Read the article.

“Amid investigations, litigation and public scrutiny over allegedly exorbitant executive compensation at the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Tiffany Carr, the woman at the center of the maelstrom, has remained almost silent,” reports The Gainesville Sun.

“But a lawyer who represents Carr, the former CEO of the nonprofit organization, provided a glimpse in a court filing into her defense against accusations that she misspent public funds meant for the state’s domestic-violence centers.”

“Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody and House and Senate leaders in recent weeks have vilified Carr for orchestrating $7.5 million in compensation over three years, which included more than $4 million in paid time off. Inquiries into the nonprofit’s finances have also targeted the coalition’s executive staff and board of directors, who each year signed off on her salary and benefits.”

Read the article.

“New court filings reveal that the Department of Defense wants to ‘reconsider certain aspects’ of its decision to award Microsoft with the coveted $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract,” reports Taylor Soper in GeekWire.

“The latest legal development is part of Amazon’s protest over the prestigious cloud computing deal, known as JEDI. Amazon Web Services sued the federal government after Microsoft emerged as the surprise winner of the JEDI contract last year.”

“In the new filing, a motion for voluntary remand, the DoD said that it ‘wishes to reconsider its award decision in response to the other technical challenges presented by AWS.’ The DoD is asking for 120 days to assess the matter. It wants to specifically examine one issue related to ‘online marketplace offerings.'”

Read the article.

“Disruptionware is defined by the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT) as a new and “emerging category of malware designed to suspend operations within a victim organization through the compromise of the availability, integrity and confidentiality of the systems, networks and data belonging to the target.” New forms of disruptionware can be a more crippling form of cyber-attack than other more “garden-variety” malware and ransomware attacks.” warns an article in JDSupra.

“Generalized forms of ransomware attacks – designed to block access to the victim’s computer systems until money is paid – are continuing to represent a more prevalent threat to government agencies, healthcare providers and educational institutions … another publication has noted the rise of ransomware attacks since the beginning of 2019 finding that there have been at least 621 reported successful ransomware attacks against U.S.-based corporations. Of these attacks, at least 491 were targeted against healthcare providers, while another 68 of the attacks were directed at county and municipal institutions, and 62 of the attacks were focused on school districts.”

“The FBI’s PSA serves as a warning to businesses that they should have a plan in place to respond efficiently and appropriately in the event of high impact ransomware and disruptionware attacks.”

Read the article.

“The opening debate of the Senate impeachment trial on Tuesday afternoon was supposed to be merely about the trial rules. But members of President Donald Trump’s legal team wasted no time telling a number of lies before things really got going.” reports Vox.

“Though getting facts wrong might be somewhat understandable in the context of extemporaneous statements, these falsehoods came in the context of prepared remarks read by White House counsel Pat Cipollone and personal Trump attorney Jay Sekulow.”

Read Vox‘s article.

Newsweek reports that the New York City Bar Association has asked congressional leaders to launch a formal inquiry into Attorney General William Barr’s conduct, claiming it threatened the public’s confidence in the “fair and impartial administration of justice.”

“Mr. Barr’s recent actions and statements position the Attorney General and, by extension, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) as political partisans willing to use the levers of government to empower certain groups over others,” the letter to the congressional leaders stated.

The letter to the leaders highlighted four public statements the AG made that the association found troubling.

Read the  Newsweek article.

Chief Justice John Roberts faces the challenge of trying to bring judicial independence — and a modicum of decorum — into the political maelstrom of a Senate impeachment trial, writes Greg Stohr for Bloomberg.

“Roberts, 64, will take up those duties as a singular figure in American public life,” Stohr explains. “Even as he has steered the court to the right over the past 15 years, the Republican-appointed Roberts has staunchly defended the judiciary’s independence and shown an occasional willingness to push back against Trump.”

The extent of Roberts’ role in the impeachment trial of President Trump may be limited, however. Roberts may not want to call a vote on every issue, and he could use some disputes as an opportunity to try to give the proceedings an aura of fairness.

Read the Bloomberg article.

Attorneys representing both sides of the aisle will present evidence, but no witnesses, when the House Judiciary Committee holds its next hearing in the impeachment inquiry Monday, reports Courthouse News Service.

