Judicial Notice (11.24.24): Follow The Leader
Trump’s new AG pick, Cravath’s year-end bonuses, partner defections from Weil, and a Senate deal on judges.
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The theme for last week in our family was health—a good thing given that we’re almost at Thanksgiving, a holiday synonymous with overeating. I’m happy to report that after six months, I’m at or close to my goal weight. I also took Harlan and Chase to the pediatrician for their check-ups—or in today’s parlance, “well visits”—and they’re both doing great (and as cute as ever). Zach and I feel very blessed.
We all got our Covid and flu shots—and the Covid shot hit me pretty hard, perhaps reflecting my history with the virus. But I urge you to get these vaccines—or at least discuss with your internist whether, given your circumstances, you should get them.
Speaking of Thanksgiving, I might take next weekend off from Judicial Notice, then make the following weekend a double edition. But it will depend on the news—to which we now turn.
Lawyer of the Week: Pam Bondi.
Amid heavy criticism of his nomination, former representative Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) withdrew from consideration as Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney general. Trump promptly nominated Pam Bondi, 59, to lead the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). (In case you’re wondering, it’s BON-dee, per her YouTube campaign video).
From 2011 to 2019, Bondi served as the 37th attorney general of Florida, the first woman to serve in the role. According to her bio on the website of Ballard Partners—the lobbying firm she joined after leaving government, where she chairs the Corporate Regulatory Compliance practice—she “was one of Florida’s most accomplished Attorneys General.” She “undertook dozens of major state and national initiatives,” addressing issues such as the opioid crisis and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In November 2014, she won reelection handily, with 55 percent of the vote.
Résumé snobs might not love Bondi. She graduated from the University of Florida and the Stetson University College of Law, currently #98 in the U.S. News rankings; she never completed a judicial clerkship; and although she has many years of service as a state prosecutor, she never served as a federal prosecutor.
But unlike Matt Gaetz, who practiced law for about two years, Pam Bondi is—at least on paper—qualified. She spent almost two decades as a prosecutor, followed by eight years of service as attorney general of the nation’s third most-populous state. As former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein told Bloomberg Law, Bondi “has legal and political expertise that will serve her well at the Department of Justice.”
Or consider what Jesse Panuccio—former acting associate attorney general in the first Trump administration, who served with Bondi in Florida state government—told me: “Pam Bondi served with distinction as attorney general of Florida for eight years. She was a law-and-order prosecutor who cracked down on pill mills, fought unconstitutional and illegal federal actions, and stood for the rule of law. Those experiences will serve her well in leading the U.S. Department of Justice.”
The fact that Bondi is qualified is important because, as noted by Professor Randy Barnett, “unlike Gaetz, quality lawyers will work for Pam Bondi.” Her selection sends a message to alumni of the first Trump administration who are considering DOJ service: it’s safe to go back in the water.
What’s the case against Bondi? She has no federal prosecutorial experience, which would be helpful in leading the DOJ. She might be too conservative for some: as Florida AG, she challenged the Affordable Care Act (which is when Randy Barnett got to know her), and she opposed marriage equality (but did support workplace protections for LGBTQ+ employees).
And yes, she’s a Trump loyalist, through and through. After stepping down as Florida AG, she served on his legal defense team during his first impeachment. And she supported his false claims of election fraud in 2020. But what’s a little election denialism among friends?
Seriously, though: is it realistic to expect someone who’s not a Trump loyalist to be picked for AG? And there’s an argument—made, for example, by Sarah Isgur of Advisory Opinions—that Trump is entitled to loyal Cabinet members.
One specific concern is that someone who’s too loyal to Trump will accede to the weaponization of the DOJ against his foes. And Bondi previously declared, after the fourth criminal case against Trump was announced, “The prosecutors will be prosecuted, the bad ones. The investigators will be investigated.”
Some lawyers who know Bondi through Florida circles told Law360 that even if she might be very conservative and very pro-Trump, they have confidence in her commitment to the rule of law. Is their confidence justified? Assuming Pam Bondi is confirmed—and I predict she will be, even if she might flub a few answers at her confirmation hearings—time will tell.
Other lawyers in the headlines:
In unsurprising news, various high-level Biden administration lawyers are or will be leaving government. They include Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), who will step down on January 20; Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (S.D.N.Y.), who will depart sometime before Inauguration Day; and Kathi Vidal, director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, who will leave office in December and rejoin her former firm, Winston & Strawn.
You can’t make this up (unless you’re ChatGPT): a Stanford professor who’s an expert in artificial intelligence (AI) and disinformation reportedly filed an expert report containing… fake citations hallucinated by AI (via Ted Frank, whose Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute is the plaintiff in the underlying lawsuit, a constitutional challenge to a Minnesota law that bans sharing AI-generated content intended to influence elections).
Talk about sibling rivalry: Peter Park has been displaced as the youngest person to ever pass the California bar exam—by his sister, Sophia Park. Per The New York Times (gift link), Sophia was three months younger than Peter at the time of her passage: 17 years and 8 months old, versus Peter’s 17 years and 11 months. After she turns 18 in March, she’ll join her brother as a prosecutor in Tulare County, California.
In memoriam:
Spencer Lawton Jr.—former district attorney for Savannah, Georgia, who implemented a number of reforms to his office but became (in)famous for his handling of the murder case featured in the bestselling Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil—passed away at 81.
Diane Coleman, a consumer-protection lawyer turned disability-rights advocate, passed away at 71.
Professor Walter Taggart—who taught federal courts, real estate, and bankruptcy at Villanova Law for 43 years—passed away at 81.
May they rest in peace.
Judge of the Week: Judge Embry Kidd.
Congratulations to Magistrate Judge Embry Kidd (M.D. Fla.). On Monday, he was confirmed, by a vote of 49-45, to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) described Kidd—a graduate of Yale Law School who clerked for the Fourth Circuit, worked at Williams & Connolly, and served as a federal prosecutor—as “exceptionally qualified.”
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