Tag: Amy Berman Jackson

Privilege is a bitch.

DOJ gonna DOJ.

You'd think a Twitter troll would understand how social media works.

And Donald Trump is here with the lighter fluid.

She has thoughts on why truth is essential.

* Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) of the House Intelligence Committee is none too pleased with the Justice Department at the moment. Apparently two unnamed senior officials said the DOJ might refuse to share special counsel Robert Mueller’s report with Congress, a claim Schiff called “absolutely insupportable.” [ABC News]

* Last week, Paul Manafort was sentenced to under four years in jail by Judge T.S. Ellis III (just a little less than the 19 to 24 years called for in the sentencing guidelines), and today, Judge Amy Berman Jackson could sentence him to up to 10 years behind bars. [The Hill]

* Michael Avenatti and Stormy Daniels have officially “broken up” (i.e., their attorney/client relationship has ended), and their announcement was obviously made on Twitter. Clark Brewster will now serve as her personal lawyer. [Daily Beast]

* In case you missed it, the federal judiciary announced a major change to how it will respond to allegations of sexual misconduct. Per Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the D.C. Circuit, it is now “misconduct not to report misconduct.” [Big Law Business]

* “[I]f this deal is not passed, then Brexit could be lost.” Unconvinced, British lawmakers have once again rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan to leave the European Union. Will this be the end of Brexit? [USA Today]

* Women lawyers continue to push for lactation rooms in courthouses across the country, and now, the ABA House of Delegates has passed a resolution to make sure all courts create proper facilities for mothers who need to pump or nurse. [Law.com]

* Elon Musk claims that the Securities and Exchange Commission is trying to unconstitutionally censor him and “trample on” his First Amendment rights. This is all over a tweet on Twitter, mind you. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]

* Paul Manafort got 4 years out of a possible 24. A lot of breathless ranting will come out of this but the reality is 4 years is a significant amount of time to be incarcerated and the guidelines are crazy. Don’t be mad that Manafort got too little, be mad that the system generally (and Judge Ellis in particular) unquestioningly applies the guidelines to give far too much to poor and minority defendants. [CNN]

* Frankly, the charges that should earn Manafort heavy jail time are the charges of lying to the Mueller probe because that’s where there’s a significant interest in setting punitive disincentives. And Judge Jackson may have a very different view on how “otherwise blameless” Manafort’s been. [Daily Beast]

* While we’re on these never-ending Trump orbit stories, Michael Cohen is suing Trump for legal fees since, he points out, all his problems stem from work he did in the official course of his duties. [New York Law Journal]

* Wearing a disguise to court is totally normal lawyer behavior. [New York Times]

* Orrick joins the $1B revenue club. [The Recorder]

* Remember the drunken airline rant lady? She’s facing jail time. [Legal Cheek]

* George Mason receives largest gift in school history, but it’ll never match the gift they gave prospective students the ATL community when they descriptively renamed their law school ASS Law. [Inside Higher Ed]

* Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta is in hot water for brokering the 2008 plea deal for Jeffrey Epstein. District Judge Kenneth Marra said the actions of then prosecutor Acosta violated federal law. [Slate]

* When saying you’re sorry just isn’t enough: Roger Stone gets slapped with a gag order by Judge Amy Berman Jackson after Instagram debacle. [Law.com]

* One of Michael Avenatti’s sources has been identified as IRS analyst John C. Fry… and he’s in trouble for disclosing Suspicious Activity Reports. [Law and Crime]

* Most Americans understanding separation of powers better than the president. [The Hill]

* If you’re going to discuss bribing officials, you probably shouldn’t do it over a video conference call — this is the exact reason seedy dive bars exist. [Corporate Counsel]

* The Jackson family is going after HBO over the documentary “Leaving Neverland,” seeking $100 million in damages. [Deadline]

There's one thread that ties these stories together and it's not pretty.

Judge gives Paul Manafort's lawyers until Thursday to save his bail agreement.

Campaign finance statutes? Ha! The D.C. Circuit blows off your pesky "plain English" as an illusion.