“Judicial Notice (12.14.25): Not Dead Yet; Alina Habba’s bye-bye, Emil Bove’s boo-boo, Jack Smith’s second act, Becca Slaughter’s day of reckoning, and a 30-person hire by Cooley.” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.

“Man sentenced for setting fire in Colorado Supreme Court building that caused extensive damage; Brandon Olsen pleaded guilty in July to one count of arson; He broke into the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center on Jan. 2, 2024, and started a fire”: Jennifer Campbell-Hicks of 9News in Denver has this report.

“Leon Schools asks Supreme Court to reject parents’ appeal in gender case”: Jim Saunders of News Service of Florida has this report.

You can access the brief in opposition at this link.

“Arkansas Supreme Court dismisses chief justice’s appeal of HR report alleging harassment; Three special justices were appointed to replace three justices who recused themselves, including the chief justice”: Tess Vrbin of Arkansas Advocate has this report.

“This is why you’re wrong about the Supreme Court and Trump; The conservative majority of the Supreme Court is on a mission to put everything back into the right box; The goal is not to grow or shrink the power of any individual branch of government”: Columnist Dace Potas has this essay online at USA Today.

“With Fed independence in crosshairs, will Supreme Court back Trump again?” Jan Wolfe of Reuters has this report.

“Trump administration races to finalize tariff payments — and hamstring possible refunds; In response, companies are now filing lawsuits to make sure they get paid back if the Supreme Court invalidates some of the president’s duties”: Ari Hawkins and Doug Palmer of Politico have this report.

“One Amendment Explains It All: A decades-long conservative project to reject the reconstruction amendments is riding the coattails of Trump’s lawless chaos all the way to SCOTUS.” You can access the new episode of Slate’s “Amicus” podcast via this link.

“The Restoration Narrative in Constitutional Law; As Opposed to the Redemption Narrative”: Cass Sunstein has this post at his “Cass’s Substack” site.

And at his “Shapiro’s Gavel” Substack site, Ilya Shapiro has a post titled “The End of the Beginning: The conservative legal movement is in the fourth inning, not the bottom of the ninth.”

“In this Supreme Court case, a sledgehammer is better than a scalpel; On Trump’s ability to fire the heads of agencies, the Supreme Court should take the harder route”: Columnist Jason Willick has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“Appeals Court Says Trump Must End Los Angeles Deployment by Monday; While the decision did not remove the National Guard troops from the president’s control, it blocked him from using them in the nation’s second-largest city”: Shawn Hubler of The New York Times has this report.

You can access yesterday’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.

“The View from Here: There’s a clear line from Bush v. Gore, 25 years ago, to the January 6 insurrection.” Jeffrey Toobin has this essay online at Air Mail.

“D.C. Circuit’s Trump appointees again block Judge Boasberg’s contempt inquiry; DOJ keeps going to the D.C. Circuit, where Trump appointees on the court have repeatedly stopped the district court’s effort to hold the Trump admin accountable”: Chris Geidner has this post at his Substack site.

You can access yesterday’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at this link.

“First Circuit reverses block on Trump’s Planned Parenthood funding cuts; The appeals panel said that a provision of the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ that stripped Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood didn’t violate the reproductive health care giant’s rights”: Christina van Waasbergen of Courthouse News Service has this report on a decision that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued yesterday.

“Judge’s Order Complicates Justice Dept. Plans to Again Charge Comey; Justice Department officials have been considering whether to bring new charges against James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, after a different judge dismissed the original case against him”: Alan Feuer of The New York Times has this report.

Jeremy Roebuck of The Washington Post reports that “Judge’s ruling could doom Trump’s bid to prosecute Comey; The ruling delivered another setback to the Justice Department’s rapidly foundering effort to prosecute one of Trump’s chief foes.”

And Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein of Politico report that “Court orders DOJ to return data seized from Comey friend; U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled the material obtained from law professor Daniel Richman was handled with ‘callous disregard’ for his rights.”

You can access yesterday’s redacted opinion of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia at this link.

“North Carolina man asks Fourth Circuit to nix child porn flagged by Google algorithm; A Fourth Circuit panel appeared at odds on the role of automated searches in criminal investigations, reflecting a larger divide among the appellate courts on the issue”: Steve Garrison of Courthouse News Service has this report.

“Appeals court weighs fate of US whistleblower law”: Mike Scarcella of Reuters has this report.

You can access the audio of yesterday’s oral argument before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit at this link.

