“Ninja Court Packing”: You can access the new episode of the “Divided Argument” podcast via this link.

“229. A Tale of Two High-Profile Immigration Cases: Developments on Friday in the cases of Mahmoud Khalil and Kilmar Abrego Garcia underscore both the role courts can play in checking immigration abuses and the limits those courts can often confront.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.

“The ‘greatest threat’ to rule of law in decades. That’s how lawyers, judges see Trump.” Columnist Mark Z. Barabak has this essay online at The Los Angeles Times.

“How Trump Created a Slush Fund for His Allies; The President may have committed the rare offense that turns Republican lawmakers against him”: Ruth Marcus has this essay online at The New Yorker.

Also online at The New Yorker, John Cassidy has an essay titled “Can Anything Stop Trump’s Corruption? The President’s stock dealing, $1.8-billion ‘anti-weaponization’ slush fund, and grant of immunity from the I.R.S. demonstrate the need for major ethics reforms.”

“How this age of extreme gerrymandering is transforming American politics; Politicians, no longer content to leave elections to chance, are working to choose their voters as often as every two years”: Patrick Marley and Olivia George of The Washington Post have this report.

“Trump’s Slush Fund Is Even Worse Than You Thought; A former Jack Smith prosecutor and a veteran corruption reporter map the vectors for lawlessness that many have missed”: You can access the new episode of Slate’s “Amicus” podcast via this link.

“Trump’s Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Grift”: You can access today’s new episode of the “Strict Scrutiny” podcast via this link and on YouTube.

“The East Wing Hole-In-The-Ground; How long could the East Wing of the White House remain a crater?” Arthur Delaney of HuffPost has this report.

“Bayer’s proposed Roundup settlement violates Constitution, new legal filing claims”: Carey Gillam of The New Lede has this report.

“With Big Decisions Ahead, the Supreme Court Collides With a Testy Trump; President Trump has alternated between bullying the justices and cozying up to them as the court prepares to announce major decisions that will determine the fate of the key aspects of his agenda”: Ann E. Marimow of The New York Times has this report.

“Abortion Pill Lawsuit Leaves Trump Silent, and in a Political Bind; Louisiana wants the Food and Drug Administration to curtail access to the medication; Doing so could cost Republicans at the polls”: Pam Belluck and Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times have this report.

“Trump’s ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ Is Built on a Contradiction; The president has fought to make sure alleged victims of government misconduct cannot get compensation; What changed?” Billy Binion has this post online at Reason.

“GOP Twists Itself In Knots To Shield Trump’s Court Picks From Saying He Lost In 2020; Their latest tactic is blaming Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson; ‘This has been ridiculous,’ Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told HuffPost”: Jennifer Bendery of HuffPost has this report.

“Clarence Thomas triumphs — and his legal vision, too”: Ilya Shapiro has this essay online at The New York Post.

“Bayer’s $7.25 billion Roundup settlement faces new objections”: Dietrich Knauth of Reuters has this report.

“Clarence Thomas Against Progressivism — and Progressives; In a recent speech, the Justice made clear that he views the movement, past and present, as anti-American”: Ruth Marcus has this essay online at The New Yorker.

“Chief Justice Matthew Durrant retiring from Utah Supreme Court, continuing unprecedented overhaul of the bench; Durrant’s departure means Gov. Spencer Cox now has four of the seven seats to fill, giving him an opportunity to reshape the court”: Robert Gehrke of The Salt Lake Tribune has this report.

And Cami Mondeaux of The Deseret News reports that “Longest-serving chief justice on Utah Supreme Court to resign at end of summer; Utah Supreme Court Chief Justice Matthew Durrant will resign at the end of August after serving 26 years on the state’s highest court, he announced on Friday.”

“Republicans Sound Like They’re Getting Nervous About Supreme Court Expansion; After six years of a six-justice conservative supermajority, voters are tired of the Court and more supportive of reforms; Republican lawmakers have taken notice”: Madiba K. Dennie has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.

“Lawyers challenge Roundup cancer settlement as Supreme Court ruling nears”: Maureen Groppe of USA Today has this report.

