“One MAGA Judge’s Campaign for the Supreme Court Keeps Leading to Humiliation”: Mark Joseph Stern has this Jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“How some Supreme Court decisions fractured the conservative supermajority; The conservatives splintered in more than a dozen cases in which some joined with the three liberals to form a majority”: Maureen Groppe of USA Today has this report.

“Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Ban Faces New Peril: Class Actions; In last month’s decision limiting one judicial tool, universal injunctions, the court seemed to invite lower courts to use class actions as an alternative.” Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this report.

“‘Egregious.’ ‘Brazen.’ ‘Lawless.’ How 48 Judges Describe Trump’s Actions, In Their Own Words.” The New York Times has published this editorial.

“The Fallout Is Growing on Trump’s Deals With Law Firms; The deals are looking worse and worse — for Trump and the law firms”: Ankush Khardori has this essay online at Politico Magazine.

“Appeals Court Overturns Plea Deal in 9/11 Case; The court found that Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III had the authority to invalidate a contract reached between the accused mastermind and a Pentagon official”: Carol Rosenberg of The New York Times has this report.

Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Court Quashes Sept. 11 Plea Bargains That Military Judge Had Approved; Ruling extends troubled Guantanamo prosecution over 2001 terrorist attacks.”

You can access today’s 125-page ruling of a partially divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at this link.

“Third Circuit nominee Emil Bove walks tightrope on Jan. 6, DOJ firings in Senate questionnaire; Bove, a top DOJ official involved in firing federal prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases, condemned illegal activity but also criticized ‘overreach and heavy-handed tactics’ by federal law enforcement”: Benjamin S. Weiss of Courthouse News Service has this report.

You can access the nominee’s responses at this link.

“Why State Supreme Court Justices Would Rather Be Federal Judges; Compensation, tenure, and other factors”: Ed Whelan has this post at his “Confirmation Tales” Substack site.

“The Supreme Court ‘kneecapped’ the lower federal courts. Or did it?” Nancy Gertner has this essay online at Boston’s WBUR.

“Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Chris Taylor sets early pace in fund-raising for 2026 race”: Jessie Opoien of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this report.

“Ketanji Brown Jackson Is Telling the Truth About the Supreme Court; The task of interpreting the law is inherently ‘political’; But no justice has been this comfortable saying so in public”: Jay Willis has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.

“Clarence Thomas has long tried to undercut the Voting Rights Act. Now, he may finally have the numbers.” Joan Biskupic of CNN has this news analysis.

“Bonus 165: The Appeasement Thesis; One defense of the Court’s behavior on Trump-related emergency applications is that the justices are picking their battles; If so, the question becomes which battles they actually intend to fight.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.

“A Legal Mistake at the Heart of Trump v. CASA? It is technical, but important for future cases.” Jack Goldsmith has this post at the “Executive Functions” Substack site.

“Trump’s first judicial nominee Hermandorfer moves ahead to final confirmation vote in Senate; The president’s pick to fill a Sixth Circuit vacancy is headed to a final ballot as the first judicial nominee in years not to have been formally vetted by the American Bar Association”: Benjamin S. Weis of Courthouse News Service has this report.

“Federal judge places new block on Trump’s ban on birthright citizenship; Judge Joseph Laplante issued the temporary injunction after agreeing to certify a class-action lawsuit against the administration on behalf of U.S.-born children or future children”: David Nakamura of The Washington Post has this report.

Mariah Timms of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Judge Places New Block on Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order; Decision finds an alternate route for nationwide halt weeks after Supreme Court limited use of far-reaching district court injunctions.”

And in commentary, Friday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal will contain an editorial titled “The Birthright Citizenship Order Is Halted — Again; Now it’s a class action of babies Trump wants to deny U.S. citizenship.”

You can access today’s order of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire at this link.

“Firings without explanation create culture of fear at Justice Dept., FBI; Widespread, abrupt terminations have left Justice Department and FBI employees wondering if they will be next, people familiar with the matter say”: Perry Stein of The Washington Post has this report.

