“Is the Bar Too Low to Get Into Law School?” That’s the topic for discussion in the current “Room for Debate” feature online at The New York Times.

“How Rand Paul Misunderstands the Fourteenth Amendment: The Kentucky senator points to its author’s intent to justify his opposition to birthright citizenship — but the clause in question has no clear author.” Law professor Garrett Epps has this essay online today at The Atlantic.

“America’s Most Admired Lawbreaker: Over the course of 20 years, Johnson & Johnson created a powerful drug, promoted it illegally to children and the elderly, covered up the side effects and made billions of dollars; This is the inside story.” Huffington Post Highline has posted online this multi-part article by Steven Brill.

Brill spoke about the article in a segment titled “Johnson & Johnson And The Big Lies Of Big Pharma” on Tuesday’s broadcast of On Point with Tom Ashbrook.

“Death for the Death Penalty? Justice Scalia Predicts It’s Coming; On the same week that Pope Francis calls for an end to the death penalty, a Supreme Court justice who backs it predicts its demise.” Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News has this report.

“U.S. appeals court upholds Shire’s patents on hyperactivity drug”: Reuters has this report on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued today.

“Pope Francis visits Little Sisters of the Poor”: Vatican Radio has this report.

“Supreme Court Preview of the 2015 Term”: The Heritage Foundation has posted the video of Tuesday’s event online at YouTube at this link.

“Jesus Town: An Arizona city council votes for Christian-only prayers, citing the Constitution.” Dahlia Lithwick has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“E-books, price fixing and the Supreme Court: Apple goes to Washington.” Steven Mazie has this post at the “Democracy in America” blog of The Economist.

“John Roberts Dismantled the ‘Crown Jewel’ of the Civil-Rights Movement: The Supreme Court said that times have changed; So why were 180 restrictive voting laws passed after it gutted the Voting Rights Act?” Theodore M. Shaw has this essay in the October 12, 2015 issue of The Nation.

“Parents Tried to Desegregate Their Schools; The Roberts Court Said No. The conservative majority rewrote decades of equal protection law in the name of a fictional color-blind Constitution.” William Yeomans has this essay in the October 12, 2015 issue of The Nation.

“The Roberts Court Is Gunning for Public Sector Unions: For decades the Supreme Court supported rules to protect collective bargaining; That era is over.” Lily Eskelsen Garcia has this essay in the October 12, 2015 issue of The Nation.

“Think Police Can’t Use Illegally Obtained Evidence Against You? Think Again; Thanks to the Roberts Court, there’s no penalty for ignoring a key 4th Amendment protection.” Law professor Paul Butler has this essay in the October 12, 2015 issue of The Nation.

“The Many Sins of ‘Citizens United’: In order to get the ruling they wanted, the conservative justices had to ignore an extensive record on political corruption.” U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has this essay in the October 12, 2015 issue of The Nation.

“It Just Got a Lot Harder for Americans to Have Their Day in Court: By rewriting the rules for civil complaints, the Supreme Court denied access to poor and middle-class people — and handed a big gift to corporate interests.” Law professor Arthur R. Miller has this essay in the October 12, 2015 issue of The Nation.

“The Death of the Class-Action Lawsuit? Class actions were the weapon of the people — until the Roberts Court made it nearly impossible to file one.” Law professor Herman Schwartz has this essay in the October 12, 2015 issue of The Nation.

“How ‘Hobby Lobby’ Launched a Right-Wing Crusade: The 2014 ruling has enabled corporations and Christian zealots to claim ‘religious liberty’ as an excuse to deny women’s rights and skirt the law.” Dahlia Lithwick has this essay in the October 12, 2015 issue of The Nation.

“The Case Against the Roberts Court: In the decade since John Roberts was appointed chief justice, the Supreme Court has favored the powerful at the expense of everyone else.” Nan Aron and Kyle C. Barry have this cover story in the October 12, 2015 issue of The Nation.

“Is the Death Penalty Unconstitutional? Following a controversial ruling over lethal injections, Justice Breyer suggested that capital punishment may violate the 8th Amendment; It’s time to bring that case to court.” George H. Kendall has this essay in the October 12, 2015 issue of The Nation.

“This Isn’t the Roberts Court — It’s the Kennedy Court: The Court’s results are mixed, not because of John Roberts’s leadership but because of Anthony Kennedy’s more balanced commitments.” Law professor David Cole has this essay in the October 12, 2015 issue of The Nation.

“How the Roberts Court Undermined Sensible Gun Control: Why did the conservative justices, who seem so devoted to ‘originalism,’ upend the well-established meaning of the 2d Amendment?” Dorothy Samuels has this essay in the October 12, 2015 issue of The Nation.

“Justice Scalia at Rhodes: ‘Don’t mess with the Constitution.'” Jennifer Pignolet had this article in yesterday’s edition of The Memphis Commercial Appeal.

“The Supreme Court’s Secret Power”: Law professor Jeffrey L. Fisher will have this op-ed in Friday’s edition of The New York Times.

“3rd Circuit grants en banc review of Dole farmers’ pesticide claims”: Reuters has this report on an order that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued on Tuesday granting rehearing en banc.

My coverage of the now-vacated ruling that a divided three-judge Third Circuit panel previously issued in the case can be accessed here.

“Supreme Court Justice to act as temporary professor”: The Kentucky Kernel, the student newspaper of the University of Kentucky, contains this front page article today about Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr.’s visit to campus.

“The Case Against Richard Glossip Is Crumbling, But He Is Still Scheduled to Die in a Week”: Liliana Segura of The Intercept has this report.

“When the Womb Is a Crime Scene: Alabama has turned hundreds of pregnant women into felons for using drugs — even when they’re legal and the kids turn out fine.” Yesterday, ProPublica, AL.com, and Mother Jones jointly published this article (click on preceding links to access).

“Court locks down copyright for Batmobile”: Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle has this report.

Dan Levine of Reuters has a report headlined “Holy lawsuit, Batman! U.S. court affirms Batmobile’s copyright.”

The Associated Press reports that “Court rules Batmobile is entitled to copyright protection.”

At the “THR, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter, Eriq Gardner has a post titled “DC Comics Is Entitled to Copyright on Batmobile, Appeals Court Rules; The 9th Circuit rules that the automotive character is sufficiently distinctive to be protected as a work of authorship.”

And at Techdirt, Mike Masnick has a post titled “Appeals Court Says The Batmobile Is A ‘Character’ Covered By Copyright.”

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

“In Memoriam: Hon. Richard D. Cudahy, 1926-2015.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has posted a statement at the top of its home page and has also posted this additional document.

“Appeals court reinstates W.Va. attempted robbery conviction”: The Associated Press has this report on a ruling that a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued yesterday.

Each of the three judges on the panel issued an opinion. Notably, the decision includes a concurring opinion that is more than twice as long as the majority opinion.

“NYC knife law challenge is revived by U.S. appeals court”: Jonathan Stempel of Reuters has this report.

My earlier coverage of Tuesday’s Second Circuit ruling appears at this link.

“Cudahy, ‘a real gentleman,’ ran meatpacker, built law career”: This obituary, written by Bruce Vielmetti, appears in today’s edition of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.