“A history of Supreme Court leaks”: Amy Howe has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

“Louisiana v. Callais Belongs in the Supreme Court’s Anti-canon; Like past repudiated rulings, this betrayal of Black voters can’t be the last word”: Cristian Farias has this post at the “Intelligencer” blog of New York magazine.

“Mitch McConnell’s Historic Senate Career; He has fit uneasily in the Trump years, but he unified the GOP and saved the Supreme Court”: Matthew F. Mimnaugh will have this op-ed in Saturday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

“Veteran Judge Blames Trump Rhetoric for Rising Judicial Threats”: Suzanne Monyak of Bloomberg Law has this report.

“Blanche at center of Republican firestorm over $1.8B fund as he seeks to prove his loyalty to Trump”: Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer of The Associated Press have this report.

“Mahmoud Khalil to Appeal to Supreme Court in Effort to Halt Deportation; The move was expected to come after a federal appeals court on Friday ruled against Mr. Khalil, who became the face of President Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters”: Jonah E. Bromwich of The New York Times has this report.

You can access today’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit denying rehearing en banc by a 6-to-5 vote, and the opinion dissenting therefrom, at this link.

Update: In other coverage, Jackson Healy of Courthouse News Service reports that “Mahmoud Khalil facing rearrest, deportation after Third Circuit denies rehearing; The 6-5 ruling limits Khalil’s ability to combat efforts to detain and deport him for engaging in pro-Palestinian protests.”

“Judge Dismisses Criminal Case Against Abrego Garcia; The move deals an embarrassing blow to the Trump administration, which made the Maryland man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the face of its deportation campaign”: Alan Feuer of The New York Times has this report.

Jeremy Roebuck and Mark Berman of The Washington Post report that “Judge drops criminal case against Kilmar Abrego García, ruling it vindictive; The Maryland man was charged with human smuggling after a high-profile legal fight in which courts ruled he had been illegally deported to El Salvador.”

Mariah Timms and Louise Radnofsky of The Wall Street Journal report that “Judge Dismisses Criminal Case Against Kilmar Abrego Garcia; Prosecutors improperly charged Salvadoran immigrant for political reasons, judge found.”

And Josh Gerstein of Politico reports that “Judge dismisses criminal case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia; The judge called it a vindictive prosecution.”

You can access today’s decision of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee at this link.

“Motion for Forfeiture of Property by USA as to Thomas C. Goldstein”: Federal prosecutors filed this motion yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

And the docket sheet reveals that the motion to Appear Pro Hac Vice for Elizabeth Prelogar has been flagged as needing modification before it can be processed.

“There Are Scandals. There Is the Law. And Then There’s This.” Emily Bazelon and David French have this conversation online at The New York Times.

“NY High Court, Volokh Tussle With Hate Speech Law’s Requirements”: Beth Wang of Bloomberg Law has this report (subscription required for full access).

“Court Packing: A Threat to the Supreme Court’s Legitimacy.” House Judiciary GOP has posted this video on YouTube.

“House Democrats take on the Supreme Court shadow docket; A trio of bills from Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin would require Supreme Court justices to explain their secretive emergency orders and change how the high court selects cases for review”: Benjamin S. Weiss of Courthouse News Service has this report.

“Trump Just Took Us Somewhere the Country Has Never Been Before”: Noah Shachtman has this guest essay online at The New York Times.

“Supreme Court dismisses death penalty case on people with mental disabilities; The majority dismissed on procedural grounds the case of Joseph Clifton Smith, whose mental faculties skirt the threshold for being spared the death penalty”: Justin Jouvenal of The Washington Post has this report.

You can access today’s order of the U.S. Supreme Court, and the opinions accompanying it, at this link.

“Audit Immunity for Trump Family Puts I.R.S. in a Bind; Federal law prohibits the Internal Revenue Service from halting an audit at the direction of the president or his aides”: Andrew Duehren of The New York Times has this news analysis.

“The President Who Sued Himself; The Trump administration settles Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS with $1.776 billion for his allies and blanket immunity from government suits for the Trumps”: Anna Bower and Eric Columbus have this post at the “Lawfare” blog.