How Appealing



Saturday, February 21, 2026

“How the Supreme Court Spared America: The ruling against Trump’s tariffs is a major victory for the constitutional separation of powers, rule of law, and millions of American consumers and businesses.” Law professor Ilya Somin has this essay online at The Atlantic.

Posted at 9:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“After His Supreme Court Win, a Toymaker Refocuses on Growth; Tariffs upended Rick Woldenberg’s educational-toy business, which his grandfather founded in 1916”: Theo Francis of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

Posted at 8:58 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Lawyerly Virtues: In Praise of Justices Kagan and Barrett.” Cass Sunstein has this post at his Substack site.

Posted at 2:14 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump’s Tariffs Overturned; Our long national tariff nightmare is over, but do we get our money back?” You can access today’s new episode of Slate’s “Amicus” podcast via this link.

Posted at 2:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“On a new banner, Trump evokes the shadow world of authoritarian icons; The Justice Department signals, with a public display, that it is now wholly loyal to the current president”: Art and architecture critic Philip Kennicott has this essay online at The Washington Post.

And Megan Butler of Courthouse News Service reports that “Former DOJ attorneys warn agency has been ‘decimated’; The Trump administration’s weaponization of the once-independent agency has undermined public trust in the rule of law, the attorneys said.”

Posted at 2:02 PM by Howard Bashman



“In Gorsuch’s Homage to Legislative Power, a Subtle Reproach of a Neutered Congress; In his concurrence to the ruling invalidating President Trump’s tariffs, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch made a forceful case for the sanctity of the legislative process — and an implicit critique of its current dysfunction”: Catie Edmondson of The New York Times has this Congressional Memo.

Posted at 1:33 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Supreme Court Fractures While Striking Down Trump’s Tariff Policy; It may look like the justices made a clean break with the president, but the mess the conservative bloc made for itself raises some major questions”: Matt Ford has this essay online at The New Republic.

Posted at 1:26 PM by Howard Bashman



“In tariff case, Supreme Court justices bicker over treating Trump and Biden differently; Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, was unusually direct in suggesting some of his colleagues were treating presidents of opposing parties differently”: Lawrence Hurley of NBC News has this report.

Posted at 1:23 PM by Howard Bashman



“Handing defeats to Trump, Supreme Court signals potential course change; A pair of rulings on tariffs and National Guard deployment mark the justices’ first major decisions against the president; More may be coming”: Justin Jouvenal and Julian Mark of The Washington Post have this report.

Posted at 1:22 PM by Howard Bashman



“Divide Among Supreme Court’s Conservatives Could Test Trump’s Agenda; In rejecting President Trump’s tariffs, the court’s six conservative justices displayed subtle differences in their views of executive power”: Ann E. Marimow of The New York Times has this news analysis.

Posted at 1:18 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump’s Power to Sue US Challenged in $10 Billion IRS Case”: Erik Larson and David Voreacos of Bloomberg News have this report.

Posted at 1:09 PM by Howard Bashman



Friday, February 20, 2026

“Tariff Ruling Rips Open Trump’s Relationship With the Roberts Court; The decision was the president’s biggest high-court defeat, and he took it personally”: James Romoser of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

Posted at 10:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“211. Making Sense of the Tariffs Ruling: Friday’s 6-3 ruling reflects an emphatic repudiation of a specific claim of delegated statutory authority by the Trump administration; Folks should be wary about reading it as more — or less — than that.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.

At his “Balls & Strikes” Substack site, Jay Willis has a post titled “The Trump Tariffs Case Is a Preview of Bigger Supreme Court Fights to Come; The conservative justices spent four years using the major questions doctrine to thwart a Democratic president; They are carefully reserving the power to do it again.”

At the “Divided Argument” Substack site, Michael W. McConnell has a guest post titled “Comment on the Major Questions Doctrine Debate in Learning Resources.”

And at the “Executive Functions” Substack site, Jack Goldsmith has a post titled “Quick Thoughts on the Tariff Decision and the President’s Angry Reaction; A massive defeat for the president and an extraordinary affirmation of the Supreme Court’s power.”

Posted at 9:42 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court Tariff Ruling to Spur Chaotic Refund Process; The Trump administration says it could take years and additional litigation for importers to get their money back”: Alan Rappeport and Colby Smith of The New York Times have this report.

