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Last week took me to opposite ends of the Acela corridor. On Tuesday, I headed down to D.C. to moderate what was—as I predicted—a lively, even spicy panel discussion, “A More Perfect Union: Free Speech, DEI, and America at 250.” Then on Friday, I trekked up to Cambridge for my 30th college reunion at Harvard. Both events were a ton of fun, although I’m a bit exhausted right now—partly from all the travel, and partly from poor sleep the past two nights. (This was my first time staying in the dorms for one of my reunions, and it will definitely be the last.)

Here at Original Jurisdiction, and especially in Judicial Notice, I’m all about “news you can use.” So here’s a tip: look yourself up in the unclaimed-property database for your current state or any state where you previously resided. I did this for New York and New Jersey, found unclaimed funds for me and to Zach, and received checks totaling $200 in a matter of days. I also found money for my mother and for Zach’s dad. (You’re welcome! And if you’re a free subscriber to OJ and this reminder generates some cash for you, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription.)

Now, on to the news.

Lawyer of the Week: John Bolton.

Former national security adviser John Bolton is a lawyer by training, a Yale Law alumnus who worked at Covington & Burling and Kirkland & Ellis. But he’ll soon plead guilty to violating the law: as first reported by CNN, the Trump appointee turned adversary has reached a tentative plea agreement with federal prosecutors.

Under the deal, Bolton will avoid going to trial on an 18-count indictment—and the theoretical possibility of decades in prison if convicted at trial. Instead, he’ll plead guilty to a single count of illegal retention of classified information—specifically, materials he gathered to write his bestselling White House memoir, The Room Where It Happened—and pay a fine of $2.25 million, according to Reuters.

After Bolton left the first Trump administration, following his ill-fated tenure as national security adviser, he became an outspoken critic of his ex-boss. So when Donald Trump returned to the presidency and started prosecuting his enemies, he unsurprisingly targeted Bolton—just as he went after James Comey and Letitia James.

But unlike the prosecutions of Jim Comey and Tish James, “Bolton’s case has maintained the support of career prosecutors and investigators,” per CNN. Why? As noted by Sarah Isgur and David French of Advisory Opinions, the case against Bolton appears to have at least some basis in law and fact (for reasons explained by Andrew McCarthy of National Review). In light of this, Bolton and his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, presumably weighed the odds and concluded that cutting a deal was the wisest course of action. (I also wonder if they’re counting on Bolton’s age—he’s 77—as a factor favoring leniency at sentencing.)

Other lawyers in the news:

• Unlike Bolton, former Supreme Court advocate Tom Goldstein declined a deal—which, according to Goldstein, called for a prison sentence of roughly five years. Will he regret that choice? It could depend on what happens at sentencing, currently scheduled before Judge Lydia Griggsby (D. Md.) on June 16. In dueling sentencing submissions, the government advocated for 97 months in prison, while the defense argued for no prison time.

• In a follow-up on last week’s featured lawyers, the 35 ex-judges who filed a brief attacking Trump’s Anti-Weaponization Fund, Adam Liptak laid out the arguments for and against such filings by former judges in his newsletter, The Docket. See also Elie Honig’s New York Magazine column—in which OJ gets a shout-out.

• Speaking of the Fund, it’s not happening—as Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified to Congress, and the Department of Justice subsequently confirmed in a pair of court filings (via The Washington Post (gift link)).

• Maybe the Fund would have died anyway, given how politically unpopular it was. But legal challenges might have hastened its demise; Donald Trump complained to conservative podcaster Miranda Devine that although he still supported the Fund, “a court ruled against it.”

• If past editions of JN are any guide, readers love clicking on articles about George T. Conway, the Wachtell Lipton partner turned Trump archenemy turned Democratic congressional candidate. So here’s another—a profile of GTC by Emma Goldberg of The New York Times (gift link).

• Speaking of The Times, it published detailed pieces on judges benchslapping Trump administration lawyers and the not-unrelated development of lawyers leaving the administration—in large numbers.

• You know who’s not leaving the Trump Justice Department? Acting AG Todd Blanche—whom Trump said he plans to nominate to serve as the Senate-confirmed AG, as reported in numerous news articles (collected by Howard Bashman at How Appealing).

• If you spent even five minutes on LinkedIn last week, you’re aware that the Chambers USA 2026 guide is out. So congratulations to all the lawyers and law firms recognized in the latest Chambers rankings, upon which I place great weight (e.g., when deciding whether a partner move is worth mentioning in JN).

• And kudos to the 200 attorneys featured on Forbes’s list of America’s Top Women Lawyers—especially the 10 who have appeared as guests on my podcast.

• Speaking of high-powered women attorneys, Kathryn “Kathy” Ruemmler is supposed to step down as the top lawyer at Goldman Sachs at the end of this month, in the wake of controversy over her ties to Jeffrey Epstein. But at the request of CEO David Solomon, it appears she’ll remain involved in the bank’s legal affairs in an advisory role.

Judge of the Week: Judge Ryan Nelson.

One of my most notorious posts at my very first blog, Underneath Their Robes, was titled State Court Judges Are Icky. After reviewing a slew of stories about state judges embroiled in scandals, I argued that compared to their federal counterparts, state judges “seem to have a knack for getting themselves into hot water.”

Alas, based on 2026 to date, federal judges seem pretty icky too. Underneath Their Robes could be resurrected—not as a blog, but as a bad reality TV show.

In April, Judge Thomas Ludington (E.D. Mich.) pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge—and has been ordered back to court tomorrow, for a possible probation violation (an alleged failure to submit to drug testing). In May, the world learned about the misadventures of Judge Eleanor Ross (N.D. Ga.), who engaged in an extramarital affair with a high-ranking law enforcement officer—and had noisy sex with him in chambers, within hearing distance of her staff.

