“Blaming the Chief Justice”: Online today at The New York Times, Linda Greenhouse has an essay that begins, “Do you hold Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. responsible for the ascendancy of Donald Trump?”

“Down a justice, John Roberts looks to find compromise, avoid 4-4 ties”: Ariane de Vogue of CNN.com has this report.

“Brother, Spare Me a Dime. Or Else.” Online at Bloomberg View, law professor Noah Feldman has an essay that begins, “Laws that ban street begging often are challenged as a violation of First Amendment free speech rights. Appellate courts are divided on the question, and the Supreme Court has never answered it definitively.”

And at The Huffington Post, Evan Bernick has a blog entry titled “Yes, the First Amendment Protects Panhandling: A Defense of the Supreme Court’s ‘Free Speech Absolutism.’”

“There’s Almost No Evidence That Merrick Garland Will Take Away Your Guns; A congressional report on the Supreme Court nominee should relieve fears that he’s a nemesis of the Second Amendment”: Cristian Farias of The Huffington Post has this report.

“A Nasty Split in U.S. Courts Over Human Rights”: Law professor Noah Feldman has this essay online today at Bloomberg View.

“Critical Evidence May Have Been Destroyed, Sheikh Mohammed Lawyers Say; Defense sought to halt proceedings and disqualify military judge Col. James Pohl and prosecution team led by Brig. Gen. Mark Martins”: Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

“2nd Circuit splinters over rehearing Alien Tort Statute case v. Arab Bank”: Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has this report today.

“Alleged 9/11 plotter’s lawyers ask prosecutor, judge to quit trial over destruction of evidence”: Carol Rosenberg of The Miami Herald has this report.

And The Associated Press reports that “Removal of judge, prosecutors sought in Guantanamo 9/11 case.”

“Garland questionnaire doesn’t include detailed financial info”: Seung Min Kim and Josh Gerstein of Politico.com have this report.

“Appeals court hears challenge to Maryland’s ban on ‘assault weapons'”: Ann E. Marimow of The Washington Post has this report.

And The Associated Press reports that “US appeals court hears Maryland gun control case.”

You can access via this link (51.2 MB mp3 audio file) the audio of today’s oral argument before the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

“Sex Offenders and a Facebook Free Speech Fight”: Patrick Gregory of Bloomberg BNA has this blog post today.

“With Trump And SCOTUS, Do Qualifications Even Matter? It’s a question Republican senators found extremely hard to answer.” Michael McAuliff of The Huffington Post has this report.

“Fit to be tied: Why the Supreme Court is slowing down.” Steven Mazie has this post at the “Democracy in America” blog of The Economist.

“History as Farce at the Alabama Supreme Court”: Law professor Noah Feldman has this essay online at Bloomberg View.

“No News Is No News: Why it’s virtually impossible to cover Merrick Garland.” Dahlia Lithwick has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Appeals court to revisit challenge to Maryland’s ban on ‘assault weapons'”: Ann E. Marimow of The Washington Post has an article that begins, “A federal appeals court on Wednesday will revisit the legality of Maryland’s ban on certain semiautomatic firearms passed after the 2012 mass shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school.”

Once the audio of today’s oral argument of the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit becomes available online, I will link to it.

“Divided Circuit Won’t Rehear Arab Bank Suit”: Courthouse News Service has this report on an order, including concurrences and dissents, denying rehearing en banc that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued yesterday.

“Beth Walker wins Supreme Court race; ousts Benjamin”: Phil Kabler of The Gazette-Mail of Charleston, West Virginia has an article that begins, “Buoyed by more than $3 million of outside spending from Republican and pro-business political action committees touting her candidacy and attacking challengers Darrell McGraw and Bill Wooton, Morgantown lawyer Beth Walker prevailed in the state’s first non-partisan election for state Supreme Court justice.”

The Associated Press reports that “GOP-backed Walker ousts incumbent Supreme Court justice.”

And The West Virginia Record reports that “Walker wins seat on West Virginia Supreme Court.”

“Jerk.com Founder Liable for Deceiving Its Users”: Courthouse News Service has this report on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued yesterday.

“Supreme Court Nominee Garland Submits Paperwork to Senate Judiciary Panel; Questionnaire offers some insight on Obama pick’s views from past cases”: Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

And Richard Wolf and Gregory Korte of USA Today report that “Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland lists his Top 10 cases.”

“Garland Stepped Aside in 66 Cases Because of Financial Holdings”: Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News has this report.

“White House prods Senate on Garland amid Republican blockade”: Richard Cowan and Lawrence Hurley of Reuters have this report.

“Two Of America’s Richest Men Secretly Tried To Sway Montana’s Judicial Elections; In the post-Citizens United world, these billionaires have found a new way to attack a state law they don’t like”: Paul Blumenthal recently had this article online at The Huffington Post.

“Merrick Garland Coolly Tells Congress He’s Never Been Overruled By The Supreme Court; It’s as close to bragging as the uncontroversial judge will probably get”: Cristian Farias of The Huffington Post has this report.

“This Election Inspired a John Grisham Novel; Now It Just Got Even Weirder; Twelve years after coal baron Don Blankenship bought a seat on the West Virginia Supreme Court, the tables have turned”: Pema Levy has this article online at Mother Jones.

“What, If Anything, Has Judge Garland Said About the Second Amendment and Guns?” The Congressional Research Service has issued this “Legal Sidebar.”

“For Merrick Garland and Republicans, a Tango of Praise and Rejection”: Emmarie Huetteman has this article in today’s edition of The New York Times.

U.S. Supreme Court nominee, and D.C. Circuit Chief Judge, Merrick B. Garland‘s answers to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee‘s questionnaire can be accessed online: At this link.

Update: In news coverage, The Associated Press reports that “White House sends high court pick’s questionnaire to Senate.”

“Bad Faith or Bad Principle? On Chief Justice Roberts, the Affordable Care Act and Judicial Restraint.” Evan Bernick has this blog entry at The Huffington Post.

“Roy Moore: Better Politician Than Judge.” Andrew Cohen has this essay online at the Brennan Center for Justice.

“The Dangers of the Ever More Powerful Presidency”: Lincoln Caplan has this post online at The New Yorker.

“Constraints on Beggars Crumble After U.S. Supreme Court Case”: Bloomberg News has this report today.

“Kansas Supreme Court to see how new school funding stacks up”: The Associated Press has this report.

“Justices Kagan and Stevens on the Supreme Court”: C-SPAN has posted this video online from the recent Seventh Circuit Judicial Conference.

Of course, I’m hoping to see Justice Kagan in just a couple of weeks at the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference, where I will be participating on a law blogging panel with this guy and this guy.

“White House to send Garland’s questionnaire to Senate”: The Associated Press has this report.