Good morning. A law professor looked at federal judges taking senior status and found that more of them are timing their semi-retirement based on political strategy. Plus, 15 potential new judges are moving to the full U.S. Senate for consideration, and Sam Bankman-Fried is negotiating with prosecutors over his bail conditions. It’s Friday – we made it. Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe here. |
Federal judges are taking senior status — a semi-retirement position that creates a vacancy on a court — in a politically strategic manner now more than ever before, according to a new law review article that our colleague Nate Raymond dug into.
Judges are increasingly making active-duty retirement decisions based on which political party controls the White House instead of nonpartisan or financial considerations that for many years were leading factors, according to the study by Xiao Wang, a clinical assistant professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. Wang’s article was published in the Minnesota Law Review.
Under both Republican President George H.W. Bush and Democratic President Bill Clinton, a majority of judges taking senior status were appointed by presidents of the opposite party. Under President George W. Bush, 72% of federal judges seeking senior status over his eight years in office had been appointed by a Republican president, Wang reported. More than 57% of the 303 judges who went senior under Democratic President Barack Obama were Democratic appointees. During President Donald Trump's four years, 110 of the 135 judges taking senior status were appointed by fellow Republicans, according to Wang.
|
|
|
Sponsored by Practical Law |
|
|
Practical Law The Journal: February Issue Out Now!
|
Get expert guidance on integrating ESG objectives into business operations, the impact of NFTs on intellectual property rights, inspecting evidence in product liability cases, and much more in the latest issue of Practical Law The Journal. |
|
|
When a U.S. appeals court ruled on Monday that Johnson & Johnson can’t use the bankruptcy system to offload vast litigation exposure from product liability claims, investors reacted quickly, sending J&J shares into a nearly 4% decline. But they weren’t the only ones, writes Alison Frankel. Frankel’s latest column highlights the quick response by appellate lawyers working on briefs to the 7th Circuit in a 3M appeal that raises issues similar to those discussed in the 3rd Circuit’s J&J ruling. Facing a fast-approaching deadline, they revised filings to reflect the new precedent — a response, Frankel writes, that shows the deep significance of these cases for both plaintiffs and corporate defendants ensnared in mass tort litigation.
|
"This struggle does nothing to advance the public interest of the people of the United States or any other nation." |
—U.S. District Judge William Young, who ordered General Electric to double its patent royalty payments to Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy A/S for wind turbines it uses in a renewable energy project off the New Jersey coast. He also criticized the companies' "global struggle for dominance" in the wind-turbine industry and their refusal to cross-license their technologies and "forge ahead with production in the global public interest." Young said in his order the legal fight “inhibits efforts to combat climate change worldwide."
|
Animal advocates are suing Bureau of Land Management over its controversial handling of wild horses out West. The bureau says climate change is forcing its hand. |
Closing arguments are expected today and the jury could begin deliberating in San Francisco federal court in the shareholder trial over Elon Musk’s 2018 tweet about having “funding secured” to take his electric vehicle company Tesla private. The company’s stock soared, then fell, following the tweet. Shareholders sued Musk, accusing him of making false and misleading statements to artificially inflate the stock price. The plaintiffs have claimed losing billions of dollars. In his testimony, Musk acknowledged he did not have binding agreements with investors, leaving it to the jury to decide if he misled shareholders.
In D.C. federal court, Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell will sentence a former IT specialist for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Prosecutors are seeking a 21-day prison term and three years of probation for Iraj Javid, who pleaded guilty to unlawfully entering the building. A lawyer for Javid asked the court not to impose incarceration on “an extraordinarily good man who made an extremely poor decision at a time when the President of the United States was using incendiary, provocative language encouraging his followers to fight for him.”
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
|
What to catch up on this weekend |
Lawyers for Google at Freshfields and Wilson Sonsini teed up a clash over venue in the U.S. Justice Department’s blockbuster ad tech antitrust case that was filed last week in Virginia federal court. Google cited “judicial efficiency” in detailing its plan to seek a transfer to Manhattan federal court, where related multidistrict litigation is underway. (Reuters)
Sam Bankman-Fried is in talks with U.S. prosecutors to resolve a dispute over the FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder's bail conditions, his lawyer said. The judge overseeing Bankman-Fried's criminal fraud case temporarily barred the former billionaire from contacting employees of FTX or his Alameda Research hedge fund, after prosecutors raised concerns he might tamper with witnesses. (Reuters)
The government inappropriately ignored the dangers of hazardous air pollutants when issuing permits to drill oil and gas wells in northwestern New Mexico, a 10th Circuit panel said, in what environmental groups called a "new precedent" that will help protect community health. The court found the U.S. Interior Department violated the National Environmental Policy Act by limiting its environmental reviews. (Reuters)
|
Etsy said Colin Stretch, former general counsel to Facebook, will join the online marketplace company as its top lawyer effective this month. Stretch last year became of counsel at Latham. (Reuters)
Hogan Lovells added three partners to its global international arbitration practice from King & Spalding: Emerson Holmes, who is based in London, and Patrick McPherson and Randall Walker, who join the firm’s Dubai office. (Reuters)
White & Case hired tax partner Jessica Kemp in the firm’s London from Travers Smith. (Reuters)
Seyfarth added three partners to the firm’s San Francisco office: commercial litigators Jesse Miller and Jennifer Fearnow arrived from Reed Smith; and Marc Fosse joined from Trucker Huss. Fosse will co-chair Seyfarth’s executive and equity compensation practice.
Debora Hoehne joined Goodwin, where she’ll be a partner in the firm’s financial restructuring group in New York. She was previously with Weil Gotshal. (Goodwin)
Davis Polk brought on New York-based mergers and acquisitions partner James Dougherty from Jones Day. (Davis Polk)
BakerHostetler added Jenny Givens as a partner in its Dallas office. Givens, who was previously at Gray Reed & McGraw, will be part of the firm’s business group and healthcare industry team. (BakerHostetler)
King & Spalding picked up partner Gibbs Fryer for its corporate, finance and investments practice group. Fryer was previously a principal for Evergreen Medical Properties, a real estate operating company in the healthcare space. (King & Spalding)
Art law partner Paul Cossu rejoined Pryor Cashman from Olsoff Cahill Cossu. (Pryor Cashman)
Kimberly Tague is now a member in Eckert Seamans’ real estate practice group. Tague joins from Strassburger, McKenna, Gutnick & Gefsky. (Eckert)
Armstrong Teasdale added partner Julie O’Dell to the firm’s litigation practice group. She was previously at Lewis Brisbois. (Armstrong Teasdale)
|
|
|
Sponsors are not involved in the creation of this newsletter or any other Reuters news content. Get Reuters News App Want to stop receiving this newsletter? Unsubscribe here.
To manage which newsletters you're subscribed to, click here.
|
|
|
|