“Marvin Gaye Family Defends ‘Blurred Lines’ Trial Outcome to Appeals Court; In a brief filed Thursday, the family’s attorney Richard Busch also argues the trial judge made one crucial error that may rob pre-1978 songwriters”: Eriq Gardner has this post at the “THR, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter about an appeal pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

“Ohio Supreme Court says ‘functional life sentences’ for juveniles are unconstitutional”: Eric Heisig of The Cleveland Plain Dealer has this report.

And Andrew Welsh-Huggins of The Associated Press reports that “Ohio Supreme Court rejects teen rapist’s 112-year sentence.”

You can access today’s 4-to-3 ruling of the Supreme Court of Ohio at this link.

“Moving ahead without a ninth Justice”: Lyle Denniston has this blog post.

“Kenneth Starr’s Baylor Exit Followed Years of Hidden Turmoil; The school’s former president reinstated a troubled football player over the objections of other administrators”: Brad Reagan of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

“Bathroom law battles loom in more states after North Carolina controversy”: Jon Herskovitz of Reuters has this report.

“Mr. Robot Killed the Hollywood Hacker: The popular portrayal of computers as magic boxes capable of anything has done real societal harm. Now one TV show wants to save us.” Cory Doctorow has this article in the January/February 2017 issue of MIT Technology Review.

“Bentley interviews Roy Moore for potential Senate seat”: Brian Lyman has this front page article in today’s edition of The Montgomery Advertiser.

Mike Cason of AL.com reports that “Bentley interviews Roy Moore, 10 others for Sen. Jeff Sessions’ seat.”

And Daniel Marans of The Huffington Post has an article headlined “This Judge Lost His Job For Defying The Law. Now He May Become A Senator. Chief Justice Roy Moore’s suspension did not stop the governor from considering him.”

“The long and complicated road to understanding Jeff Sessions and matters of race”: Del Quentin Wilber of The Los Angeles Times has this report.

“The Korematsu Supreme Court ruling upholding internment is still a ‘loaded weapon’ for discrimination”: Law professor Gabriel J. Chin has this essay online at The Los Angeles Times.

“Florida Supreme Court: Death penalty cases finalized before 2002 will stand.” Michael Auslen of The Tampa Bay Times has an article that begins, “Some of the nearly 400 prisoners waiting on Florida’s death row will not be allowed a re-sentencing under new death penalty laws, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.”

You can access today’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Florida at this link.

“Executions Hit 25-Year Low and Support Is Falling, Report Finds”: Richard Perez-Pena has this article in today’s edition of The New York Times.

And Jon Herskovitz of Reuters reports that “U.S. executions hit 25-year low as capital punishment wanes: study.”

“Ahead and behind in the Merrick Garland debacle”: Howard Wasserman has this post at “PrawfsBlawg.”

“In SCOTUS sanctions case, defiant plaintiffs argue Goodyear got what it deserved”: Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has this post.

“Will Guantanamo Bay’s Prison Ever Close? President Obama campaigned on the promise of shuttering the detention facility, but the task proved more difficult than anticipated.” Priscilla Alvarez of The Atlantic has this report.

“Michigan man’s case against American Bar Association & LSAT could go to U.S. Supreme Court”: Kate Wells of Michigan Radio has this report.

“The Trump Court: SCOTUS Could Stand Some Disruption.” Mark Pulliam has this post today at the “American Greatness” blog.

“SCOTUS for law students: Message to lawyers.” Today at “SCOTUSblog,” Stephen Wermiel has a post that begins, “Lately, the Supreme Court seems to be sending a message to the lawyers who practice before it: Do not ask the court to grant review of an issue and then try to change the subject.”

“Invasion of the Agency Snatchers”: Linda Greenhouse has this essay online today at The New York Times.

“Wanted: Top Court Justice Who’s Solid Conservative, No Surprises.” Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News has this report.

“Justice Scalia’s Warning to President Trump: In a memo dated more than 40 years ago, the late Supreme Court justice told future presidents and vice presidents that having apparent conflicts of interest would open them up to ‘damaging criticism.'” Betsy Woodruff of The Daily Beast has this report.

“Pa. court ruling paves way for gay Fox Chapel couple to marry”: Chris Potter of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has this report on a ruling that the Superior Court of Pennsylvania issued today.

“Judge: Reporters, witnesses must be allowed to see entire execution in Arizona; When it took two hours to kill prisoner Joseph Wood, witnesses could not see executioners pumping multiple doses of drugs into the killer.” Michael Kiefer of The Arizona Republic has this report.

“‘Whitey’ Bulger, Boston Marathon prosecutor stepping down”: Steve LeBlanc of The Associated Press has this report. As the article explains, “Ortiz also drew fire after her office sought to prosecute 26-year-old Aaron Swartz on allegations he surreptitiously used the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s network to download millions of articles from a scholarly archive with the goal of making them freely available.”

“Ruling backs Montana’s right to Wyoming water for reservoir”: Matthew Brown of The Associated Press has an article that begins, “A special master appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court in a long-running dispute over state water rights says Wyoming is obligated to provide enough water to fill a reservoir in Montana.”

“Dusting Off the Constitution’s Obscure Clauses”: Law professor Noah Feldman has this essay online at Bloomberg View.

“Trump team gets early constitutional assignment”: Lyle Denniston has this post today at the “Constitution Daily” blog of the National Constitution Center.

“Antonin Scalia: He claimed objectivity when it came to originalism, but he was a skeptic about science.” Emily Bazelon will have this essay in “The Lives They Lived” tribute in this upcoming Sunday’s edition of The New York Times Magazine.

“What happens if Trump tries to abuse his power? Look to the court system.” David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has this report.

En banc Ninth Circuit panel rejects federal constitutional challenges to California’s charging nonresident commercial fishers higher fees for vessel registrations, licenses, and permits: You can access today’s ruling of an 11-judge en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link. As to one aspect of the challenges, the en banc panel divided 6-to-5.

Back in September 2015, the majority on a divided three-judge Ninth Circuit panel held that the higher charges for nonresident fishers was unconstitutional. You can access my earlier coverage of that now-vacated ruling at this link.

“Second Circuit Closes Book on Drone Disclosures”: Adam Klasfeld of Courthouse News Service has this report on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued today.

“State Supreme Court puts measure to speed up executions on hold”: Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle has this report.

Alexei Koseff of The Sacramento Bee reports that “California Supreme Court blocks new law to speed up death penalty.”

The Associated Press reports that “California Supreme Court halts death penalty measure.”

And at the “At the Lectern” blog, David Ettinger has a post titled “Proposition 66 stayed.”

“Key question of Slants case at SCOTUS: Is trademark registration speech? If so, whose?” Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has this post today.

“Trump SCOTUS Short-Lister Tom Lee: Five Things to Know.” Patrick Gregory of Bloomberg Law has this report.

“South Carolina will debate bill to block porn on new computers; Citizens who wanted to opt out of porn filter would have to pay $20 fee”: Joe Mullin of Ars Technica has this report.

“Cruz: Give Clarence Thomas a place in the African-American museum.” Eugene Scott of CNN.com has an article that begins, “Sen. Ted Cruz says the new African-American museum honoring black history has made ‘a mistake’ by not featuring Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.”