“Paul E. Pfeifer: Retiring Ohio Supreme Court justice has left mark.” Randy Ludlow of The Columbus Dispatch has an article that begins, “Justice Paul E. Pfeifer leaves the Ohio Supreme Court with a legacy as a colorful contrarian, doubter of the death penalty and author of powerful dissents that skewered the majority’s rulings.”

“Supreme Court verdict hasn’t deterred Texas lawmakers from filing abortion bills”: Samantha Ketterer has this article in today’s edition of The Dallas Morning News.

“A shot fired into Mexico killed a teenager, and now, the Supreme Court will weigh in”: Jordan Rudner of The Dallas Morning News has this report.

“D.C. Circuit Review — Reviewed: Circuit Split!” Aaron Nielson has this post at the “Notice & Comment” blog of the Yale Journal on Regulation about a ruling that a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued today.

“The Continuing Collapse of the Death Penalty”: This editorial appears in today’s edition of The New York Times.

“David Boies on Halliburton’s end: remembering a daughter and a disaster that wasn’t.” Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has this post today.

In the January 2017 issue of ABA Journal magazine: Mark Walsh has an article headlined “How will Trump shape the Supreme Court?”

Terry Carter has the magazine’s cover story headlined “Erasing the News: Should some stories be forgotten?”

And the new installment of Bryan A. Garner’s “On Words” column is headlined “A Lost Art: Read any good book reviews lately? Probably not — and here’s why that can be a bad thing.”

“U.S. appeals court revives Clinton email suit”: Doina Chiacu of Reuters has this report on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued today.

Ninth Circuit grants rehearing en banc in case presenting Second Amendment challenge to zoning of gun stores: You can access today’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granting rehearing en banc at this link.

My earlier coverage of the original partially divided three-judge panel’s ruling, which allowed such a Second Amendment zoning challenge to proceed, can be accessed here and here.

Northern Mariana Islands voting restriction to those of “Northern Marianas descent” violates Fifteenth Amendment, Ninth Circuit holds: You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.

“Let’s Hear It For The Lawyer Who Fought In Court For Merrick Garland — And Lost; Steven Michel has probably done more than anyone in the Senate to advance the thwarted Supreme Court nominee”: Cristian Farias of The Huffington Post has this report.

“Steinert students raise funds to honor alumnus Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito”: Laura Pollack of Community News Service of Lawrenceville, New Jersey has this report (via Jess Bravin).

“From Delay To Action: The Supreme Court To Take A Conservative Turn In 2017.” Nina Totenberg of National Public Radio has this report.

“101 First Street #1: ‘Ser-shee-or-RARE-eye.'” Because one podcast series is never enough, the creators of the First Mondays podcast today have posted their inaugural episode of 101 First Street.

“Sports agent’s legal fight with Los Angeles Ram Quinn hits another roadblock”: Anne Blythe of The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina has this report on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued last Thursday.

“Do More Interpretive Sources Mean More Discretion?” Law professor Adam M. Samaha has posted this paper online at SSRN (via “Legal Theory Blog“).

“Charged a Fee for Getting Arrested, Whether Guilty or Not”: Adam Liptak will have this new installment of his “Sidebar” column in Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times.

“Trump to inherit more than 100 court vacancies, plans to reshape judiciary”: Philip Rucker and Robert Barnes have this front page article in today’s edition of The Washington Post.

“Law and Romeo and Juliet: Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito served as chief judge in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s wrongful death mock trial of Romeo and Juliet in Washington, DC.” C-SPAN has posted the video online at this link.

Trump’s SCOTUS finalists according to Jan Crawford — Pryor, Hardiman, Colloton, Sykes, and Larsen: Today’s broadcast of the CBS News program “Face the Nation” included a year-end CBS News correspondents roundtable.

Jan Crawford had the following to say when asked about the finalists on President-elect Donald J. Trump’s list of potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees:

They’re — they’re narrowing their focus on a handful, like I said, of appellate court judges. Bill Pryor from the Atlanta based Federal Appeals Court. Thomas Hardiman, a judge on the Philadelphia based Appeals Court. Steve Colloton, from out in Iowa upon the U.S. Court of Appeals, the Eighth Circuit. A judge, Diane Sykes, on the Seventh Circuit. And Joan Larsen, on the Michigan Supreme Court. But, again, all highly qualified. You — you can’t argue with their credentials.

You can access the complete transcript of today’s broadcast at this link.

“Killer’s psychiatrist can be sued by victim’s family, Washington Supreme Court says; Spokane case raises questions about the extent to which a doctor is responsible for his patient’s subsequent actions”: Gene Johnson of The Associated Press has this report on a 6-to-3 ruling that the Supreme Court of Washington State issued on Thursday.

“First Liberty Appeals Historic ‘Bible Verse Case’ Case to Supreme Court; First Liberty just asked the Supreme Court to hear what could be the biggest military religious freedom case in decades”: First Liberty Institute issued this news release yesterday.

Paul D. Clement is counsel of record on the petition for a writ of certiorari that Monifa J. Sterling filed yesterday in the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The Stolen Supreme Court Seat”: This editorial will appear in Sunday’s edition of The New York Times.

“Did Justice Scalia Believe in Dinosaurs? An Investigation.” Ian Samuel has this post today at Medium.

“D.C. Circuit Review — Reviewed: Christmas in the D.C. Circuit.” Aaron Nielson has this post today at the “Notice & Comment” blog of the Yale Journal on Regulation.

“Milwaukee man asks the full U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider his case after a split ruling on police use of secret cell-phone tracking technology”: Bruce Vielmetti has this article in today’s edition of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“The Surprisingly Weak Reasoning of Mohamud”: Orin Kerr has this post at the “Lawfare” blog.

“Vermont Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Shumlin’s Supreme Court Nomination”: Taylor Dobbs of Vermont Public Radio has this report.

And Jess Aloe of The Burlington Free Press reports that “Vt. Supreme Court blocks Shumlin appointment.”

“Belfast gay-themed cake case will not go to UK supreme court; Northern Ireland attorney general fails in bid to get UK’s highest court to review rulings against Ashers Bakery”: The Guardian (UK) has this report.

“Book review: The U.S. Supreme Court’s most popular liberal tells all.” In today’s edition of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Justice David Wecht of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has this review of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s book, “My Own Words.”

“Appeals court vacates ‘unconscionable’ life sentence for New Orleans man over theft of $15 from ‘bait vehicle'”: John Simerman of The New Orleans Advocate has this report.

And Kevin McGill of The Associated Press reports that “Appeals court tosses life sentence for $15 theft.”

You can access Wednesday’s ruling of Louisiana’s Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal at this link.

“The Strange Case of the American Death Penalty”: Jeffrey Toobin has this post online at The New Yorker.

“Profiling State Justices on Trump’s List of Possible SCOTUS Candidates”: Adam Feldman has this post today at his “Empirical SCOTUS” blog.

“Lee v. Tam: Offensive Trademarks at the Supreme Court (A Series) — Part Four: Is the Disparagement Clause Impermissible Viewpoint-Based Discrimination?” Erica Goldberg has this post at her “In a Crowded Theater” blog.

“A capital letter: Stephen Breyer urges a review of the death penalty.” Steven Mazie has this post at the “Democracy in America” blog of The Economist.