Todd Ruger

July 21, 2014 | Law.com

Judicial vacancies in the nation's federal district courts means litigation costs increase, judges spend less time on cases and civil disputes are harder to settle, a new report from The Brennan Center for Justice found.

By Todd Ruger

3 minute read

July 21, 2014 | National Law Journal

President Barack Obama's 11th nomination of an openly gay or lesbian lawyer to a federal district judgeship reflects both his declared mission to diversify the courts and the widespread cultural shift in acceptance of gays and lesbians in public life.

By Todd Ruger, John Council and John Pacenti

7 minute read

July 20, 2014 | Texas Lawyer

Robert Pitman's uncontroversial selection—Cornyn called Pitman's sexuality "irrelevant"—was Obama's 11th nomination of an openly gay or lesbian lawyer to a federal district judgeship.

By Todd Ruger, John Council and John Pacenti

7 minute read

July 20, 2014 | Daily Business Review

Naming openly gay judges to district courts has given the judiciary wider perspective and a foundation from which circuit ­judges—and possibly a U.S. Supreme Court justice—could emerge.

By Todd Ruger, John Council and John Pacenti

7 minute read

July 18, 2014 | Law.com

Clinton White House documents released on Friday predicted a "vicious attack" against the possible nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court.

By Marcia Coyle, Tony Mauro and Todd Ruger

8 minute read

July 15, 2014 | National Law Journal

A round up of news from ALM-affiliated publications and around the web: The U.S. Supreme Court has fun too, the White House calls marijuana a states' rights issue, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren bashes Wall Street.

By Todd Ruger

1 minute read

July 14, 2014 | National Law Journal

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday continued to squeeze the country's biggest banks for their roles in the financial crisis, securing a $7 billion global settlement with Citigroup over misrepresentations about residential mortgage-backed securities.

By Todd Ruger

3 minute read

July 14, 2014 | New York Law Journal

At a time when the nation's busiest immigration courts have been dealing with unprecedented backlogs that have delayed cases for years, the anticipated relief for those courts in the form of new judgeships is being shaped by the demands of the flood of over 57,000 unaccompanied children who have crossed the Southern border of the United States since October.

By Todd Ruger and Mark Hamblett

9 minute read

July 14, 2014 | Law.com

President Barack Obama wants to hire more immigration judges and lawyers to confront the growing humanitarian crisis on the Southwest border, but his plan would still fall short of meeting the need of the nation's overburdened immigration courts.

By Todd Ruger

5 minute read

July 11, 2014 | Law.com

The American Bar Association warned Congress that law firms and lawyers would face substantial hardship under the leading tax reform proposals on Capitol Hill—and could be forced to reduce their number of contingency and pro bono cases.

By Todd Ruger

3 minute read