“Senator Rand Paul to back bill blocking FBI hacking expansion”: Reuters has a report that begins, “Kentucky Senator Rand Paul plans to become the first Republican co-sponsor of legislation to block a pending judicial rule change that would let U.S. judges issue search warrants for remote access to computers located in any jurisdiction, his office told Reuters on Thursday.”

“Supreme Court Splits on Execution Appeal, Keeping Alabama Man Alive; A 4-4 tie along court’s liberal-conservative divide leaves lower-court order in place”: Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

And Cristian Farias of The Huffington Post reports that “Without Scalia, A Deadlocked Supreme Court Spares Death Row Inmate From Execution; An even split in a capital case is the starkest sign yet from a short-staffed court.”

“Pfizer rules on lethal injection drugs may limit death penalty executions”: Richard Wolf and Jayne O’Donnell of USA Today has this report.

Erik Eckholm of The New York Times reports that “Pfizer Blocks the Use of Its Drugs in Executions.”

Mark Berman of The Washington Post reports that “Pfizer tightens restrictions to keep drugs from being used in executions.”

Lauren Gambino of The Guardian (UK) reports that “Pfizer blocks its drugs from being used in lethal injections in prisons; Move shuts throws death penalty states into deeper disarray as they struggle to obtain drugs and carry out executions.”

Kent Faulk of The Birmingham News has an article headlined “Prison official: Pfizer policy to block its drugs from use in executions does not affect Alabama.”

Bloomberg News reports that “Pfizer to Restrict Sales of Seven Drugs Used in Executions.”

And Reuters reports that “Pfizer blocks its drugs from use in lethal injections.”

“Obama’s push for broader transgender protections may get legal boost from the late Antonin Scalia”: David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has this report.

“Texas school finance system is legal, Supreme Court rules”: Chuck Lindell of The Austin American-Statesman has this report.

Mike Ward and Andrea Zelinski of The Houston Chronicle reports that “Texas Supreme Court rules school finance system is constitutional.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Texas’ high court upholds school funding formula.”

Today’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Texas consists of the 100-page opinion of the court, written by Justice Don R. Willett, and two concurring opinions (here and here).

“Decision Time Arrives for Controversy-Shy U.S. Supreme Court”: Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News has this report.

“Bentley signs abortion bill into law; 2 of state’s largest clinics may close”: Paul Gattis of AL.com has this report.

And Brian Lyman of The Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser reports that “Gov. Bentley signs anti-abortion bills; lawsuits likely.”

“States Move Toward Treating 17-Year-Old Offenders as Juveniles, Not Adults”: Erik Eckholm will have this article in Saturday’s edition of The New York Times.

“Federal judge rules Obamacare is being funded unconstitutionally”: David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has this report. The newspaper has also posted online an editorial titled “The GOP’s scorched-earth approach to Obamacare finally pays off — except for the poor of course.”

In today’s edition of The New York Times, Carl Hulse has an article headlined “Judge Backs House Challenge to a Key Part of Health Law.”

In today’s edition of The Washington Post, Spencer S. Hsu, Greg Jaffe, and Lena H. Sun have an article headlined “Judge strikes down Obama health law insurance subsidy in victory for House GOP.”

At “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Judge: Billions spent illegally on ACA benefits.”

And at WSJ.com’s “Law Blog,” Jacob Gershman has a post titled “Architect of House GOP Obamacare Lawsuit Savors Unlikely Win.”

“UVA Law Graduate Hired by Justice Scalia Will Now Clerk for Justice Alito”: The University of Virginia School of Law issued this news release today. The subject of the item is currently clerking for Sixth Circuit Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton.

“George Mason law school faculty strongly in favor of the Scalia name”: Susan Svrluga of The Washington Post has this report. A “Sense of the Faculty Resolution” that the Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty of the George Mason University School of Law adopted yesterday can be accessed here.

At Bloomberg Law, Blake Edwards has a post titled “George Mason Law Faculty Endorses Scalia Renaming, Regrets Dissension.”

Online at National Review, George Mason law professors Lloyd Cohen and Todd Zywicki have an essay titled “Intolerance of Tolerance at George Mason University; The Left complains about naming a law school after a Supreme Court justice.”

And at “The Volokh Conspiracy,” David Bernstein has a post titled “No, the student body at George Mason University’s law school is not ‘conservative.’”