Fifth Circuit’s en banc disposition of global warming-related case can only be described as curiouser and curiouser: The Fifth Circuit, with sixteen judges now in regular active service, voted to take the case en banc based on the majority vote of the nine judges who were not recused. After the vote to take the case en banc, a judge who had participated in the en banc vote decided to recuse, leaving eight judges recused and eight judges not recused. This, in the view of at least five of the eight non-recused judges, left the en banc court without a quorum to decide the matter. As for what happened next, you can access today’s order and the two dissents therefrom at this link.

My earlier coverage of this notable case can be accessed here, here, and here.

The original ruling from a three-judge Fifth Circuit panel can be accessed here, while the Fifth Circuit’s order granting rehearing en banc can be accessed here.

“Kagan Would End Gender Bar as Third Female Justice”: Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News has this report.

“States Enlist Ultrasound to Raise Bar for Abortions”: This front page article appears today in The New York Times.

“‘Pants Judge’ Pearson Loses Appeal in D.C. Circuit”: Mike Scarcella has this post at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.”

I have posted at this link yesterday’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

“Expert says knife in Wone case may have been tampered with”: This article appears today in The Washington Post.