Katherine Munyan obtained a big en banc win for her client (and all immigrants who are doing their good faith best to attend their immigration hearings on time). Congrats to Katie & the Orrick team. cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/op...

Sally Jenkins (@sallyjenx.bsky.social) remains one of the best writers out there. I appreciate her reminding us of the prior greatness of the Washington Post, which is now been destroyed by its current ownership/management. www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

Former Orrick appellate associate, Hannah Garden-Monheit, who went on to work at the FTC and the White House, co-authored this very interesting report: "Building a More Effective, Responsive Government Lessons Learned from the Biden-Harris Administration." rooseveltinstitute.org/wp-content/u...

By the great By Ashley Parker (formally of the Washington Post) www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

@capitalweather.bsky.social 5.5 right now (8:30) in North Bethesda

Amazing performance by Orrick appellate associate Allyssa Barnard-Yanni in arguing an important forfeiture case before the en banc 9th Circuit sitting today. She carefully laid out an analytical framework, clarifying the issues and proper result for the judges. www.ca9.uscourts.gov/media/video/...

Justice Sotomayor has the DMCA very, very wrong. She reads it as a statute designed to preserve liability for platforms, not as one designed to shield them from it so that they can exist to facilitate user expression. AND she and Jackson impose extremely modern (c) law on its statutory origins.

Congratulations to Josh Rosenkranz for being named last night as as American Lawyer's Litigator of the Year (for the third time!!): www.law.com/americanlawy...

On @lawfaremedia.org, Mary Mason (who handled many a high profile Bivens case at DOJ) now shares here experience with Bivens cases and her views on the need for reform. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/reck...

The transcript of the tariff argument is now up: www.supremecourt.gov/casehand/gui...

Updated vote predictions so far from the questioning in the tariff argument-- For plaintiffs: SS, EK, KBJ For Trump: BK, CT, SA In play: ACB, Chief, NMG I think if NMG and ACB join the liberals, the Chief would go along. But he will not himself be the 5th vote.

The predictions market reads the Gorsuch questions as bad for Trump

Internet service provider Cox asked the Supreme Court to vacate a $1 billion jury verdict holding it liable for its customers' illegal music downloads, saying it never took an affirmative action to further any infringement as would be required under precedent. www.law360.com/artic...

Love Max Scherzer's intensity youtube.com/shorts/sFKnG...

Good morning from the @amtrak.com NextGen train.

A bit of positive SCOTUS news. The Court let stand a big win for California death-row inmates. In 2023, a 9th Cir. panel reversed dismissal of Stephen Redd's challenge to a 26-year delay in appointing him state-guaranteed counsel for state habeas proceedings. cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/op... 1/3

#AppellateJobs appellate.courts.ca.gov/district-cou... #AppellateBluesky

Congratulations to former Orrick appellate associate Sam Harbourt on his appointment as California SG. oag.ca.gov/news/press-r...

An en banc appellate argument is the most challenging type of argument. Often, there is a hostile faction trying to score points via their questions. Orrick appellate associate Katie Munyan, however, was amazing, handling yesterday's argument with great skill. www.ca9.uscourts.gov/media/video/...

This reminds me about the amicus brief we filed in the SCOTUS travel ban case. www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/17...

A nice recognition for our team by AmLaw/Law.com

An attempt to untangle all the legal questions concerning the deeply troubling September 2 strike in the Caribbean, and to identify the most serious breach of all, which is of the longstanding DoD commitment not to target civilians. www.justsecurity.org/120296/many-...

We haven't seen details of the government's analysis concluding the strike was lawful. What they've offered so far is a broad self-defense rationale that would seem to apply even more directly to drug shipments at the border or even within the United States.

BREAKING: SUPREME COURT WILL REVIEW TRUMP TARIFF AUTHORITY @courthousenews.bsky.social

From @lawfaremedia.org, @becingber.bsky.social, @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org and @sranderson.bsky.social on the U.S. strike in the Caribbean Sea on a boat allegedly carrying Tren de Aragua members & drugs. www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5LV...

A big DC Circuit win for solar energy. On remand from SCOTUS, the court (Pillard, joined by Katsas) upholds FERC’s certification of Broadview’s solar facility, which contains 50MW of battery storage, as a “small power production facility” under PURPA. media.cadc.uscourts.gov/opinions/doc...

Went with our youngest (finishing up his phd in bioengineering at Duke) to see the Illinois (where I went undergrad)-Duke football game. In a key moment, Duke had a then -game changing penalty because they had two players on the field with the same number. I had never seen that before.

Here are links to the cert petition and motion to expedite: Petition: www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25... Motion: www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...

I was actually expecting this type of request for expedited resolution by the Supreme Court after the lower court ruled on the tariff power issue. And I'm pretty sure that, had a similar request been made then, it would have been granted.

Pour one out for Judge Sparkle Sooknanan’s clerks this Labor Day weekend

Another major loss for the @washingtonpost.com, but very happy to see the great @sallyjenx.bsky.social joining @theatlantic.com

“So uhh, you’ve looked somewhere between pained and annoyed for like 4 hours.” Correct, correct. This is the art of writing.

As I’ve always said, I’m delighted to have coffee with law students and aspiring appellate lawyers. The one request I always turn down, which I sometimes get, is “shadowing.” This would consist of sitting in my office staring at me rub my head at the screen.

I'm trying hard to imagine the dynamic in the Bluebook board meetings--the marshaling of rationales pro and con; the heated arguments; longstanding friendships dashed--that preceded the decision to change the abbreviation of September from "Sept." to "Sep." in the 22d edition.

An interesting article from @qjurecic.bsky.social: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Not exactly the militarized hellscape we’ve been hearing about.

I was at the PA appellate court this week, waiting for my case to be called. In one of the prior cases, the judge questioned a pro se advocate about a case he cited, saying she could find it & doubted whether it existed. The advocate then nonchalantly admitted to using ChatGPT for his research.

An interesting statistical analysis by Adam Feldman of which firms appellate practices are actually trusted by Fortune 500 companies to handle their important cases. @adamfeldman.net open.substack.com/pub/legalyti...

Love being able to read the great @qjurecic.bsky.social and @petridishes.bsky.social in the @theatlantic.com on a regular basis. Here are gift links to their latest articles. www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/... www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv... www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Ryan lives on in my memories and on my baseball mitt.

There was so much sadness in Cooperstown this weekend as his fellow Hall of Famers braced for this news. Ryno was so beloved. His smile, his warmth, his kindness were ever present. He was always there for anyone who needed help. RIP to one of my favorite people in baseball

A nice win upholding due process in the Second Circuit today (in a case argued by then Orrick appellate associate Don Goodson (who is now the Executive Director of the NYU Institute for Policy Integrity)). ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/is...

Which states have AI laws in effect today? Check out the Orrick AI law Tracker: ai-law-center.orrick.com/us-ai-law-tr...

And the grand jury testimony won’t include all the names of “clients.” It will simply be enough testimony for DOJ to obtain an indictment - PC on each element of the offense. No names are necessary to get an indictment. The transcripts are not the exhibits that the GJ may have reviewed.

Philly

The Boyle and Slaughter cases present the SCOTUS with a bit of a pickle. Is the majority going to admonish district courts to "read our shadow docket tea leaves!" and say "When we don't want you to follow our shadow docket rulings, we don't offer any explanation for them"? @stevevladeck.bsky.social