“A Big Moment for Federalism at the Supreme Court: Boulder’s climate lawsuit would return the U.S. to the era of the Articles of Confederation.” This editorial will appear in Saturday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.
And at the “Lawfare” blog, James Goodwin and Wendy Wagner have a post titled “The Next Anti-democratic Threat From the Supreme Court: Industry-backed preemption arguments in the climate deception case threaten the federalism safeguards that check an imperial presidency.”
“Jon Kyl’s Impact on Judicial Confirmations; On filibusters, Harriet Miers nomination, and more”: Ed Whelan has this post at his “Confirmation Tales” Substack site.
“How My Alleged Political Crime Made It to the Supreme Court — and Trump’s Desk; The long journey from prison to petitioner was often uncertain”: P.G. Sittenfeld will have this essay in Saturday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.
“With Christa Pike Unconscious, Another Execution Attempt Is in Doubt; Her condition raises questions about whether Tennessee could attempt to execute her again if she is incapable of understanding what is happening”: Emily Cochrane of The New York Times has this report.
“Even Originalists Make Mistakes; An interpretive method disciplines the decision-making process, but it doesn’t free judges of the need to exercise judgment”: This excerpt adapted from Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.’s new book, “So Ordered: An Originalist’s View of the Constitution, the Court and Our Country,” whose publication date is next Tuesday, will appear in Saturday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.
“DOJ Wants to Muzzle Judges Who Speak Out About the Rule of Law”: Mark Recktenwald has this essay online at Bloomberg Law.
“How the Supreme Court Caused a Botched Execution in Tennessee; There is a straight line between the high court’s grisly machinations and the horrors that befell Christa Pike in the execution chamber”: Matt Ford has this essay online at The New Republic.
“Trump clashes ahead as new Supreme Court term begins; The president has lost major cases and openly criticized the justices, but he still has a winning record at the court, which will consider his immigration policies and more this term”: Lawrence Hurley of NBC News has this report.
“Finally, You Can Pay Money to Balls & Strikes; What better way to mark the start of a new Supreme Court term than doing your part to make legal journalism less awful?” Jay Willis has this post at his “Balls & Strikes” Substack site.
“Todd Butler’s Problematic Publications; He consistently attacks Justice Scalia, as advancing his ‘own political agenda’”: Josh Blackman has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy,” along with a related post titled “Todd Butler Compared Street Preacher In Supreme Court Case To ‘Domestic Terrorism’; The case was a dry dispute about jurisdiction; There was no reason to impugn the preacher’s faith.”
“Supreme Court spotlights fight against climate action in term opener; Climate change is on the docket next week as the justices confront limits on pollution controls and who should face consequences for the effects of fossil fuel emissions”: Kelsey Reichmann of Courthouse News Service has this report.
“Pa. Justices Keep But Decry $250K Damages Cap In $7M Case”: P.J. D’Annunzio of Law360 has this report (subscription required for full access).
Today’s decision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania consists of a majority opinion, three concurring opinions (here, here, and here), and a dissenting opinion.
Update: In other coverage, Cameryn Oakes of The Legal Inteligencer reports that “Pennsylvania Supreme Court Upholds $250K Cap on Tort Claims Against State; The court struck down arguments that the cap was a violation of the right to a jury trial and remedy, asserting that the cap is within the power of the legislature to enact; The dissent argued the caps are facially unconstitutional.”
“Restoring Confidence in the Supreme Court”: Sudria Twyman has this essay online at Third Way.
“Trump’s Supreme Court grievance grows as new term looms; The president regularly rails at the justices, who may soon referee fights between him and a Democratic Congress”: Josh Gerstein of Politico has this report.
“Previewing the Supreme Court’s 2026-2027 Term”: The National Constitution Center has posted this video on YouTube.
“Court blocks government from carving Trump’s name into Institute of Peace building”: Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times has this report.
And Suzanne Monyak of Bloomberg Law reports that “Trump’s Name Can’t Be Carved Into Institute of Peace, Court Says.”
You can access yesterday’s order of a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at this link.
“Trump’s White House Press Ban Is Not Even Close to Legal; The president’s lawyers once again struggle with basic constitutional law principles that a bright 1L would have little trouble explaining”: G.S. Hans has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.
“Supreme Court agrees to hear new religious liberty case over shrine to Virgin Mary”: Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times has this report.
“When Judges Pick Their Law Clerks As Replacements: Judge Southwick announces he will take senior status, and two days later President Trump nominates Southwick’s former clerk.” Josh Blackman has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”
“Supreme Court to weigh climate lawfare dispute Monday”: Alex Swoyer and Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times have this report.
“Pa. Supreme Court rules against Philadelphia DA in SEPTA special prosecutor case; The court upheld a lower court decision that denied a challenge from District Attorney Larry Krasner”: Ian Thompson of FOX43 in York, Pennsylvania has this report.
