Judicial Notice (09.22.24): Bad Boys

The federal criminal case against Sean Combs, the killing of a Kentucky judge, a stinging benchslap in a high-profile case, and Cahill’s comeback.

Sean Combs aka ‘Puff Daddy’ (photo by Shareif Ziyadat via Getty Images).

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Apologies if I owe you a call, text, email, or direct message on a social-media platform. To be honest, I’ve been in a bit of a funk over the past few weeks, seriously lacking in motivation. Sometimes I read messages, compose responses in my head, but can’t summon up the will to type up and send them. Sorry about that.

On the bright side, I think I’m turning the corner. I had a wonderful time speaking and attending panels at LITFINCON Los Angeles last week. Nerding out over litigation finance is my version of a Taylor Swift concert, the weather could not have been better, and The Maybourne Beverly Hills is a fabulous hotel. And while I adore my two boys—because they are, in fact, adorable—I also appreciate three nights of solid sleep on 600-thread-count sheets.

September is a splendid time to visit southern California—and it’s also a popular time for law clerks to transition into and out of chambers. So this week’s testimonial, fittingly enough, comes from a clerk who’s concluding a federal appellate clerkship: “I love Original Jurisdiction. It’s a great source for everything from caselaw developments to dealmaking to legal industry news.”

I pride myself on the diverse offerings of Original Jurisdiction, which include news, analysis, opinion, and career advice. Alas, I receive more requests for counsel than I can address in Asked and Answered. So if you have a question you’d like to pose, or if you just want to meet me and your fellow readers, grab a sandwich or salad and join OJ’s first “virtual lunch,” this Wednesday, September 25, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. (ET). Here’s the Zoom link (passcode “348334”) and the Google calendar entry.

Programming note: the next few weekends are insane for me. Between now and December, I have two weddings to attend, three conferences to speak at, and Harlan’s seventh birthday party to oversee—all falling on the weekends. Apologies in advance if any of this interferes with the normal schedule of Judicial Notice, which normally goes out on Sunday.

Now, on to the news.

Lawyer of the Week: Kannon Shanmugam.

Last Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrest of Panos Anastasiou for allegedly threatening to torture and assassinate six U.S. Supreme Court justices and their relatives. Last month, Judge Peter Messitte (D. Md.) set a June 2025 trial date for Nicholas Roske, accused of attempting to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

While I don’t want to draw any direct links (lest I get sued by Sarah Palin), I think it’s fair to wonder whether some of the angry rhetoric surrounding SCOTUS, as well as the federal and state judiciaries more generally, is contributing to an overall climate in which judges and their families are harassed, threatened, or worse. And I’m not alone in entertaining these thoughts.

Kannon Shanmugam of Paul Weiss, a prominent Supreme Court and appellate advocate, raised this possibility in a speech he recently delivered to the Duke Federalist Society, “The Legitimacy of the Supreme Court.” And he identified a second, perhaps more important concern: how attacks on the Court’s legitimacy “are undermining public confidence in the Court and imperiling the rule of law.”

There are definitely real cases of judicial misconduct—including workplace harassment, as discussed in this MSNBC piece by Representative Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Aliza Shatzman of the Legal Accountability Project. But Shanmugam argued that some criticisms of the Court’s legitimacy, including the alleged ethics “scandals,” are either misplaced or exaggerated. (See also James Burnham’s piece for City Journal, which refutes the ethical attacks in more pointed fashion.)

Shanmugam’s speech garnered coverage in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Law, and Law360. It also received some criticism, for his supposed attempt to curry favor with the justices he argues before in his day job.