How Appealing



Friday, May 15, 2026
Thursday, May 14, 2026

“Will Donald Trump Be Allowed to Destroy His Records? A law passed after Watergate makes Presidential records government property; The Trump Administration has declared it unconstitutional.” Ruth Marcus has this essay online at The New Yorker.

Posted at 9:27 PM by Howard Bashman



“Appeals Court Appears Skeptical of Trump Orders Targeting Law Firms; A three-judge panel showed few signs of siding with the president on his efforts to compel law firms to work for the administration or face threats”: Zach Montague of The New York Times has this report.

Mark Berman of The Washington Post reports that “Appeals court shows some skepticism of Trump’s effort to punish law firms; A panel of judges pressed a Justice Department lawyer about the president’s sanctions, meant to target firms that raised his ire.”

And Ryan Knappenberger of Courthouse News Service reports that “DC Circuit signals Trump’s law firm sanctions likely unlawful; The executive orders revoked security clearances for firm employees en masse, suspended any active government contracts and barred attorneys from government buildings, including the Washington federal courthouse.”

Posted at 9:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court Allows Abortion Pill Access by Mail to Continue; A federal appeals court ruling against the Food and Drug Administration would have restricted access by mail to mifepristone”: Ann E. Marimow of The New York Times has this report.

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times reports that “Supreme Court, over two dissents, upholds abortion pills sent by mail, for now.”

James Romoser, Lydia Wheeler, and Jennifer Calfas of The Wall Street Journal report that “Supreme Court Maintains Widespread Access to Abortion Pills; High court decision allows providers to continue sending common abortion drug mifepristone to patients by mail.”

Maureen Groppe of USA Today reports that “Supreme Court keeps abortion pill widely available as challenge continues; In an emergency ruling, the justices said mail-order access to mifepristone can remain while Louisiana is challenging expanded access.”

And Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times reports that “Supreme Court allows abortion pill to be distributed by mail.”

Posted at 8:48 PM by Howard Bashman



“Todd Blanche Is Wasting No Time in His Audition to Be the Next Attorney General; Aggressive moves by acting Justice Department head have won him praise at the White House”: Sadie Gurman and C. Ryan Barber of The Wall Street Journal have this report.

Posted at 8:32 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump Lawyer Tapped for Appeals Court Advanced by Senate Panel”: Olivia Alafriz of Bloomberg Law has this report.

And Benjamin S. Weiss of Courthouse News Service reports that “Senate Judiciary advances former Trump lawyer tapped for Eighth Circuit judgeship; Justin Smith worked on President Donald Trump’s appeal of his $88 million defamation judgment against author E. Jean Carroll — but has pledged to remain an impartial jurist if confirmed to the appellate bench.”

Posted at 8:22 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court temporarily clears way for mail distribution of widely used abortion pill; The decision will, for now, preserve access nationwide to medication abortion, the most common way of ending pregnancies in the United States”: Justin Jouvenal and Praveena Somasundaram of The Washington Post have this report.

You can access this evening’s order of the U.S. Supreme Court, and the dissents therefrom, at this link.

Posted at 5:48 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trucker gets Supreme Court support for injury suit against freight broker; A 2017 tractor-trailer crash that left one truck driver an amputee had the justices questioning who should be held liable for negligent hiring practices”: Kelsey Reichmann of Courthouse News Service has this report.

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

Posted at 3:42 PM by Howard Bashman



“Why Sotomayor Failed to Defend the Progressive Vision of Judging: Short-term incentives and the triumph of conservative rhetoric.” Ed Whelan has this post at his “Confirmation Tales” Substack site.

Posted at 8:38 AM by Howard Bashman



Wednesday, May 13, 2026

“How a New York Wine Importer Helped Take Down Trump’s Tariffs; Victor Owen Schwartz, owner of V.O.S. Selections, discusses sticking his ‘neck out’ to challenge President Trump’s crippling tariffs, the mix of egos on his winning Supreme Court team and his hope for a ‘lifeline’ from refunds”: Jimmy Hoover of The National Law Journal has this report.

Posted at 7:38 PM by Howard Bashman



“Alex Webb ’26 Takes High‑Stakes Advocacy in Stride; From National Collegiate Debate Champion to Best Oralist to Appellate Litigator”: Melissa Castro Wyatt of the University of Virginia School of Law has this report.