“Feds ask Ninth Circuit to lift block on excessive force against journalists; The appellate panel expressed some concern that a Joe Biden appointee’s preliminary injunction might run afoul of the Supreme Court’s condemnation of sweeping orders”: Edvard Pettersson of Courthouse News Service has this report.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has posted the video of yesterday’s oral argument on YouTube at this link.

“In Trump’s Justice Dept., Failing in Court Might Be Better Than Bucking the Boss; This week demonstrated an emerging reality for President Trump: Commanding the Justice Department is not the same as controlling the justice system.” Glenn Thrush and Alan Feuer of The New York Times have this news analysis.

“San Diego judge sentences GirlsDoPorn bookkeeper who offered ‘false assurances’ to victims; Valorie Moser transported about 100 women from the San Diego airport to local hotels, often helping calm their nerves despite knowing they were being deceived”: Alex Riggins of The San Diego Union-Tribune has this report.

And Quinn Welsch of Courthouse News Service reports that “Woman who recruited victims for GirlsDoPorn sentenced to prison; Employed to manage the books at GirlsDoPorn, Valorie Moser provided a friendly face to young women who were later coerced into acting in pornography videos.”

“Goldstein Wins Bid to Toss Sordid Sham Employment Allegations”: Holly Barker of Bloomberg Law has this report.

“Ninth Circuit Senior Judge Sandra S. Ikuta Dies”: Metropolitan News-Enterprise has this report.

“Importers Await Tariff Relief as Supreme Court Adjourns for Year”: Laura Curtis and Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News have this report.

“The fate of Trump’s birthright citizenship order will hinge on five words; The Supreme Court has just agreed to hear a case challenging Trump and the meaning of those words”: Columnist Ramesh Ponnuru has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“US Seeks to Block Noem Contempt Hearings on Venezuelan Removals”: David Voreacos and Zoe Tillman of Bloomberg News have this report.

You can view the petition for writ of mandamus that the federal government filed today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at this link.

“Confidence: The Legacy of Bush v. Gore.” The Federalist Society has posted this video on YouTube.

“Trump-Picked Prosecutor in Delaware Resigns After Court Ruling”: Celine Castronuovo of Bloomberg Law has this report.

“Supreme Court showdown exposes shaky case against birthright citizenship; Supreme Court will hear challenges to Trump’s order ending birthright citizenship, testing the 14th Amendment’s guarantee for babies born in America”: Law professor John Yoo has this essay online at Fox News.

Tomorrow in United States v. Thomas C. Goldstein, “the Court will hold a hearing on the Defendant’s remaining pretrial motions and the parties’ motions in limine”: You can access the scheduling order at this link.

“Alabama Is Asking the Supreme Court For Some Leeway On ‘Cruel and Unusual Punishment’; In 2002, the Court decided that the Constitution does not allow executions of intellectually disabled people; But states are testing that holding’s limits”: Madiba K. Dennie has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.

“Apple Loses Appeal of Contempt Ruling in Epic App Store Row”: Leah Nylen and Josh Sisco of Bloomberg News have this report.

And Edvard Pettersson of Courthouse News Service reports that “Ninth Circuit confirms contempt finding against Apple in Epic Games battle; The appellate panel agreed with the trial judge that Apple’s 27% commission for purchases on developers’ websites had violated her 2021 injunction, though it said she went too far by ordering the tech giant to charge no commission at all.”

You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.

“A Grand Jury Again Declines to Reindict Letitia James; It was a striking rejection of the administration’s retribution campaign”: Jonah E. Bromwich, Devlin Barrett, and Glenn Thrush of The New York Times have this report.

And Sadie Gurman and C. Ryan Barber of The Wall Street Journal report that “Grand Jury Declines Latest Attempt to Indict Letitia James; Justice Department suffers another setback in attempt to revive case against Democratic official after a judge dismissed original charges.”

“Mangione Backpack Search Needed No Warrant, Officer Says”: Patricia Hurtado and David Voreacos of Bloomberg News have this report.

And Erik Uebelacker of Courthouse News Service reports that “Luigi Mangione’s lawyers fight release of 2024 shooting footage; Prosecutors last week shared a two-hour-long CCTV video, showing the shooting of Brian Thompson and its aftermath, with members of the media.”

“South Carolina man asks Fourth Circuit for new trial in trans woman’s slaying; Daqua Ritter’s case was the first time federal prosecutors brought a hate crime based on gender identity to trial”: Steve Garrison of Courthouse News Service has this report.

“NJ ‘Sensitive Places’ Gun Ruling Scrapped by Third Circuit”: Alex Ebert of Bloomberg Law has this report (subscription required for full access).

You can access today’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit granting rehearing en banc at this link.