Judge rules against courtroom prayer program
A federal judge in Texas has ruled against a Texas justice of the peace in a suit claiming that he violated the establishment clause by soliciting chaplains to deliver courtroom prayers at the opening of court proceedings. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt of the Southern District of Texas said the program instituted by Justice of the Peace Wayne Mack impermissibly coerced court attendees into participating, even though signs state that people can leave during the ceremony. (Courthouse News Service, Freedom From Religion Foundation press release, Hoyt’s May 20 opinion)
Public comment sought by DOE on student loans
Lawyer job openings increase 150%, report says
Lawyer job openings have increased by 150% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by legal market data provider Leopard Solutions. As of May 14, there were 8,268 open jobs for lawyers at more than a thousand global law firms tracked by the company. (Law360, Reuters, Leopard Solutions press release)
Judge resigns after he is accused making staff run his errands
Judge Martin Zilber of the 11th Judicial Circuit Court in Miami has resigned after he was accused of skipping work and asking his staff members to run his personal errands. Zilber resigned after the Florida Supreme Court rejected a recommended 60-day suspension and ordered a full hearing. He had contended that he was working remotely while away from work, and he asked but did not require his staff members to handle the personal tasks. (Law360, the Miami Herald, Law.com)
Lawyer for ‘QAnon shaman’ says rioters are ‘short-bus people’
Albert Watkins, the lawyer for the accused U.S. Capitol Hill rioter known as the “QAnon Shaman,” told Talking Points Memo that a lot of the rioting defendants are “short-bus people.” Watkins said the defendants are people with “brain damage, they’re f- - -ing retarded, they’re on the goddamn spectrum,” he said. But he added that the defendants are “our brothers, our sisters, our neighbors, our co-workers,” and they were “subjected to four-plus years of goddamn propaganda the likes of which the world has not seen since f- - -ing Hitler.” Watkins later acknowledged that his comments were vulgar and inappropriate but said they were calculated to draw attention to the mental health and disabilities of those accused in the attacks. Watkins said his client, Jacob Chansley, is on the autism spectrum. (Talking Points Memo, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Hill)
Future civil rights lawyers receive scholarships
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund has named the first 10 “Marshall-Motley Scholars,” who will receive law school scholarships in exchange for a commitment to serve as civil rights lawyers based in the South for eight years. The scholars include former interns in the White House, the Congressional Black Caucus, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Equal Justice Initiative. Hundreds of people applied for the scholarships. (NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund press release, Law.com, NPR)
Pipeline program funded by LSAC seeking law school requests for proposals
The Law School Admission Council is seeking requests for proposals from law schools for its PreLaw Undergraduate Scholars Programs. Known as the PLUS Program, it funds law school offerings focused on helping people interested in becoming lawyers. It’s targeted at rising undergraduate sophomores and juniors from groups that are underrepresented in the l
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