Dear listeners,
This week, Ken and I have a look at the ongoing defamation trial of Mike Lindell, who accused Dominion Voting Systems employee Eric Coomer of personally conspiring to steal the 2020 election from Donald Trump. And Lindell isn't bothering to argue that his claims were true — just that he believed them at the time he said them. One problem with the "I'm just a negligent kind of guy" defense is that Coomer may not be a public figure for defamation purposes, meaning it could be enough to show that Lindell's false statements were negligent.
We also look at a federal appellate decision upholding an injunction against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's efforts to harass the pressure group Media Matters for America over its campaign against Elon Musk. We talk about an unsuccessful lawsuit against the University of Pennsylvania claiming the school fostered an anti-semitic environment — and how one of the problems for the plaintiffs is that Title VI protections about the prevailing environment at a college are narrower than analogous Title VII protections against sexually hostile work environments.
We also have an update on the Trump administration's odd dealings with the Harvard Law Review, and a look at a couple of articles about the ongoing fallout from the decisions by major law firms to settle with the Trump administration over its transparently illegal executive orders against them. The Wall Street Journal reports that general counsels at some major companies are upset with the firms that settled, but it doesn't quite show that the firms are actually losing any business because of this. Meanwhile, five litigation partners have left Paul Weiss to form their own boutique firm — apparently a reaction to the settlement, but also part of an ongoing cycle in which prominent lawyers move in and out of the big firm model.
Plus, we have an update on the ongoing litigation over Trump's tariffs. The decisions striking them down are under administrative stay, but you can expect more action by the end of the month. Finally, a look at the seven-year sentence for 87-year-old disgraced lawyer Tom Girardi.
We hope you enjoy the episode,
Josh
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