“Supreme Court isn’t on the ballot. But in campaigns, it is hotly contested. Some Democrats propose to expand the court and impose term limits on justices if they regain control of Congress, although similar proposals have failed in the past.” Bart Jansen of USA Today has this report.

“Trump Erupted After Learning of Alina Habba’s $50 Million Deal; Angry about the scale of a contract signed by one of his former lawyers with the family of a wealthy pardon seeker, the president told allies he wanted some of the money to go to his future presidential library”: Tyler Pager of The New York Times has this report.

“Fourth Circuit considers Second Amendment argument from man arrested near CIA headquarters; A man arrested outside the CIA headquarters in 2025 argues the federal government violated his Second Amendment rights”: Yann Ranaivo of Courthouse News Service has this report.

You can access the audio of yesterday’s oral argument before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit at this link.

“Ninth Circuit panel skeptical of San Diego abortion clinic speech restrictions; A Ninth Circuit panel pressed attorneys on whether San Diego’s restrictions on speech outside abortion clinics are unconstitutionally vague, as an anti-abortion protester seeks to revive his dismissed lawsuit”: Quinn Welsch of Courthouse News Service has this report.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has posted the video of this oral argument on YouTube.

“Read the (Proposed) Amicus Brief I Filed Supporting the State of Alaska in the Suit Where DOJ Wants to Stop Certification in the U.S. Senate Race”: Rick Hasen has this post at his “Election Law Blog.”

“In this appeal from a direct criminal contempt conviction, we consider whether a courtroom spectator who called a judge a vulgar insult in open court ‘obstruct[ed] the administration of justice’ within the meaning of the Judicial Code. We conclude that he did not. Thus, we reverse.” So begins a decision that the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania issued today. The decision was accompanied by a concurring opinion.

“The Trump Justice Department Has Been Reduced to Lying About a Golf Course Renovation; A fitting end to the first two years of Trump’s second term in office”: Jay Willis has this post at his “Balls & Strikes” Substack site.

“Trump’s North Dakota judicial nominee is unqualified and extreme. That’s why he was nominated. Phil Axt graduated from law school in 2018 and has been working to restrict fundamental rights.” Patrick McNeil has this post at his “Nomination Notes” Substack site.

“Two cheers for ‘insecure originalism’”: Richard Re has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

“Bringing Charges Against the President’s Political Enemies”: You can access today’s new episode of the “Advisory Opinions” podcast via this link and on YouTube.

“DOJ Faults Judge Who Bashed Trump’s IRS Lawsuit, Settlement”: Erik Larson of Bloomberg News has this report.

You can access the brief that the U.S. Department of Justice filed yesterday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit at this link.

“Seventh Circuit hears challenge to Illinois firearm suppressor ban; Illinois gun advocates maintained that regulating firearm suppressors runs afoul to their right to bear arms”: Caitlyn Rosen of Courthouse News Service has this report.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has posted the audio of yesterday’s oral argument on YouTube.

“Amy Coney Barrett’s Sex Equality Constitution: The View from United States v. Skrmetti.” Law professor Marc Spindelman has posted this paper online at SSRN.

“Thinking Clearly About January 6; Crooks, suckers, and real revolutionaries”: Hamilton Nolan has this post at his “How Things Work” Substack site.

“Midterm Elections and Judicial Confirmations; What four Senate flips since 1986 show about what’s at stake in 2026”: Ed Whelan has this post at his “Confirmation Tales” Substack site.

“Bonus 259: City of Baltimore v. Texas; Federal courts aren’t supposed to rubber-stamp suits between parties (especially government parties) who aren’t actually adverse; On Tuesday, the justices let one stand without a word.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.

“You Should See the Other Guy”: You can access today’s new episode of the “Divided Argument” podcast via this link.

“Federal District Court Denies DOJ’s Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order in California Ballot Case; What’s Next?” Rick Hasen has this post at his “Election Law Blog.”

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

In other coverage, Kevin Rector and Brittny Mejia of The Los Angeles Times report that “Judge denies feds’ request to block 20,000 California ballots in blistering opinion.”

Shawn Hubler of The New York Times reports that “Judge Rejects Trump Officials’ Bid to Set Aside California Ballots; The judge ruled that no immediate action was necessary, dealing another setback to the administration as it moves to target voting by noncitizens.”

Patrick Marley of The Washington Post reports that “Judge rejects Justice Department bid to set aside California ballots; U.S. District Judge David O. Carter cites ‘longstanding constitutional principles’ in refusing DOJ request to set aside ballots from what it suspects are noncitizens.”

And Edvard Pettersson of Courthouse News Service reports that “Judge rejects Trump bid to sequester votes by ’noncitizens’ in California; The Trump administration has frequently claimed without evidence that California allows noncitizens to register to vote — and that they do so.”

“Carol Rosenberg on the Past and Future of Guantanamo’s Military Courts”: Just Security has posted this video on YouTube.

