Afternoon Briefs: Ginsburg clerks line Supreme Court steps; cop indicted in Breonna Taylor case
Signs and flowers were placed at the U.S. Supreme Court building to mourn the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Photo by Jer123 / Shutterstock.com.
Ginsburg clerks serve as honorary pallbearers
A “small army” of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s former law clerks stood in rows on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to serve as her honorary pallbearers. In a private ceremony in the Great Hall of the building, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said Ginsburg did not become an opera star as she had hoped. “But she found her stage right behind me in our courtroom” and became a “star on the bench,” he said. “Her voice in court and in our conference room was soft, but when she spoke, people listened.” (The New York Times)
Ex-cop charged with endangering Breonna Taylor’s neighbors
A former Louisville, Kentucky, police officer has been charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for recklessly firing shots into the apartment of Breonna Taylor that endangered three people in an adjoining apartment. Officers conducting a raid killed Taylor when her boyfriend opened fire, thinking the officers were intruders. Bond was set at $15,000 for the former officer, Brett Hankison. Two others were not indicted. The city has agreed to pay $12 million and implement police reforms to settle a suit by Taylor’s family. (The Louisville Courier Journal, the New York Times)
2 more BigLaw firms will pay special bonuses
Simpson Thacher and Freshfields are joining the BigLaw firms that have decided to pay special bonuses to associates. Both are paying $7,500 to $40,000, the bonus scale set by Davis Polk & Wardwell. Both firms also expect to pay year-end bonuses; Simpson Thacher’s will be “at least consistent with last year’s amounts,” while Freshfields’ will be “competitive.” (Above the Law here and here)
Maine to use ranked-choice voting in presidential election
Voters in Maine will be able to rank their choices for president in the November election after a ruling by Maine’s top court on Tuesday. Under the system, voters rank candidates on the ballot. If no candidate wins a majority, votes for last place finishers are eliminated and redistributed to supporters’ second choices. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled that GOP opponents of the voting method hadn’t met requirements to get a referendum for its repeal on the ballot. This will be the first time ranked choice is used in a U.S. presidential election. (The Associated Press, the Bangor Daily News, the court decision)
