“Why Would Trump Make A Deal With A Judge Who Ruled Illegal Aliens Have A Right To ‘Locomotion’ In The United States? And does Todd Butler agree with Judge Southwick that denying a bond hearing to illegal aliens is an affront to freedom ‘at its most basic’?” Josh Blackman has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

“Dick Durbin Sends His Filibuster Regrets; As he leaves office, he rues Harry Reid’s Senate arson of 2013”: The Wall Street Journal has published this editorial.

“ICE agents’ smartphone searches trash privacy rights; In a possible Supreme Court case, border guards’ invasions of privacy collide with the Fourth Amendment”: Columnist George F. Will has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“Appeals court considers Trump’s power to fire court-appointed federal prosecutors; The arguments came in a case challenging Trump’s removal of the court-appointed U.S. attorney in Seattle”: Erica Orden of Politico has this report.

And Monique Merrill of Courthouse News Service reports that “Feds fight to keep US attorney fired; The fired U.S. attorney argued Trump lacks the authority to fire court-appointed attorneys.”

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

“Tension over judicial independence on display in WA Supreme Court race”: Paul Roberts of The Seattle Times has this report.

“Abortion Is on the Ballot Again. Where’s the GOP? Dobbs returned the issue to the states, and that’s where Democrats are fighting, at least for now.” Nicole Ault has this essay online at The Wall Street Journal.

“Appeals Court Backs Trump on Constitutionality of Detentions; The ruling, from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, sharply curtails the ability of judges to free undocumented immigrants”: Mattathias Schwartz of The New York Times has this report.

Kyle Cheney of Politico reports that “Appeals court shores up ICE mass detention policy; The 5th Circuit ruling rejects ICE detainees’ rights to bond hearings.”

And Uriel J. García of The Texas Tribune reports that “Trump administration can hold immigrants in ICE custody without bond, court rules; The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled detained immigrants don’t have a constitutional right to a bond hearing after they enter the country illegally.”

“Elena Kagan’s Idea of Democracy; The Justice wants judges, not elected officials, to draw Congressional maps”: This editorial will appear in Saturday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

“9th Circuit blocks path for Trump to again deploy national guard without state approval”: Sonja Sharp of The Los Angeles Times has this report.

And Edvard Pettersson of Courthouse News Service reports that “Ninth Circuit says Trump had no authority to deploy National Guard in LA; The panel followed last year’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court barring the deployment of the National Guard in Chicago, finding no plausible basis there was a ‘rebellion’ last summer in LA.”

“The DOJ Just Telegraphed Trump’s Biggest Election Target”: Law professor Richard L. Hasen has this Jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Not Anymore, Part Two; How the robots won”: Adam Unikowsky has this post at his Substack site, “Adam’s Legal Newsletter.”

“The Originalists Would Have Let Trump Livestream a Firing Squad Execution; The White House believed it could turn capital punishment into entertainment thanks to the Supreme Court”: Alexis Romero has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.

“Appeals court, including Trump appointed judge, sides against him in takeover of California National Guard”: Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle has this report.

You can access today’s decision of a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link. The same three-judge panel also issued this related order today.

“Fifth Circuit slams AI rulings in school diversity policy case; Citing errors that appeared to be the result of AI hallucinations, the appeals panel overturned a Mississippi federal judge’s preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of a state law banning DEI at public schools and universities”: Christina van Waasbergen of Courthouse News Service has this report.

You can access yesterday’s decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit at this link.

“Comey Tries to 86 the Seashells Case: As comical as the prosecution’s case appears, it may well go to trial.” Anna Bower, Eric Columbus, and Molly Roberts have a two-part post (part one; part two) at the “Lawfare” blog.

“Trump Mandatory Immigrant Detention Upheld by Full Fifth Circuit”: Megan Crepeau and Jacqueline Thomsen of Bloomberg Law have this report.

You can access today’s 10-to-7 en banc decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit at this link.

“Chutzpah Department: After Federal District Court Failed to Act within Hours on DOJ ‘Request’ to Expedite TRO Hearing in California Ballot Case, DOJ Already Appealing to the Ninth Circuit.” Rick Hasen has this post at his “Election Law Blog.”