“Justice Dept. Promised to Prosecute Abrego Garcia. Now It’s Not So Clear. In the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the administration appears primarily concerned with ensuring that a man it has described as a ‘dangerous illegal alien’ never walks free on U.S. soil.” Alan Feuer and Minho Kim of The New York Times have this news analysis.

“Superior Court Upholds $207.6M Birth Injury Judgment Against Penn Hospital”: Aleeza Furman of The Legal Intelligencer has this report on a decision that a unanimous three-judge panel of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania issued today in a case in which I am appellate co-counsel for plaintiff-appellee.

“Justice Jackson Says ‘the State of Our Democracy’ Keeps Her Up at Night; At a bar association event in Indiana, the justice told those gathered that she is focused on drawing attention to what is happening to the government”: Abbie VanSickle of The New York Times has this report.

Justin Jouvenal of The Washington Post reports that “Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson says she fears for U.S. democracy; The justice has emerged as one of the court’s sharpest critics, issuing more dissents than any colleague during the Supreme Court term that ended last month.”

John Fritze of CNN reports that “Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson says ‘state of our democracy’ keeps her up at night.”

And Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson of Bloomberg Law reports that “An Emboldened Justice Jackson Warns About State of Democracy; Jackson has been critical of the Trump administration; ‘I’m not afraid to use my voice,’ she says.”

Forbes Breaking News has posted on YouTube a video titled “Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Speaks At Indianapolis Bar Association Event.”

“Why a Devoted Justice Department Lawyer Became a Whistle-Blower; In the first Trump Administration, ‘they didn’t say “Fuck you” to the courts,’ Erez Reuveni said”: Ruth Marcus has this essay online at The New Yorker.

“Tillis says he’ll ‘probably’ vote in support of Trump’s controversial judge pick; The North Carolina Republican previously doomed another nominee pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee”: Hailey Fuchs of Politico has this report.

“Justice Dept. Whistle-Blower Warns of Trump Administration’s Assault on the Law; In an interview with The New York Times, a former Justice Department lawyer, Erez Reuveni, said officials pressed subordinates to mislead judges, and dared the courts to stop it”: Devlin Barrett of The New York Times has this report.

Perry Stein and Jeremy Roebuck of The Washington Post report that “Texts, emails bolster whistleblower account of DOJ defying court order; A fired Justice Department employee has given Congress a cache of internal communications related to Emil Bove, a top Trump official now nominated as a judge.”

Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney of Politico report that “Internal DOJ messages bolster claim that Trump judicial nominee spoke of defying court orders; Emil Bove, a top DOJ official who has been nominated to be an appellate judge, is the subject of whistleblower allegations.”

Katelyn Polantz and Annie Grayer of CNN report that “Documents back up DOJ whistleblower’s claim that top official intended to ignore court orders, top Judiciary Democrat says.”

Jennifer Bendery of HuffPost reports that “Documents Back Up Whistleblower Claims That Emil Bove Wanted To Disobey Court Orders; Newly released emails and texts support allegations that Bove, Trump’s court pick, told DOJ attorneys to say ‘f**k you’ to judges who ruled against them.”

Ben Penn of Bloomberg Law reports that “DOJ Whistleblower Reinforces Claim Bove Defied Court Order; Documents may help rebut credibility attacks against fired supervisor; Durbin calls evidence a ‘declaration of defiance’ against courts.”

And Benjamin S. Weiss of Courthouse News Service reports that “New evidence supports claim that Emil Bove suggested defying court orders; A Justice Department whistleblower previously accused Third Circuit nominee Emil Bove of advising the Trump administration that it may need to tell a federal court ‘fuck you’ to carry out mass deportations.”

“‘A Period Of Great Constitutional Danger’: Pam Karlan; A longtime Stanford Law professor and seasoned Supreme Court advocate, Professor Karlan has strong views on the current constitutional moment.” David Lat has posted online this new installment of his “Original Jurisdiction” podcast.