Reporter Brandi Buchman explains the process that in the potential impeachment of President Trump:

“According to the rules authorizing the inquiry passed in October, attorneys for both the Democratic and Republican parties will have a chance during the 9 a.m. hearing Monday to give written statements explaining the scope of evidence they wish to put forward for articles, as well as a ‘detailed presentation’ of that evidence ‘other than the testimony of the witnesses.’”

Read the Courthouse News article.

Chief Justice John Roberts

CNN takes a look back at how Chief Justice William Rehnquist captured unprecedented attention as he presided over the Senate trial of a president, a role that would fall to Chief Justice John Roberts if the U.S. House were to impeach President Donald Trump and a Senate trial were launched.

“The magnitude of an impeachment trial for a US president — only two have been held in US history — is underscored by the Constitution’s specific mention that the chief justice presides,” writes CNN’s Joan Biskupic.

Read the CNN article.

The public impeachment inquiry hearings set to begin Wednesday will pit a Democratic attorney who built his reputation as a federal mob and securities fraud prosecutor against a GOP House Oversight investigator who helped steer some of the most notable probes of the Obama administration, the Associated Press reports.

For the Democrats, Daniel Goldman will lead the questioning of witnesses. The Washington Post reports that Goldman “made his bones as a prosecutor by sending mobsters, stock swindlers and a multimillion-dollar insider trader to prison, cases in which colleagues said he mixed brains and ‘swagger’ to win convictions.”

Steve Castor, House Intelligence Committee counsel for the minority, will ask questions on behalf of the GOP. “Castor was brought over from the House Oversight Committee by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who recently joined the Intelligence Committee,” reports Fox News.

Read the AP article.

If the U.S. House of Representatives impeaches President Trump, that would put John Roberts, a man known for his temperance and modest view of judicial power, in an uncomfortable place: at the direct center of a bitter political battle, reports Time magazine.

If the impeachment goes through the House, then the Senate will conduct the trial, with the chief justice of the United States overseeing the proceedings.

That eventuality, reports Time, “would force him to engage very publicly in helping determine the fate of the president who has called him an ‘absolute disaster.'”

The Washington Times reports that the prospect of Roberts presiding over the proceedings has caused rumblings in Washington that the chief justice should recuse himself.

Read the Time article.

Chief Justice John Roberts

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that — if President Trump is impeached — he wants the subsequent trial in the Senate to be handled briskly. But the presiding officer at an impeachment will be the chief justice of the United States, John Roberts.

In an essay at Slate, Yale law professor Bruce Ackerman writes: “Given his deep commitment to professionalism, John Roberts can be counted on to deflect any behind-the-scenes pressures for speed. These inclinations would be reinforced, moreover, by the recent controversy surrounding the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh. Everybody remembers McConnell ramming the nomination through without a full investigation of multiple allegations of misconduct; Roberts cannot allow the same hardball tactics to repeat themselves.”

And a handful of skeptical Republican senators may deny McConnell the majority support he would require to force through a revision of the rules that could marginalize the chief justice’s role, Ackerman explains.

Read the Slate article.

John Eisenberg, the attorney who is emerging as a central figure in the Ukraine scandal, is a quiet and unassuming presence in a White House dominated by more colorful personalities, according to a Politico report.

“He says little, frequently keeping his head down as he walks the halls of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building,” writes Politico’s Daniel Lippman. “He has few internal enemies. He’s not known to speak to reporters. He keeps such a low profile that, for a while, the president didn’t even know his name, repeatedly referring to him as ‘Mike.’”

One former colleague at the National Security Counsel called him “extremely paranoid,” while another said he never says anything when he can nod his approval and never puts anything in emails if he can say it to your face.

Read the Politico report.

Bloomberg Law reports that the Senate Judiciary Committee delayed action on a number of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees Oct. 17, including circuit court picks who faced pushback at their confirmation hearings.

“White House lawyer Steven Menashi and U.S. District Judge Halil Suleyman Ozerden likely will have to wait at least a week for the committee to again consider their nominations to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second and Fifth Circuits, respectively,” writes Bloomberg’s Madison Alder.