“Philly DA Larry Krasner said the federal investigation into his office ‘does not concern me at all’; Krasner said his office had acted appropriately in a controversial post-conviction case, and sought to cast the probe as a politically motivated effort to target an opponent of President Donald Trump”: Chris Palmer of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this report.

“There Is No Right-Wing Culture War These Two Justices Won’t Fight; Whenever a legal argument goes too far for the other conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito are right there to encourage activists to try again soon”: Jay Willis has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.

“Jan. 6 Rioters Pardoned for Assaulting Cops Now Want Taxpayer Money; Nearly 200 people granted clemency by Trump for Jan. 6 charges are suing for US compensation, including dozens convicted of attacking or impeding law enforcement”: Zoe Tillman of Bloomberg News has this report.

“A Conversation with Justice Elena Kagan”: The Center for the Constitution and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition has posted this video on YouTube.

“Sound Off: A Double Standard for ‘Conservative’ and ‘Liberal’ Labels? Josh Blackman, a professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston, on why he sees a bias in the way The Times uses political labels.” Patrick Healy of The New York Times has this “Sound Off” interview with law professor Josh Blackman.

“The Supreme Court Is More Apathetic Than Partisan”: Law professor Noah Feldman has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.

“CBS insiders say staff want to see reporter fired for political post ripping Michigan Democrat; ‘Bari doesn’t think she did anything wrong’ one insider said”: Isabel Keane of The Independent has this report.

And Zachary Leeman of Mediaite reports that “CBS Journo Reportedly Not Facing Further Repercussions Over Abdul El-Sayed Tweet Amid Internal Calls for Her to Be Fired.”

“‘Lawyer’ Vs. ‘Attorney’: Is This A Thing? I combed through decades-old dictionaries and case law — and interviewed Bryan Garner, the longtime editor of Black’s Law Dictionary — to find out.” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.

“The Attorney General Who Said Nothing; A justice’s retirement secret, an assassination attempt, and ‘Who’s O’Connor?’” Ed Whelan has this post at his “Confirmation Tales” Substack site.

“Who’s the Loneliest Supreme Court Justice?” You can access today’s new episode of the “Advisory Opinions” podcast via this link and on YouTube.

“Why Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson goes it alone”: Joan Biskupic of CNN has this news analysis.

“Is Citizens United to Blame for Everything? Plus: The justices’ book deals mean the court can’t rule on cases involving a media conglomerate.” Adam Liptak has this new installment of his “The Docket” newsletter online at The New York Times.

“Bonus 258: Book Deals and 28 U.S.C. § 2109; The underlying dispute in BMG Rights Management v. Vetter was about a 1962 song; The real lessons are about the Court’s quorum rules — and the mischief caused by the justices’ (many) book deals.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.

“Supreme Court Blocks Trump From Denying Gender-Transition Care to Federal Prisoners; The justices, for now, agreed to continue preventing the Bureau of Prisons from implementing a policy that would prohibit gender-transition medical treatments”: Ann E. Marimow of The New York Times has this report.

Julian Mark of The Washington Post reports that “Supreme Court allows gender transition care for federal prisoners for now; During his first days in office, President Donald Trump signed an order directing officials to end transition care for federal prisoners with gender dysphoria.”

And James Romoser of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Supreme Court Blocks Trump’s Ban on Care for Transgender Prisoners; Court blocks Trump administration from banning hormone treatment and gender-related accommodations for federal inmates.”

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

“Kagan diagnoses American democracy with a Supreme Court problem; Justice Elena Kagan said the high court had created a democracy that does not work as it should”: Kelsey Reichmann of Courthouse News Service has this report.

Federal Switchblade Act violates the Second Amendment and is thus unconstitutional, Fifth Circuit rules: You can access today’s unanimous decision of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit at this link.

“Regulatory Four-Night: Who can fire US Attorneys? The Missing Clear-Statement Analysis; A Thought Experiment About Vacatur, A Reason for Judge Greg Katsas’s Influence, A Firsthand Account of Ken Paxton, and More.” Aaron L. Nielson has this post at Civitas Outlook.

“The Supreme Court’s Right Flank Wants to Give You Fewer Privacy Rights Than a Famous Judge; When a textualist interpretation of a law would hold corporations accountable for violating privacy rights, the conservative justices suddenly feel very differently about how to do their jobs”: Madiba K. Dennie has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.