“Help Him Help You: The best way for at-risk Republican senators to distance themselves from Donald Trump is to call for hearings for Merrick Garland.” Mark Joseph Stern has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Supreme Court to Consider Legal Standard Drawn From ‘Of Mice and Men'”: Adam Liptak will have this new installment of his “Sidebar” column in Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times.

“Pro-life groups gear up to fight contraceptive mandate as HHS looks to tweak rules”: Tom Howell Jr. of The Washington Times has an article that begins, “Three months after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered both sides to seek out a compromise on Obamacare’s birth control mandate, religious nonprofits that oppose it are mobilizing to win the fight, while the administration is saying it’s ready to tweak the rules.”

“Va. Supreme Court decision rooted in a dark past”: Oliver W. Hill Jr. has this essay online at The Richmond Times-Dispatch.

“British Columbia civil rights group punches above its weight in national legal disputes”: Geordon Omand of The Canadian Press has this report.

“Connecticut man fired for smoking marijuana at work wins appeal”: Jonathan Stempel of Reuters has this report on a ruling that the Supreme Court of Connecticut issued on Friday.

“With New Legal Team, Rowland Gets Extension To Appeal Conviction To U.S. Supreme Court”: Edmund H. Mahony of The Hartford Courant has this report.

According to the article, “Rowland is represented at the Supreme Court by Washington attorney Noel Francisco, who sent shock waves through the legal and political worlds in June when he persuaded the high court to dismiss corruption charges against another former Republican governor, Robert F. McDonnell of Virginia.”

“It’s Children Against Federal Lawyers in Immigration Court”: Fernanda Santos will have this article in Sunday’s edition of The New York Times.

“Don’t bet on Ruth Bader Ginsburg retiring if Clinton becomes president”: Robert Barnes of The Washington Post has an article that begins, “For those envisioning a line of moving vans at the Supreme Court and a new president immediately reordering life at the marble palace, this small splash of cold water: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 83, has already hired the four clerks who will assist her through June 2018.”

“15 Minutes with Jeffrey Toobin; Toobin swung by the Harvard Crimson to talk about his new book, ‘American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst,’ his reporting process, and the profession of journalism.” Brandon J. Dixon of The Harvard Crimson has this report.

“Harry Briggs Jr., a Catalyst for Brown v. Board of Education, Dies at 75”: This obituary, written by Sam Roberts, appears in today’s edition of The New York Times.

“Ginsburg pays tribute to Scalia”: Anne Constable of The Santa Fe New Mexican has an article that begins, “Even lawyers aren’t above gushing over Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who just finished her 23rd year on the U.S. Supreme Court.”

“Texas court halts execution of man who didn’t pull trigger”: The Associated Press has this report.

“Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks in Pojoaque”: Maggie Shepard of The Albuquerque Journal has an article that begins, “It was like a rock concert for attorneys and judges, with an enthusiastic standing ovation, hoots and hollers and cell phones aloft capturing the star’s performance.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Justice Ginsburg laments deadlocks on short-handed court.”

“Ex-soldier’s case tests whether flirting is in eye of beholder”: Michael Doyle of McClatchy DC has this report.

“The Supreme Court’s awful Hobby Lobby decision just spawned a very ugly stepchild”: Columnist Michael Hiltzik has this essay online at The Los Angeles Times.

“Unions, Ledbetter Warn of Supreme Court Implications of Election”: Chris Opfer of Bloomberg BNA has this report.

“State seeks breast enhancement records in Markel case”: Karl Etters of The Tallahassee Democrat has an article that begins, “Prosecutors are seeking medical records that show Dan Markel’s former brother-in-law paid for half of a breast enhancement for the girlfriend of one of the law professor’s accused killers.”

Easterbrook and Posner on inflatable rats, in an opinion also featuring a photo of an inflatable cat: Today, a star-studded three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit — consisting of Chief Judge Diane P. Wood, and Circuit Judges Richard A. Posner and Frank H. Easterbook (both former Seventh Circuit chief judges) — issued a ruling in which Judge Easterbrook’s majority opinion begins:

Rats. This case is about rats. Giant, inflatable rats, which unions use to demonstrate their unhappiness with employers that do not pay union-scale wages. Cats too — inflatable fat cats, wearing business suits and pinkie rings, strangling workers.

The majority opinion contains two photos, one of the rat and one of the cat.

Judge Posner, meanwhile, issued a separate opinion concurring and dissenting that’s nearly twice as long as the majority opinion, no doubt in part because his opinion contains four photos. Alas, all four photos in the dissent are of the rat, demonstrating that while Judge Posner may be a self-described “cat-person,” his love of felines does not extend to the very large, blow-up variety.

“As Donald Trump Falters, Democrats Plan to Press Fight for Supreme Court”: Alan Rappeport will have this article in Saturday’s edition of The New York Times.

“Vanderbilt law students triumph in Sixth Circuit case despite laryngitis”: Jim Patterson of Vanderbilt News has this report.

My earlier coverage of Tuesday’s Sixth Circuit ruling can be accessed here.

“Starr out as Baylor law professor”: Phillip Ericksen of The Waco Tribune has this report.

And Kalyn Story of The Baylor Lariat reports that “Judge Starr agrees to leave Baylor.”

“Federal Judge: Religious Liberty Includes a Right to Fire LGBTQ Employees.” Mark Joseph Stern has this essay online at Slate.

“Thurgood Marshall’s interracial love: ‘I don’t care what people think. I’m marrying you.'” DeNeen L. Brown has this article in today’s edition of The Washington Post.

“Supreme Court Is About To Get A Good Look At How North Carolina Messes With Voting Rules; The state’s Republican Party is making tweaks to early voting, and the justices will know all about it”: Cristian Farias of The Huffington Post has this report.

“In Anchorage, Sotomayor discusses Supreme Court scrutiny, offers advice”: DJ Summers of the Alaska Journal of Commerce has this report.

“Supreme Court diversity requirement ‘a huge change,’ law prof says; New selection process for Supreme Court justices concerns Atlantic Canada legal community”: Stephanie Sirois of CBC News has an article that begins, “A new selection process for Supreme Court justices has the legal community in Atlantic Canada worried the region will be without a jurist on the country’s top court.”

“Appeals Court Reverses Live Nation Win in Run-D.M.C. Merchandise Suit; The panel finds the merchandiser’s summary judgment win on issues of willful infringement was premature”: Ashley Cullins has this post at the “THR, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter about a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued today.

“Appeals court formally nullifies Texas abortion restrictions”: The Associated Press has this report on a per curiam ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued today.

“Faith and military duty: Do they conflict?” Lyle Denniston has this post today at the “Constitution Daily” blog of the National Constitution Center.

“Court: Hobby Lobby ruling OKs some employment discrimination.” Josh Gerstein of Politico.com has this blog post today.

“Asking Judges to Decide Who’s Bisexual Is Messy”: Law professor Noah Feldman has this essay online at Bloomberg View.

And online at Slate, Mark Joseph Stern has an essay titled “Court Holds Bisexual Asylum Seeker Isn’t Actually Bisexual, Drawing Withering Dissent.”

My earlier coverage of yesterday’s Seventh Circuit ruling appears here and here.

“The Supreme Court Doesn’t Care if You’re Busy”: Kimberly Robinson of Bloomberg BNA has this report.

“College Athletes Lose Appeal Over Use of Their Images in Game Broadcasts; The 6th Circuit opines that athletes don’t have publicity right interests in sports broadcasts”: Eriq Gardner has this post at the “THR, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter about a non-precedential ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued yesterday.

“Unusual request for divorce at the heart of Kentucky case”: The Associated Press has this report.