Democrats' New Year's resolution, Justice Roberts' annual report, Bahamas hires Rudnick for FTX case, and big firm litigators
Reuters Legal
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Senate Democrats plan to make confirming President Joe Biden's judicial nominees a top agenda item when they return from the holidays, after helping him put more judges on the bench than his predecessor Donald Trump did in his first two years in office.
Securing confirmations will be even easier over the next two years, after Raphael Warnock's reelection win in the Georgia runoff gave Democrats a clear majority in a chamber after two years of operating in a 50-50 Senate.
The exact contours of the Democrats' majority is in flux after Senator Kyrsten Sinema switched her party affiliation from Democrat to independent. But either she caucuses with Democrats and gives the party a 51-49 majority or she does not, leaving Democrats with a 50-49 edge.
Either way, Democrats will have a clear majority on the floor and in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which had been split evenly with Republicans, removing hurdles that have hindered Biden's ability to secure approval for many of the nominees whose advocacy of progressive causes prompted GOP opposition.
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Saturday focused a year-end report on the judiciary on the need for stepped up security for federal judges, amid a surge in threats and as the United States is embroiled in a bitter debate over abortion.
Roberts' nine-page annual report came just two weeks after the U.S. Congress approved legislation that aims to bolster security for Supreme Court justices and federal judges by allowing them to shield their personal information from being available online.
"The law requires every judge to swear an oath to perform his or her work without fear or favor, but we must support judges by ensuring their safety," Roberts wrote.
"A judicial system cannot and should not live in fear."
Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the majority opinion in this year's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case, later said the leak made conservative justices "targets for assassination."
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You know who is not at all worried about a recession in 2023?
Big firm litigators, that's who.
If there is a silver lining amid darkening economic clouds, it is shining on corporate litigators, who have all kinds of reasons to anticipate strong demand for their services next year. In a nutshell, said Sullivan & Cromwell co-chair Robert Giuffra said:
“Bad economic times are good for litigation.”
Litigators from both sides of the bar are anticipating that government enforcement actions will generate significant work in the next year. President Joe Biden’s agencies have had two years to install personnel and announce policies. As the administration heads into its third year, said corporate litigators from S&C, Davis Polk & Wardwell and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, we should expect a quicker pace of regulatory actions from agencies like the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as well as from the U.S. Justice Department.
The government of the Bahamas has hired U.S. law firm Brown Rudnick to handle legal work and engage with the U.S. government and media in connection with the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, according to a U.S Justice Department filing.
Boston-based Brown Rudnick is advising the Bahamian government on issues related to the FTX bankruptcy and U.S. regulatory and criminal investigations tied to the exchange, said William Baldiga, a bankruptcy partner at the firm and one of the lead lawyers handling the work.
Lawyers representing FTX in the exchange's U.S. bankruptcy have accused regulators in the Bahamas of working with founder Sam Bankman-Fried to undermine the bankruptcy case and withdraw assets to the detriment of some creditors.
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