“SCOTUS: The highest (and only) court; Lower court judges on the front lines of the onslaught of litigation over President Trump’s controversial policies aren’t getting a lifeline from the Supreme Court.” Kelsey Reichmann of Courthouse News Service has this report.

“Far-right lecturer asks Third Circuit to restore retaliation claims over suspension; The New Jersey Institute of Technology suspended philosophy professor Jason Jorjani after articles surfaced of him making favorable comments about Adolf Hitler and eugenics”: Jackson Healy of Courthouse News Service has this report.

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

“Trump Tariff ‘Blank Check’ Must Be Curbed, Appeals Court Told”: Erik Larson of Bloomberg News has this report.

You can access the brief at this link.

“Michigan Courts’ Anti-Bias Proposal Faces Significant Opposition; Free speech cited as a major reason to reject proposal; Proposal marks another example of wading into culture wars”: Eric Heisig of Bloomberg Law has this report.

“Federal appeals court hears challenge to New Jersey privacy law”: Sophie Nieto-Munoz of New Jersey Monitor has this report.

“Supreme Court Clears Way for Mass Firings at Federal Agencies; The justices announced they were not ruling on the legality of the specific downsizing plans but they allowed the Trump administration to proceed for now with its restructuring efforts”: Abbie VanSickle of The New York Times has this report.

Ann E. Marimow of The Washington Post reports that “Supreme Court allows Trump to launch mass layoff and restructuring plans; The justices said they were not ruling on the legality of specific firing plans but simply allowing the administration to launch such efforts while litigation continues.”

And Corinne Ramey of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Supreme Court Allows Trump’s Mass Government Layoffs to Move Forward; Justices lift injunction on order that told agency heads to work with DOGE on hiring and layoff plans.”

You can access today’s order of the U.S. Supreme Court at this link.

“In Digital Era, Supreme Court Insists on Vast Piles of Paper; The court’s rules require many litigants to submit 40 copies of their briefs, resulting in millions of pages printed each term; Critics call the process outdated and wasteful”: Adam Liptak has this new installment of his “Sidebar” column online at The New York Times.

“Judges Appointed by Republicans Could Be Refusing To Retire — To Frustrate Trump’s Ambition for a MAGA Judiciary; The nomination of a former personal lawyer, Emil Bove, for the 47th president to an appellate seat could be a bellwether”: A.R. Hoffman of The New York Sun has this report.

“Former D.C. U.S. prosecutors oppose Emil Bove appeals court nomination; The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote soon on Bove, a former Trump lawyer and senior Justice Department official”: Spencer S. Hsu of The Washington Post has this report.

And Hailey Fuchs of Politico reports that “Senate Judiciary eyes next week for votes on two contentious nominees; Emil Bove and Jeanine Pirro are expected to face fierce Democratic opposition.”

“With Broken Promise on Epstein, Pam Bondi Draws the Ire of Trump’s Supporters; MAGA influencers are calling for attorney general’s resignation after she failed to produce ‘truckload’ of documents about the sex offender”: Sadie Gurman of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

And Glenn Thrush and Stuart A. Thompson of The New York Times report that “Confronted Over Epstein Files, Trump and Bondi Tell Supporters to Move On; A small but influential cohort of the president’s far-right political coalition spared him their ire but turned with a vengeance on the attorney general and the top officials at the F.B.I.“

“U.S. Will Try to Deport Abrego Garcia Before He Faces Trial, Justice Dept. Says; The plan directly contradicted the White House, which last month described as ‘fake news’ reports of plans to re-deport Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia”: Alan Feuer and Minho Kim of The New York Times have this report.

And Steve Thompson of The Washington Post reports that “Trump administration ordered to detail new plan to deport Kilmar Abrego García; The order by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis came after a Justice Department lawyer said the Trump administration said it will deport Abrego again without waiting for his criminal trial in Tennessee to play out.”