War on Universities, Lawyers & Expertise

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superrific said:
Anyone find a link to Harvard's complaint against Trump filed today?

And yes, there's something at least a little bit wrong with me that I'm following the lawsuits like people follow recruiting.
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Looks like they filed in Boston, haven’t found the complaint yet.
 
Interesting that Ropes & Gray lawyers signed the complaint — they are a one of the Big Law firms
previously targeted for an EEOC investigation by Trump. Don’t think they’ve done a capitulation agreement yet but could have missed it …
 
nycfan said:
Got it:

www.documentcloud.org

Harvard-Funding-Freeze-Order-Complaint

www.documentcloud.org www.documentcloud.org
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Thank you. It's hard to read through the complaint and come away thinking there is actually any reasonable dispute.

I like the part about how Trump's sanctions are speaker-, content- and viewpoint-based. I mean, that's an impressive trifecta. It's also a bill of attainder, so the constitutional infirmity is really off the charts.
 
nycfan said:
Interesting that Ropes & Gray lawyers signed the complaint — they are a one of the Big Law firms
previously targeted for an EEOC investigation by Trump. Don’t think they’ve done a capitulation agreement yet but could have missed it …
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I thought it was Robert Hur for Harvard. I suspect that's why Hur was chosen. He's got good credentials on that side.
 
superrific said:
Thank you. It's hard to read through the complaint and come away thinking there is actually any reasonable dispute.

I like the part about how Trump's sanctions are speaker-, content- and viewpoint-based. I mean, that's an impressive trifecta. It's also a bill of attainder, so the constitutional infirmity is really off the charts.
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Yeah, it is a thorough and kind of devastating complaint. Basically the Trump Administration violated all our First Amendment rights, whatever angle you choose.
 
lawtig02 said:
Good God that’s some legal firepower.
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They won’t have to tax the Harvard endowment, they’re probably paying about a thousand bucks a word in that complaint, lol.

(Or they would be if paying the stated rates - my guess is most of those folks are working for free or substantially reduced rates.)
 
mpaer said:
But do any of them stack up to the genius that is Pam Bondi
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Yeah really. Seriously, though, I'm not sure most people realize how much legal talent concentrates in boutiques like Lehotsky Keller. I've worked with some of the people there in the past and they're brilliant. Of the people in that signature block, Lehotsky is a Scalia/D. Ginsburg clerk, Keller is a Kennedy/Kozinski clerk, Cohn is a former Deputy Assistant AG, Miller is an Alito/Richman/Leon clerk, Denmark is a Kavanaugh/Wilkinson clerk, and Yarger is a Thomas/Gorsuch clerk. Most of them went to Harvard Law. And that's in addition to the Quinn, K&S and Ropes people who have more high profile reputations.
 
lawtig02 said:
Yeah really. Seriously, though, I'm not sure most people realize how much legal talent concentrates in boutiques like Lehotsky Keller. I've worked with some of the people there in the past and they're brilliant. Of the people in that signature block, Lehotsky is a Scalia/D. Ginsburg clerk, Keller is a Kennedy/Kozinski clerk, Cohn is a former Deputy Assistant AG, Miller is an Alito/Richman/Leon clerk, Denmark is a Kavanaugh/Wilkinson clerk, and Yarger is a Thomas/Gorsuch clerk. Most of them went to Harvard Law. And that's in addition to the Quinn, K&S and Ropes people who have more high profile reputations.
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I am counting on them I assumme that SCOTUS will kick the can for months-at least months
 
mpaer said:
I am counting on them I assumme that SCOTUS will kick the can for months-at least months
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I doubt this one even gets to the Supreme Court. The administration has been testing its power over major universities. It didn't help that a couple caved so quickly. But I will be very surprised if they really want to fight with Harvard. They'll reach some agreement that's basically meaningless and claim victory.
 
lawtig02 said:
Yeah really. Seriously, though, I'm not sure most people realize how much legal talent concentrates in boutiques like Lehotsky Keller. I've worked with some of the people there in the past and they're brilliant. Of the people in that signature block, Lehotsky is a Scalia/D. Ginsburg clerk, Keller is a Kennedy/Kozinski clerk, Cohn is a former Deputy Assistant AG, Miller is an Alito/Richman/Leon clerk, Denmark is a Kavanaugh/Wilkinson clerk, and Yarger is a Thomas/Gorsuch clerk. Most of them went to Harvard Law. And that's in addition to the Quinn, K&S and Ropes people who have more high profile reputations.
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I honestly wonder if Trump is going to end up splintering the conservative legal movement. The Federalist Society has been remarkably successful in its political project - the federal government and federal judiciary are staffed with a disproportionate number of far-right ideologues, a small minority of the legal community. But now there are a lot of FedSoc types - I don't know if all those folks you mentioned are members, but any former Scalia and Alito clerks are certainly going to have tendencies in that direction - who are in open conflict with the excesses of the Trump DOJ. It would be really funny for the FedSoc to essentially cement its influence over the American government and judiciary and then almost immediately lose it because they're letting the most extreme folks steer the bus.
 
mpaer said:
I am counting on them I assumme that SCOTUS will kick the can for months-at least months
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Well, the case has to work its way to the Supremes first. I haven't taken the time to read the complaint yet but I am assuming Harvard is seeking a fairly immediate injunction that prevents the Trump admin from pulling their federal funds (and requires the admin to turn the spigot back on) while the litigation is pending. That injunction should get ruled on fairly quickly, and that ruling will then be quickly appealed to the circuit court and then to the Supremes as whoever loses in the district court (likely the administration) seeks a stay of that ruling. And the Supremes have been ruling on those sorts of injunctions fairly expeditiously. So we could get at least an initial "shadow docket" ruling within a few weeks.
 
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