Happy Tuesday, I’m Eriq Gardner.

Welcome back to The Rainmaker, my private newsletter focused on the most significant legal power plays across Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Washington, and Wall Street.

I hope you enjoyed the Fourth of July. In this email, I’m observing America’s independence by investigating how our judicial system supports our most litigious celebrities, both domestically and abroad. I’m referring especially to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Plus, this week’s mix includes LeBron James testifying about his tattoos, Miramax responding to Quentin Tarantino, and the Supreme Court unleashing hell on the administrative state...

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Bold words, but after doing some digging, it’s somewhat shocking that the Pitt-Jolie drama, featuring two of Hollywood’s highest profile stars, hasn’t generated more media interest. Indeed, the litigation stemming from their separation now spans at least three countries, includes shadowy cases under the cover of pseudonyms, and involves some of the largest and most powerful Big Law firms in the industry: Gibson Dunn, Cravath Swaine & Moore, Wachtell Lipton, and Covington & Burling. The Pitt-Jolie decoupling has even managed, believe it or not, to intersect with the Russia-Ukraine war.

For the purposes of this story, I’m going to leave aside the main divorce proceedings, which began way back in 2016, the subsequent custody feud and ugly domestic abuse allegations...