Elliott & Smith Law Firm

The ABA has not yet decided if it is okay for courthouses to have The Punisher skull flags displayed proudly during vigilante violence cases.

* Having it your way: Californian law aims to protect fast food workers. [The Reg Review]

* The future of what social media giants can do is unclear. Tech bros just want an answer at this point. [The Hill]

* Been itching to dean for a law school? If you aren’t opposed to living in Arkansas, you’re in luck. [AR Money And Politics]

* In memoriam: “Paper Chase” author John Jay Osborne Jr. recently passed away. Take a second to read this tribute. [Wa Po]

* Redditor asks if it’s okay to show up to their summer gig a different race than what they indicated on their application. Nobody really reads the fine print… right? [Reddit]

* Arkansas’s governor just signed off on one hell of a “welp, too bad” with this anti-abortion law. [The Guardian]

* A change to Tennessee’s school zone brings some hope to adults left behind. [Axios]

* Biglaw has been quite hush-hush about the Alito leak. No need to capitalize on current events with all these billables I guess. [Law.com]

* Totally not a coup supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene thinks the real racism is blaming white supremacy for mass shootings. [Huff Post]

* Musk thinks censorship shouldn’t go “beyond the law.” Big talk for a guy facing a securities fraud case. [The Hill]

* Just because: Man who passes bar after 20th attempt still can’t practice law in Massachusetts.  [ABA Journal]

* Adam and Eve, not Adam and Xe: Florida is like two steps away from legally mandating heterosexuality. [Tampa Bay Times]

* You are a boy, Damon! Oklahoma’s Gov. makes it illegal to put that your child is non-binary on their birth certificate. [CNN]

* Law students spent part of their 3L year protecting their clients civil rights! Power to them — I just played OSRS. [UARK]

He, um, threw his cane.

I sure hope a legal writing professor wasn't the one that made this hell of a draft mistake.

* Tesla’s Board allegedly failed to hire a lawyer to regulate Elon Musk’s tweets. Sounds like this could be a pretty fun job. [Business Insider]

* A new lawsuit alleges that Arkansas police detained and searched a black law student because of his skin color. [ABC News]

* A Pennsylvania prosecutor is in hot water after he reportedly worked for DoorDash during working hours. This might be more illustrative of the low pay of some prosecutors than anything else… [Fox News]

* College students are continuing to sue universities over charging high tuition fees during the pandemic. [CBS News]

* Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen claims he learned much about startup companies in prison. Could help him find a career after the law… [Market Watch]

* Three Indiana judges are in hot water after they partied until 3 a.m., headed to a strip club, and got shot at during a brawl outside of a White Castles. Apparently another judge who went inside the White Castle was unharmed and avoided discipline, which just shows you the power of the crave. [New York Times]

* The Florida Bar is seeking to suspend a Florida lawyer whose pants caught on fire during an arson trial. Maybe he was a “liar, liar”… [Miami Herald]

* A Manhattan judge ruled in favor of Marc Kasowitz’s client, but never disclosed that he received campaign donations from Kasowitz and an associate. [New York Daily News]

* A Texas lawyer has been accused of conspiring with a funeral home to illicitly solicit clients. I guess instead of being an “ambulance chaser” this attorney is accused of being a “hearse chaser.” [Texas Lawyer]

* Planned Parenthood has won a civil lawsuit against parties responsible for undercover videos of Planned Parenthood activities. [Independent]

* Two Arkansas chemistry professors have been charged with cooking meth. Hopefully, they did not use Breaking Bad as their inspiration. [Washington Post]

Arkansas snowflakes are getting their patties all in a bunch.

What do you call it when the law treats gay women worse than straight men, for no good reason? Unconstitutional.

How can anyone be killed without it being "cruel and unusual"?

* Neil Gorsuch’s death count is only likely to increase. [Huffington Post]

* Arkansas accepted a “donation” of potassium chloride that it’s using in lethal injections. [McClatchy]

* This lawyer’s comments are absolutely awful. [U.S. News]

* AG Jeff Sessions’s thoughts on Hawaii aren’t surprising, but they are still infuriating. [Slate]

* Is this the most conspiracy-theory-filled deposition ever? [Salon]

* Sally Yates has been invited to testify before the House Intelligence Committee. [Politico]

* Is the truth even relevant anymore? [Law and More]

* Settlements have been reached between Berkeley Law, the school’s former dean, and the dean’s former assistant. If you recall, then dean Sujit Chaudry was accused of sexually harassing his assistant, and as part of the settlement, he’ll have to pay $100K in fees and charitable donations, but will be considered to be on “sabbatical” until May 2018, keeping all of his benefits. Hmm, do we think this is fair? [Mercury News]

