“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.
“After languishing in state legislatures across the country, a novel approach to curtailing money in politics becomes law in Hawaii; SB 2471 was crafted allow the state to curb corporate political spending”: Will Lennon and Beatrice Peterson of ABC News have this report.
“Benjamin Flowers pressed on Ohio record at Senate hearing for appeals judgeship”: Sabrina Eaton of The Cleveland Plain Dealer has this report.
“The I.R.S. Thought It Could Fight Trump’s Lawsuit, but It Struck a Deal Anyway; Officials wrote a memo outlining ways to challenge President Trump’s suit against the Internal Revenue Service; The administration is instead creating a compensation fund”: Andrew Duehren of The New York Times has this report.
“Ex-Solicitor General Prelogar Joins Tom Goldstein’s Legal Team”: Holly Barker of Bloomberg Law has this report (subscription required for full access).
You can access the federal government’s recently filed Opposition to Goldstein’s Motion for Judgment of Acquittal or New Trial at this link.
Update: In other news coverage, Mike Scarcella of Reuters reports that “Washington lawyer Goldstein hires ex-US solicitor general Prelogar to fight tax verdict.”
“All the Things Wrong with Trump’s Billion-Dollar Fund”: You can access today’s new episode of the “Advisory Opinions” podcast via this link and on YouTube.
“An Early Look at Scalia-Ginsburg Friendship; Competing (or not) over a law clerk”: Ed Whelan has this post at his “Confirmation Tales” Substack site.
“Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund in the Cross Hairs; Critics say the deal creates a ‘slush fund,’ a term with a colorful maritime history”: Adam Liptak has this new installment of his “The Docket” newsletter online at The New York Times.
“How the $1.8 Billion Trump Fund May Violate Past Practice and Policy; The fund that could offer payouts to Trump allies who accuse the government of mistreatment is not only highly unusual but also appears to violate the administration’s own policies”: Devlin Barrett of The New York Times has this report.
And in commentary, online at The New York Times, Jeffrey Toobin has a guest essay titled “Trump Just Pardoned Himself and His Family Forever.”
“Mandatory retirement for New York judges hits top state court; Judges sharply questioned an attorney for a trio of septuagenarian judges who say the mandatory retirement age thwarts civil rights laws”: Nina Pullano of Courthouse News Service has this report.
“Chew toy makers hound Ninth Circuit over Jack Daniel’s copyright challenge; VIP Products says the term ‘Bad Spaniels’ isn’t enough to evoke the name of the Tennessee whiskey giant under federal copyright law”: Joe Duhownik of Courthouse News Service has this report.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has posted the audio of today’s oral argument on YouTube.
“Trump Court Picks Now Cite Justice Jackson on 2020 Election”: Olivia Alafriz of Bloomberg Law has this report.
“The Supreme Court refuses to ‘toy with’ protecting democracy; The justices retreat on voting rights in favor of a do-nothing doctrine”: Theodore R. Johnson has this essay online at The Washington Post.
“Former Speaker Shekarchi lands interview for R.I. Supreme Court seat; Former Common Cause Rhode Island director argues that the state’s revolving door prohibition makes Shekarchi, who just stepped down, ineligible at this time”: Edward Fitzpatrick of The Boston Globe has this report.
“Walz names Theodora Gaïtas as chief justice of Minnesota Supreme Court; She will replace Natalie Hudson when Hudson retires this fall; Walz also named Reynaldo Aligada Jr. as the court’s newest associate justice”: Allison Kite of The Minnesota Star Tribune has this report.
Yesterday, the Office of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz issued a new release titled “Governor Walz Appoints Justice Theodora Gaïtas to Serve as Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court and Judge Reynaldo Aligada, Jr. as Associate Justice.”
“Georgia Supreme Court Justices Fend Off Left-Leaning Challengers; The Republican-appointed incumbents had faced well-financed opponents who infused issues like abortion rights into the nonpartisan elections”: Rick Rojas of The New York Times has this report.
Rosie Manins of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that “Supreme Court justices defeat election challenges from attorneys; Justices Sarah Hawkins Warren and Charlie Bethel won reelection in nonpartisan races against lawyers Jen Jordan and Miracle Rankin.”
And Maya Homan of Georgia Recorder reports that “Bethel, Warren hang on to Georgia Supreme Court seats.”
“Supreme Court rulings loom in four major Trump-related cases”: Jan Wolfe of Reuters has this report.