Two district court nominees, Justin Walker in Kentucky and Sarah Pitlyk in Missouri, have been rated not qualified by the American Bar Association. The panel approved Walker’s selection, but held over Pitlyk’s.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

In his 10 months in the administration, White House counsel Pat Cipollone seems to have earned the president’s trust in a way that few aides have done. He is both discreet, and more to the point, clear in his admiration for the president, according to a report in The Atlantic.

“Cipollone—aggressive, dedicated, and at times controlling, according to his colleagues—has helped to frustrate Democratic attempts at oversight, challenging subpoenas and crafting legal arguments to block aides’ testimony before Congress,” write Peter Nicholas and Elaina Plott.

Above the Law reports that last week Cipollone “wrote an eight-page letter to Congressional Democrats, where he openly mocked the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump, stating not only that the president could not ‘permit his administration to participate in this partisan inquiry under these circumstances,’ but that it ‘lack[ed] any legitimate constitutional foundation’ and violated ‘the Constitution, the rule of law, and every past precedent.’”

Read the Atlantic article.

A federal appeals court on Friday revived an ethics lawsuit against President Donald Trump that argues his business interests are conflicts of interest and violate the US Constitution, reports CNN.

Plaintiffs, including a hotel operator and a group of restaurants, claimed Trump’s “vast, complicated and secret” business arrangements violate a constitutional provision, the Emoluments Clause, which bars the president from accepting gifts from foreign governments without the permission of Congress, writes CNN’s Erica Orden.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found that a lower-court judge improperly threw out the lawsuit in December 2017. Now, plaintiffs are hoping this victory will allow them to seek detailed records on Trump’s transactions with foreign officials, according to a Washington Post report.

Read the CNN article.

Reuters reports that civil rights groups who successfully blocked the Trump administration from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. census are seeking sanctions against government officials, saying they brazenly hid the truth about the inquiry’s origins during trial.

The American Civil Liberties Union asked a New York court to grant new discovery into the alleged misconduct, as well as monetary sanctions for the government’s “concerted campaign of delay and obfuscation” during trial last November.

Reuters’ Nick Brown writes that the plaintiffs cited a list of “false or misleading” testimonies that amounted to “fraud on the court,” perpetrated by officers of the U.S. Department of Commerce, DOJ and Census Bureau.

Read the Reuters article.

For the first time in John Roberts’ 14 years as chief justice of the United States, he will likely be the deciding vote on several final, tense cases — a total of 24 over the next two weeks, according to CNN.

“Two of the most politically charged cases awaiting resolution, testing 2020 census questions and partisan gerrymanders, could lead to decisions favoring Republican Party interests and reinforce the partisan character of a court comprising five GOP appointees and four Democratic ones,” writes CNN’s Joan Biskupic.

Read the CNN article.

Two separate decisions in the United States Court of Federal Claims contain lessons that are generally helpful in all projects involving notice of contract changes, reports G. Scott Walters for Smith, Currie & Hancock.

“Prudent construction professionals, particularly those doing business with the government, should understand and comply with all notice provisions in their contract. Even if strict notice may not be required, it should be given early and often. Moreover, when notice is received, the prudent contractor must endeavor to understand what it means,” Walters writes.

“The court’s decisions on the notice issues may, at first, appear to contradict each other or to favor one party over the other,” he explains. “A closer look at these two decisions reveals that notice requirements, in the context of federal government construction contracts, can come in multiple forms and notice is not a ‘one size fits all’ proposition.”

Read the article.

Foley & Lardner LLP announced former U.S. Congressman Michael Capuano has joined the firm’s Government Solutions Practice as a public affairs director, splitting his time between the firm’s Boston and Washington D.C. offices.

He joins Foley’s team of former congressmen, which includes public affairs directors Dennis Cardoza and Scott Klug, both previously members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Capuano served as the U.S. Representative for Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District from 1999 to 2019. He was a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Financial Services Committee, and chair of the Special Task Force on Ethics Enforcement.

Prior to his congressional career, Capuano was the mayor of Somerville, MA from 1990 to 1999.