Posted at 9:36 PM by Howard Bashman



“Ex-Judge Wolf’s Staff Describe Walking on Eggshells in Chambers”: Suzanne Monyak and Brian Dowling of Bloomberg Law have this report.

Posted at 9:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judges in Virginia name new U.S. attorney, then Justice Dept. fires him; The nearly immediate removal of longtime litigator James W. Hundley continues a clash over control of one of the country’s highest-profile prosecutor’s offices”: Katie Mettler, Salvador Rizzo, and Jeremy Roebuck of The Washington Post have this report.

Posted at 8:56 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump slams justices after Supreme Court strikes down most of his tariffs; The ruling deals a major blow to the president’s signature economic policy and represents a stinging political setback”: Justin Jouvenal, David J. Lynch, and Julian Mark of The Washington Post have this report.

Luke Broadwater of The New York Times reports that “Trump Calls Justices Who Ruled Against Him ‘Fools and Lap Dogs’; ‘I’m ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country,’ the president said.”

Aaron Pellish and Gregory Svirnovskiy of Politico report that “Trump attacks Supreme Court justices after he is handed a major tariff loss; The president excoriated the court hours after its decision to strike down his tariffs.”

And Lawrence Hurley of NBC News reports that “Trump calls Supreme Court justices ‘disloyal to the Constitution’ over tariffs ruling; President Trump launched a vitriolic attack on the justices who ruled against him, including two he himself appointed.”

Posted at 8:25 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Supreme Court blessed Trump’s iron grip on presidential power. Until now. The Supreme Court rejected Trump’s tariffs after handing him an almost unbroken string of victories.” Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney of Politico have this report.

Posted at 8:14 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Supreme Court’s Declaration of Independence; The court’s rejection of President Trump’s tariffs program is the latest in a series of clashes between him and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.” Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this news analysis.

Posted at 8:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“Court Thaws Louisiana Law Requiring Ten Commandments in Schools”: Jacqueline Thomsen of Bloomberg Law has a report that begins, “The full Fifth Circuit cleared the way for Louisiana to enforce a law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.”

You can access today’s en banc per curiam decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit at this link.

Posted at 5:37 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court’s Tariff Ruling Is Secretly a Gift to Trump; Mindful of voters’ concerns about inflation, the administration may not rush to bring back all the duties”: Shawn Donnan of Bloomberg News has this report.

Posted at 1:27 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Moment Trump Found Out the Supreme Court Killed His Tariffs; The high court ruled on Friday that Trump’s global tariffs were illegal”: Ken Thomas and Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal have this report.

Posted at 11:56 AM by Howard Bashman



“A Brisk Note on the Tariffs Case; Simpler than Meets the Eye”: At his Substack site, Cass Sunstein has a post that begins, “The Supreme’ Court’s decision in the tariffs case is a lot simpler than it looks.”

Posted at 11:34 AM by Howard Bashman



“Justices Strike Down Trump’s Tariffs; President Trump was the first to invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to set tariffs on imported goods from more than 100 countries”: Ann E. Marimow of The New York Times has this report.

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times reports that “Supreme Court rejects Trump’s tariffs as illegal import taxes.”

James Romoser and Gavin Bade of The Wall Street Journal report that “Supreme Court Strikes Down Trump’s Global Tariffs; Ruling finds president exceeded his powers by imposing duties without clear authorization from Congress.”

Maureen Groppe, Bart Jansen, and Medora Lee of USA Today report that “Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s tariffs in major setback for president.”

And Alex Swoyer and Tom Howell Jr. of The Washington Times report that “Supreme Court rules Trump’s tariffs illegal.”

You can access today’s essentially 6-to-3 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court at this link.

Posted at 11:32 AM by Howard Bashman



Thursday, February 19, 2026

“A Press Freedom Case in Peril, From a Lawyer Who Helped Write It; Alan Dershowitz was present at the creation of New York Times v. Sullivan; Now he is asking the Supreme Court to revise or destroy it”: You can access today’s installment of the “The Docket” newsletter from Adam Liptak of The New York Times at this link.

Posted at 10:55 PM by Howard Bashman



“Top Lawyers’ Fees Have Skyrocketed. Be Prepared to Pay $3,400 an Hour. Expertise and ego are pushing up hourly rates to once-unthinkable levels in an escalating race among firms.” Erin Mulvaney of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

Posted at 1:13 PM by Howard Bashman