Posted at 7:35 PM by Howard Bashman



“10,000 rulings: The courts’ overwhelming rebuke of Trump’s ICE policies; A POLITICO analysis reveals judges have ruled against ICE detention practices in roughly 90 percent of cases since the agency mandated that millions of immigrants must be locked up while they face deportation proceedings.” Kyle Cheney of Politico has this report.

Posted at 7:28 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court faces new criticism for redistricting decisions so close to the 2026 elections; Justices have said judges should not interfere in election disputes so close to the primary process, but their own rulings have triggered a frenzy to draw new congressional maps”: Lawrence Hurley of NBC News has this report.

Posted at 4:04 PM by Howard Bashman



“Something Weird Is Going On With Cole Tomas Allen’s Prosecution”: Elie Honig has this post at the “Intelligencer” blog of New York magazine.

Posted at 8:32 AM by Howard Bashman



“Becoming Justice Gorsuch: I went deep on the past of the Supreme Court’s anonymous ‘nice guy’ conservative; It revealed plenty about how we got here.” Susan Matthews has this Jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

Season 11 of Slate’s “Slow Burn” podcast is titled “Becoming Justice Gorsuch.” The first three episodes were posted online today: (1) “Man With a Plan: To understand the current Supreme Court, you need to understand Neil Gorsuch“; (2) “The Stolen Seat: How Neil Gorsuch leapfrogged Merrick Garland to land a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court“; and (3) “A Lunch Room for Life: Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern on how Gorsuch fits into the current court, where he’s going next, and why he never took his job on the cafeteria committee seriously.”

Posted at 8:28 AM by Howard Bashman



“Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asks public to back judicial independence; Despite barbed opinions, Supreme Court’s newest member insists relationships among the justices are ‘fine’”: Josh Gerstein of Politico has this report.

Posted at 8:20 AM by Howard Bashman



Tuesday, May 12, 2026

“America’s Worst Appeals Court; The Montana Supreme Court should serve as a cautionary tale about judicial oligarchy”: Robert G. Natelson has this post at the “Law & Liberty” blog.

Posted at 9:06 PM by Howard Bashman



“The ‘Science Charade’ After ‘Chevron’; The Court’s decision to overrule Chevron deference may have the unintended effect of strengthening the temptation to rely on the science charade”: Aaron L. Nielson has this post at Civitas Outlook.

Posted at 9:04 PM by Howard Bashman



“There’s an Easy Way to Tell That Trump’s Judicial Nominees Don’t Belong On the Bench; Previously, loyalty to Trump’s agenda was an implicit requirement for aspiring federal judges; On Sunday night, he decided to make it clearer than ever”: Madiba K. Dennie has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.

Posted at 9:02 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court candidates sued the state in secret. A judge is keeping it that way. The AJC had asked a judge to make public the case filed by two Democratic-backed candidates.” Adam Beam of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has this report.

Posted at 8:58 PM by Howard Bashman



“Here’s who could succeed Natalie Hudson as Minnesota Supreme Court chief justice; Hudson announced her retirement last month and will leave the bench Sept. 30; Walz provided a list of finalists Tuesday”: Allison Kite of The Minnesota Star Tribune has this report.

Posted at 8:52 PM by Howard Bashman



“Parents tell 10th Circuit boarding their children with trans students violates their religious freedom; A federal judge dismissed the complaint in 2025, reasoning that parents’ rights to control their children’ religious upbringing do not give them power to control public school policy or curriculum”: Joe Duhownik of Courthouse News Service has this report.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has posted the audio of the oral argument on YouTube.

Posted at 8:20 PM by Howard Bashman



“Residents tell Fifth Circuit Jackson officials poisoned water and lied; An en banc court heard arguments over whether years of lead contamination and claims that officials deceived residents violated their constitutional right to bodily integrity”: Gabriel Tynes of Courthouse News Service has this report.

You can access the oral argument audio via this link.

Posted at 8:12 PM by Howard Bashman



“Rhode Island is the only state with lifetime tenure for its Supreme Court justices; As the former House speaker applies for a high court vacancy, the debate continues about whether Rhode Island should impose a mandatory retirement age for judges”: Edward Fitzpatrick of The Boston Globe has this report.

Posted at 5:25 PM by Howard Bashman



“James Comey says seashells case illustrates Trump’s ‘bottomless desire’ for revenge; The former FBI director was indicted in a case that centers on an Instagram photo of seashells and accuses him of ‘a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President’”: Ryan J. Reilly of NBC News has this report.

Posted at 2:46 PM by Howard Bashman