“The Trump DOJ’s Latest Absurd Charge Against Comey; For the judge in the case, this is not a hard one”: Andrew C. McCarthy has this essay online at National Review.

“Parents of Sandy Hook victims ask Supreme Court to uphold assault-rifle ban; The friend-of-the-court brief comes ahead of a major case that will test the constitutionality of state laws barring the sale of the popular rifle that has also been used in many mass shootings”: Justin Jouvenal of The Washington Post has this report.

You can access the amicus brief at this link.

“Justice Department Push Against Trump’s Foes Reaches Higher Gear; Prosecutors have been feeling pressure to make progress on president’s priorities before Election Day”: Sadie Gurman, Dave Michaels, and C. Ryan Barber of The Wall Street Journal have this report.

Perry Stein and Jeremy Roebuck of The Washington Post report that “Comey, Hutchinson and more Trump foes are in Justice Dept.’s pre-election sights; Todd Blanche has had some of his busiest weeks as attorney general ahead of the election, cannonballing into politically fraught cases as the president cheers him on.”

And Devlin Barrett of The New York Times has an article headlined “Here Are the U.S. Attorneys Who Are Carrying Out Trump’s Grievance Agenda; Together, they have pursued cases against the president’s enemies and protesters and amplified false claims of widespread election fraud, often citing thin evidence.”

“Doctor argues North Carolina overshoots federal medication abortion rules; The preemption case — how far states can go in regulating certain medications without trampling on FDA authority — could have far-reaching impacts on high-risk drugs”: Sydney Haulenbeek of Courthouse News Service has this report.

You can access the oral argument audio on YouTube.

“Can the Attorney General Remove Assistant U.S. Attorneys at Will? Judge Furman holds that the attorney general cannot fire an assistant U.S. attorney without cause, and that Article II does not change that.” Nick Bednar has this post at the “Lawfare” blog.

“Alvin K. Hellerstein, Federal Judge Who Oversaw Maduro Case, Dies at 92; Judge Hellerstein died on Wednesday morning. He was appointed in 1998 and was overseeing the trial of Nicolás Maduro”: Santul Nerkar and Benjamin Weiser of The New York Times have this report.

And Erica Orden of Politico reports that “Judge overseeing Maduro case dies; Alvin Hellerstein was 92.”

“Texas Judge’s Racial Comments to Lawyer Sparked Investigation”: Jacqueline Thomsen of Bloomberg Law has an article that begins, “A lawyer’s misconduct complaint against US District Judge Ada Brown stemmed from a hearing during which she repeatedly directed racial insults at him, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg Law.”

“At 4th Circ., DOJ Admits But Downplays Goldstein Trial Errors”: Jeff Overley of Law360 has this report (subscription required for full access).

You can access the prosecution’s Brief for Appellee filed yesterday at this link.

Update: In other coverage, Holly Barker of Bloomberg Law reports that “DOJ Admits Confusion While Denying Tom Goldstein Trial Error” (subscription required for full access).

“Indiana maintains constitutionality of election law before Seventh Circuit; An Indiana University student and two state advocacy groups challenged Indiana’s voter ID law, which prohibits the use of student IDs at polling places”: Caitlyn Rosen of Courthouse News Service has this report.

You can access the audio of today’s oral argument before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit at this link.

“Trump administration can block immigration judges from closing deportation cases; The Supreme Court, in an unsigned opinion, cleared the way for the White House to restrict the Biden-era policy”: Justin Jouvenal of The Washington Post has this report.

And Kelsey Reichmann of Courthouse News Service reports that “Supreme Court won’t block Texas-DOJ deal unraveling immigration court rule; Texas filed a lawsuit against a Biden-era immigration rule, came to an agreement with the Department of Justice and got a judge to sign off on the deal all within the same day.”

You can access today’s order of the U.S. Supreme Court at this link.

“Judge in L.A. weighs feds’ request to block 20,000 California votes with skepticism”: Brittny Mejia and Kevin Rector of The Los Angeles Times have this report.

“Scalia Law Graduate Conor Woodfin JD ’20 Selected to Clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas, Marking Fifth Supreme Court Clerk in Seven Terms”: The Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University has issued this news release.

“Comey’s third criminal case: The dumbest yet? Here’s why the latest docket may have the shortest shelf life.” Adam Klasfeld has this post at his “All Rise News” Substack site.

“This Might Be the Trump DOJ’s Stupidest Legal Argument Yet: Trump’s lawyers are now rewriting federal statutes and hoping that judges won’t notice.” Jay Willis has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.

“How Judge Reyes Became the Lorax: A case about a golf course turns into a tale about the rule of law.” Molly Roberts has this post at the “Lawfare” blog.

“West Virginia law shielding addresses of judges, officers is unconstitutional, court rules”: Nate Raymond of Reuters has this report.

You can access today’s decision of a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit at this link.