This brings us to today—and Judge Ryan Nelson, who has served on the Ninth Circuit since his 2018 appointment by Donald Trump. On Friday, the Idaho State Journal reported that Judge Nelson has been charged with battery and malicious injury to property. The charges, both misdemeanors, arise out of an alleged incident that took place in an Idaho Falls parking lot on April 2 (and was captured on video).

According to the Journal (via Bloomberg Law), Nelson got into an argument with another Idaho Falls resident, after the man made a disparaging remark about the judge’s parking job. The verbal dispute escalated into a physical altercation—during which Nelson allegedly swiped sunglasses from the man’s face (alleged battery), then tossed them across the parking lot and stomped on them (alleged injury to property).

This isn’t Judge Nelson’s first vehicular-related brush with the law. Back in 2018, shortly after his confirmation, The Wall Street Journal (gift link) reported on the new judge’s 28 traffic citations over the past two decades, including around a dozen speeding tickets. He was found or pleaded guilty in about two-thirds of the cases, while successfully challenging others. (The WSJ did add that “[o]utwardly, Mr. Nelson shows no signs of being either a speedster or a scofflaw,” pointing out that he’s a triathlete, a volunteer with the Boy Scouts, and an Eagle Scout himself.)

I reached out to Judge Nelson for comment on this unfortunate occurrence. His counsel, Curtis Smith, sent me the following statement: “Mr. Nelson is embarrassed by this incident. It is out of character and does not represent how he behaves. Immediately afterwards, Mr. Nelson reached out and offered an apology and full compensation for the sunglasses. He intends to work through the proper process.”

I actually met Judge Nelson years ago, at a conference. We sat together at lunch, he was delightful company, and I emerged from our time together with a positive impression (and my eyeglasses intact). Based on this brief but pleasant interaction, as well as positive things I’ve heard about him from mutual friends, I was surprised by both the charges and the video (which is—not gonna lie—not great).

And folks who know Judge Nelson well have come to his defense (a contrast to the relative silence regarding Judges Ludington and Ross). For example, over at the Volokh Conspiracy, Professor Josh Blackman wrote, “All of my interactions with [Nelson] over the years have been very cordial. The person I saw in that video was not the person I have come to know and like.”

I also heard from two former clerks to Judge Nelson, readers of Original Jurisdiction who reached out to me (expecting—correctly—that I’d be covering this). I was glad to hear from them because one of the first things I wondered, based on the angry man I saw in the video, was whether he flies off the handle in chambers. From the first clerk:

• “He was a terrific judge to clerk for—kind and helpful, and a great mentor. The video does not reflect the judge that I know.”

• “The sharpest criticism I ever received from him was when he got on my case after I was too harsh on a co-clerk. He always stressed the importance of a professional and collegial environment in chambers.”

• “I love him to death. He’s a good man—and I’m heartbroken for him that this one incident will now show up prominently whenever people Google him.”

And from the second clerk:

• “He was incredibly kind to me during my clerkship. He cares very deeply about the people who work with him. And he’s not an angry person—so I was shocked when I saw the video.”

• “What I saw was incredibly out of character for the man I know and have come to admire and respect. The only thing I can chalk it up to is a bad day.”

On the subject of a bad day, the first clerk shared with me that Judge Nelson has been going through a difficult time personally right now: “His father recently had a heart attack (which he thankfully survived), and other family members have been dealing with cancer. I haven’t spoken to him about the incident, so I don’t know if any of this played into it, but I can certainly imagine it.”

Josh Blackman did some sleuthing, and based on the surveillance footage and Google Maps, he concluded that the parking lot where the incident transpired belongs to a Home and Hospice Center. So it certainly seems at least possible that Judge Nelson wasn’t in a good state of mind when he had the parking argument.

Regardless of what caused Judge Nelson to behave in this way, this is definitely not the kind of conduct we want to see from judges (or, for that matter, anyone else). But as someone who sucks at parking, made a trip to traffic court last year, and doesn’t always have the greatest temper, I’m not in the best position to judge Judge Nelson. So I’ll close by quoting Blackman: “As a general rule, we should not be judged at our worst moment—though in life and law, sometimes we are.”

[UPDATE (6/8/2026, 6:50 p.m.): Since the publication of this post:

• On Monday, June 8, Chief Judge Mary Murguia issued an order announcing that an inquiry into Judge Nelson has been opened. Per Nate Raymond of Reuters, “Murguia initiated the complaint ​shortly after the court ⁠reform group Fix the Court announced it had submitted its own judicial misconduct complaint against Nelson to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council.” (Raymond tweeted that it appears Chief Judge Murguia “initiated a complaint on her own, before receiving Fix the Court’s”—i.e., the investigation announced on Monday wasn’t opened in response to Fix the Court’s complaint.)

• A lawyer who appears before the Ninth Circuit reached out to share the following with me: “I helped a junior lawyer I have mentored get a clerkship with Judge Nelson a few years ago. During his clerkship, he went through a major personal issue and Judge Nelson could not have been kinder. Even though chambers was very busy, Judge Nelson made sure he had time off to tend to the personal issue and was very warm and caring toward the situation. Every time I see Judge Nelson he asks if I have heard from our mutual friend and we swap stories. Judge Nelson is a kind and caring person who clearly had a very bad day.”]

In nominations news:

• By identical 52-46 votes, the Senate confirmed two district-court nominees (and Scalia Law alums): former Montana deputy solicitor general Kathleen “Katie” Lane (D. Mont.) and civil litigator Jeffrey Kuhlman (D. Kan.).

• Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania became the first Democrat to turn in a blue slip for a second-term Trump nominee, allowing Faegre Drinker partner Antonio Pozos (E.D. Pa.) to get a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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