* “We have not livestreamed before, but that’s not to say that won’t happen in this case.” The Fourth Circuit is considering livestreaming oral arguments for travel ban 2.0, much like what the Ninth Circuit did with oral arguments for Trump’s first travel ban. Maybe you’ll be able to do some “professional development” billing… [National Law Journal]

* “Arkansas does not intend to torture plaintiffs to death.” Judge Kristine G. Baker (E.D. Ark.) has halted a whirlwind series of eight executions — the state’s first executions scheduled since 2005 — citing a “threat of irreparable harm” if the drug midazolam is used as part of the lethal injection drug protocol and somehow fails. [New York Times]

* More and more out-of-state Biglaw firms are flocking to Houston, Texas, to open their own offices, which has inspired many lawyers to leave their current firms for greener pastures — in terms of both money and opportunities. But is there enough legal work to go around with all of the new competition? Only time will tell. [Houston Chronicle]

* Ten Harvard Law student affinity groups are gunning for Professor David B. Wilkins to become the next dean of the school after Martha Minow steps down at the end of the year. They’ve written a letter to the university president, imploring him to take their advice and select their dean candidate for the position. Check it out. [Harvard Crimson]

* A judge has approved a $25 million settlement for claims surrounding Trump University. [NPR]

* If Neil Gorsuch becomes the next Supreme Court justice, is that proof bullying works? [Guile is Good]

* Tips for surviving work when you’re exhausted. [Corporette]

* A look at the charges against the pro-life activists who secretly recorded Planned Parenthood sessions. [Slate]

* Arkansas is racing to beat the clock… in order to execute people. [The Slot]

* You’re getting more of a TV show you probably don’t watch anyway. [Law and More]

* An appeals court ruled not to release Guantanamo Bay forced-feeding videos. [AP]

If you are LGBT and want kids, it’s time to call your local ART attorney, as well as your tax lawyer.

* What’s it like to be the “tweetingest judge in America”? Justice Don Willett of the Texas Supreme Court tells us what it’s like to live a week in his life in this endearing column. From letting us know where he spends much of his time (the local Chick-fil-A) to revealing the reason he Tweets so much (to get reelected) to describing his love for his children, Justice Willett is a true gem of the judiciary. [Wall Street Journal]

* Judge Timothy Parker of the Carroll County District Court in Arkansas has resigned from his post and agreed to never serve as a judge again to avoid being charged with ethical misconduct. Judge Parker was accused of arranging for defendants’ pretrial releases in exchange for sexual favors, but says he never contested the allegations on the record because he has kids and “[didn’t] want them exposed to that kind of crap.” [AP]

* The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund has threatened to file suit against the National Park Service for “stonewalling and refusing to release permits that are vitally needed by organizers in order to plan and execute peaceful, lawful free-speech activities” — that is, protests and rallies — of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration. Only three groups out of 26 have received permits, and the inauguration is in two weeks’ time. [Reuters]

* “While it is encouraging to see small gains in most areas this year, the incredibly slow pace of change continues to be discouraging.” The most recent National Association for Law Placement report has revealed that as usual, women and minorities are just barely making progress at the nation’s largest law firms when it comes to their representation as a whole and their presence in firm partnerships. [DealBook / New York Times]

* Per Altman Weil’s latest report on law firm mergers, there were six fewer mergers in 2016 than in 2015. Although just 85 deals were announced last year compared to 91 in 2015, they were “better” than those announced in years prior, and in fact, some of the biggest names in Biglaw agreed to combine, including the Eversheds and Sutherland Asbill merger and the Arnold & Porter and Kaye Scholer merger. [Big Law Business]

Same-sex couples must be treated the same under the law as heterosexual couples -- which Arkansas doesn't seem to get.

* President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of labor, fast-food executive Andrew Puzder, is a critic of the Obama Administration’s regulation in this area (and he’s a former litigator, interestingly enough). [Washington Post]

* Judge Bill Pryor (11th Cir.), a top SCOTUS contender in a Trump Administration, is beloved by conservatives — but confirming him could be a battle. [Bloomberg BNA via How Appealing]

* The Arkansas Supreme Court rules that married lesbian couples can’t put the names of both spouses on their children’s birth certificates. [WSJ Law Blog]

* SEC enforcement chief Andrew Ceresney will leave the agency by the end of this year; where might he wind up? [Law.com]

* Governor Andrew Cuomo met with the feds in connection with the corruption case brought against some of his former aides. [New York Times]

* Michael Jordan’s latest court victory — in an IP case in China. [Bloomberg]

* Alabama prisoner Ronald Smith is executed after the Supreme Court denies a stay, leaving SCOTUS review of the state’s unique “judicial override” system for another day. [New York Times via How Appealing]

It's time to briefly visit each marijuana ballot initiative, especially since legalization or medical marijuana reform in one state can greatly impact other marijuana-friendly states and even federal marijuana policy.

It's good to know someone in academia is willing to point out the obvious.