“Anti-Abortion March Brings Thousands to D.C., and a Sense of Frustration; At the March for Life, Vice President JD Vance acknowledged ‘a fear that some of you have that not enough progress has been made’”: Elizabeth Dias of The New York Times has this report.
And Natalie Allison of The Washington Post reports that “Trump administration seeks to curb antiabortion leaders’ ‘disappointment’; Conservative activists who have long been loyal to Trump over his first-term work to curb abortion rights now say they sense less urgency from the president.”
“Appeals court weighs challenge to Texas gun signage laws; Churches and businesses argue state trespass rules force them to choose between speech and the right to exclude firearms”: Gabriel Tynes of Courthouse News Service has this report.
You can access the audio of today’s oral argument before the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit at this link.
“Judge prods Altoona deputy on search of Luigi Mangione’s backpack; Mangione is set to go to federal trial later this year, depending on whether he’ll face the death penalty in the 2024 murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson”: Erik Uebelacker of Courthouse News Service has this report.
“5 Arrested in Shooting of Indiana Judge and His Wife; The police said the attack was part of a plot to kill Judge Steven Meyer to halt a trial he was to conduct; He and his wife were injured but are recovering”: Stephanie Saul of The New York Times has this report.
And Gaya Gupta of The Washington Post reports that “Five arrested after shooting of Indiana judge and his wife; Three people from Indiana and two from Kentucky are now in custody in connection to the Sunday attack that wounded Judge Steven P. Meyer and his wife, Kimberly, officials said.”
“Paucity of vacancies slows Trump’s effort to reshape courts”: Russell Wheeler has this commentary online at The Brookings Institution.
“What just happened at the President’s House? Philadelphians are grappling with the aftermath of Thursday’s abrupt removal of all exhibits at the President’s House ahead of 250th anniversary celebrations.” Fallon Roth of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this report.
And on YouTube, The Philly Captain has posted this related video.
“Trump to Supreme Court: Posting On Truth Social Is Due Process, If You Think About It; The justices confront some of the more unsettling implications of this era of government by right-wing influencer.” Jay Willis has this post at his “Balls & Strikes” Substack site.
“A Law School Dean Signed a Brief Defending Trans Rights. She Lost Her Job Because of It. The revocation of Emily Suski’s offer at the University of Arkansas sends a chilling message to law professors who take positions that Republican culture warriors do not like.” G.S. Hans has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.
“Abbott Lures Supreme Court Clerks to Build a Roster of Justices”: Ryan Autullo of Bloomberg Law has this report.
“Alina Habba’s Trio of Successors Faces Legal Challenge in Court”: David Voreacos and Tatyana Monnay of Bloomberg News have this report.
“A Year Inside Kash Patel’s F.B.I.: Forty-five current and former employees on the changes they say are undermining the agency and making America less safe.” Emily Bazelon and Rachel Poser have this article online at The New York Times Magazine.
“Fifth Circuit split on Trump’s use of Alien Enemies Act to remove Venezuelans; Judges questioned the extent to which courts have the power to second-guess the president’s invocation of the 18th-century law”: Christina van Waasbergen of Courthouse News Service has this report.
And Jacqueline Thomsen of Bloomberg Law reports that “Fifth Circuit Weighs Deferring to Trump on Wartime Authority.”
You can access the audio of today’s oral argument before the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit at this link.
“IRS Told Goldstein to Keep Better Gambling Records, Jury Hears”: Holly Barker of Bloomberg Law has this report (subscription required for full access).
“Bonus 203: Correcting the Record in the Social Security/DOGE Case; An eye-opening filing by the Department of Justice should give more than a little pause to the justices with respect to one of their earlier grants of emergency relief to the Trump administration.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.
“George W. Bush’s Minor Impact on D.C. Circuit; Key appellate court is left ripe for liberal takeover”: Ed Whelan has this post at his “Confirmation Tales” Substack site.
“Bok Choy”: You can access today’s new episode of the “Divided Argument” podcast via this link.
“Ferris High School grad formally sworn in on Washington Supreme Court”: Mitchell Roland of The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington has this report.
“‘The Justices Might Actually Have to Say No, Even to the President’”: Law professors Kate Shaw, William Baude, and Stephen I. Vladeck have this written discussion online at The New York Times.
“ALI Elects Wallace B. Jefferson, Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, as Its Next President”: The American Law Institute issued this news release today.
“Race looms large in gun-rights arguments at Supreme Court; The justices debated post-Civil War ‘Black codes’ as they mulled a Hawaii law limiting guns in public places”: Josh Gerstein of Politico has this report.
“The full Fed battle”: Mark Walsh has this View from the Court post at “SCOTUSblog.”
“Supreme Court conservatives have downplayed Trump’s conduct. The Fed case may change that.” Joan Biskupic of CNN has this news analysis.
“Supreme Court Seems Poised to Reject Trump’s Attempt to Immediately Fire a Fed Governor; During arguments, key justices appeared concerned that the president’s efforts to oust Lisa Cook could imperil the central bank’s independence”: Ann E. Marimow of The New York Times has this report.
Colby Smith and Tony Romm of The New York Times report that “Supreme Court Hearing Reveals Unease Over Threats to Fed Independence; As the justices weighed the consequences of allowing President Trump to fire a Federal Reserve official, the president reprised his pressure campaign on the central bank.”