Today’s decision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania consists of a majority opinion and a concurring opinion.
Update: In other coverage, Abraham Gutman and Jesse Bunch of The Philadelphia Inquirer report that “Pa. Supreme Court says SEPTA special prosecutor is constitutional, another blow to Krasner; A unanimous Supreme Court rejected District Attorney Larry Krasner’s argument that the SEPTA special prosecutor law is unconstitutional because it strips away the authority of an elected DA.”
“The Supreme Court Won’t Be Trump’s Election-Theft Lackey”: Elie Honig has this post at the “Intelligencer” blog of New York magazine.
“Not a MAGA Court”: You can access today’s new episode of the “Advisory Opinions” podcast via this link and on YouTube.
“Conservative Justice’s Daughter Outs Herself as Secret Liberal; John Roberts’ daughter backs blue”: Laura Esposito of The Daily Beast has this report.
Access the 12,998-word Brief for Appellant filed with the Fourth Circuit Tuesday in United States v. Thomas C. Goldstein: At this link.
One week ago today, the Fourth Circuit issued this order striking Goldstein’s original Brief for Appellant, which weighed-in at 17,990 words.
“DOJ Deepens Clash With Judiciary That Has Blocked Trump Agenda”: Georgia Fearn and Zoe Tillman of Bloomberg News have this report.
“Trump to Tap Phelps Dunbar Partner for Fifth Circuit Vacancy”: Olivia Alafriz and Jacqueline Thomsen of Bloomberg Law have this report.
Earlier, at his “Nomination Notes” Substack site, Patrick McNeil had a post titled “Judicial nominees remain pending as the Senate leaves until after the midterms; A look at where things stand — and what might happen before the year is over.”
“Taking On Trump Immigration Agenda, Justices Will Review Migrant Detention Policy; The administration’s policy of detaining immigrants who crossed the border illegally years ago and holding them without a bond hearing has divided lower courts”: Ann E. Marimow of The New York Times has this report.
Julian Mark of The Washington Post reports that “Supreme Court to scrutinize ICE’s mandatory detention policy for immigrants; Under President Donald Trump, some immigrants have been denied bond hearings and spent months in detention while awaiting removal proceedings.”
Maureen Groppe of USA Today reports that “Supreme Court to decide if ICE can detain undocumented immigrants indefinitely; The vast majority of federal judges have said the government must give immigrants a chance to seek bond.”
Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times reports that “Supreme Court to hear challenge to detentions at heart of Trump’s deportations.”
Kyle Cheney of Politico reports that “Supreme Court will rule on Trump’s ICE detention policy; Lower courts have overwhelmingly rejected ICE’s novel view of its detention authority.”
And Kelsey Reichmann of Courthouse News Service reports that “Justices take up ICE mandatory detention policy; The Trump administration asked the high court to approve a novel interpretation of immigration law to greenlight the president’s mass deportation agenda.”
“Judge says U.S. can’t prosecute ex-Olympian again in Reflecting Pool case; The case against David Hearn has been dismissed with prejudice”: Jasmine Golden and Liam Bowman of The Washington Post have this report.
And Ashley Ahn of Politico reports that “Judge permanently tosses Trump administration’s reflecting pool vandalism prosecution; The order bars the administration from charging a man again over damages to the pool in Washington.”
You can access today’s decision of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia at this link.
“The Supreme Court’s Summer Break Vanishes, Erased by Emergencies; ‘Our summers used to actually be summers,’ one justice lamented”: Adam Liptak has this new installment of his “The Docket” newsletter online at The New York Times.
“Tennessee Pauses a Planned Execution After a Failed Attempt; Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, ordered a review of the state’s lethal injection process after the botched attempt to put Christa Pike to death; She was hospitalized Wednesday”: Emily Cochrane of The New York Times has this report.
And Kim Chandler and Kristin M. Hall of The Associated Press report that “Tennessee governor calls Christa Pike’s failed execution ‘deeply disturbing’ and calls for a review.”
“John Roberts and His Island; After decades of potlucks and paddle-boarding on Maine’s midcoast, rising anger and protests have left the Supreme Court’s chief justice more isolated than ever”: Jodi Kantor of The New York Times has this report.
“Trump Laments Lack of Loyalty From His Supreme Court Appointees”: Catherine Lucey of Bloomberg News has this report.
You can access the full transcript of the Time Magazine interview at this link.
“The Supreme Court puts cruelty on its docket; In allowing the Trump Administration to continue third-country removals, the court has become complicit in its inhumanity”: Columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr has this essay online at The Boston Globe.
“254. Four Things That (Really) Bother Me About ‘D.V.D. III’; ‘Third-country removals’ raise a host of difficult procedural and substantive questions; The Supreme Court should have answered those questions *before* greenlighting deportations to torture.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.