Justin Jouvenal and Andrew Ackerman of The Washington Post report that “Supreme Court appears likely to allow Lisa Cook to remain on Fed board; Such a decision, which would hold while a lawsuit challenging her removal plays out, would prevent Trump from exerting greater influence over the powerful central bank.”
David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times reports that “Supreme Court wary of Trump’s bid to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook.”
James Romoser and Nick Timiraos of The Wall Street Journal report that “Supreme Court Balks at Trump’s Push to Control the Fed; Most justices voice skepticism about the president’s bid to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook.”
Maureen Groppe and Rachel Barber of USA Today have an article headlined “Can Trump fire Fed’s Lisa Cook? Supreme Court seems doubtful; President Trump’s attempt to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve board is part of his effort to assert unprecedented control of the economy.”
Alex Swoyer and Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times report that “Supreme Court casts doubt on Trump’s firing of Fed Governor Lisa Cook.”
In commentary, The Wall Street Journal has published an editorial titled “Trump’s Tough Day at the Supreme Court; The Justices sound ready to frown on his firing of Lisa Cook.”
And online at Balls and Strikes, Madiba K. Dennie has an essay titled “John Roberts Does Not Want Trump Messing With His Money; The conservative supermajority has shown a willingness to let Trump do almost anything he wants; But not when the global economy might be at stake.”
“Speaker Johnson Backs Efforts to Impeach Judges Over Rulings”: Suzanne Monyak of Bloomberg Law has this report.
“Appeals Court Stays Restrictions on Federal Tactics in Minnesota; The Eighth Circuit granted the Trump administration’s request to block, at least for now, a lower court’s injunction limiting how federal agents interact with protesters in the state”: Mitch Smith of The New York Times has this report.
And Mikella Schuettler and Chris Dolmetsch of Bloomberg News report that “Trump Wins Delay on Order Restricting ICE Tactics in Minnesota.”
You can access today’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit at this link.
“Ex-Biden Solicitor General Joins Law Firm’s Battle Against Trump”: Justin Henry of Bloomberg News has this report.
“Law firm chief recounts ‘crazy’ bet on Washington lawyer Goldstein’s poker play”: Mike Scarcella of Reuters has this report.
“Right-Leaning Judges Should Learn From RBG, Ikuta and Retire Now”: Law professor Robert Luther III has this essay online at Bloomberg Law.
“The Supreme Court’s ‘History and Tradition’ Test Just Ran Into America’s History and Tradition of Anti-Black Racism; Four years ago, the conservative justices decided that gun laws must be rooted in history in order to comply with the Second Amendment; But they are not always comfortable with the reality this analysis unearths”: Madiba K. Dennie has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.
“Businessman Says He Had Trouble Collecting $6M Poker Debt from Tom Goldstein”: Connor Richards of PokerNews has this report.
“Supreme Court Will Decide if Fed Independence Has Any Legal Teeth; Wednesday’s arguments in the Lisa Cook case come amid a broader Trump campaign to bend the central bank to presidential will”: Nick Timiraos and James Romoser of The Wall Street Journal have this report.
Greg Stohr and Erik Larson of Bloomberg News have a report headlined “Can Trump Fire Lisa Cook? What the Supreme Court Will Consider.”
And in commentary, Wednesday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal will contain an editorial titled “Trump vs. the Fed Goes to the Supreme Court; If he can fire Lisa Cook without cause, he will all but run the central bank.”
“Texas defends law requiring schools to post Ten Commandments; A federal appeals court heard arguments in lawsuits seeking to block Texas and Louisiana from requiring classroom displays of the Ten Commandments”: Jaden Edison of The Texas Tribune has this report.
And Jacqueline Thomsen of Bloomberg Law reports that “Full Fifth Circuit Wary of Ten Commandments Laws’ Challengers.”
“Supreme Court seems skeptical of Hawaii limits on carrying guns; Hawaii’s law bans people from carrying firearms on private property open to the public unless they have the owner’s consent”: Justin Jouvenal of The Washington Post has this report.
And Lydia Wheeler of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Supreme Court Voices Skepticism of Hawaii Law Limiting Guns on Private Property; The state and a handful of others ban guns by default unless the property owner has given express permission.”
“The Department of Justice has become a misnomer with Bondi at the helm; One year in, the depths to which DOJ has sunk was laid bare in an order on Lindsey Halligan’s claims in Virginia and in subpoenas issued against officials in Minnesota”: Chris Geidner has this post at his Substack site.
“Lindsey Halligan out as U.S. attorney following pressure from judges; One federal judge in Virginia sought applications for her replacement; Another called her use of the U.S. attorney title a ‘charade’”: Steve Thompson, Salvador Rizzo, and Jeremy Roebuck of The Washington Post have this report.
Devlin Barrett and Glenn Thrush of The New York Times report that “Halligan Leaves as U.S. Attorney After Mounting Pressure From Judges; For weeks, judges have pressed Ms. Halligan to explain why she continues to identify herself in court filings as the U.S. attorney, despite a ruling in November that she was unlawfully appointed to the job.”
And Ryan J. Reilly and Gary Grumbach of NBC News report that “Trump loyalist Lindsey Halligan leaves her post as a top federal prosecutor; She departs the same day a judge warned her against ‘masquerading’ as the top prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia.”
