“Obama Leaves the Constitution Weaker Than He Found It: Even for those like me who admire the 44th president, the constitutional record is disturbingly mixed.” Law professor Garrett Epps has this essay online today at The Atlantic.

“VT Supreme Court weighs Shumlin’s authority”: April McCullum of The Burlington Free Press has an article that begins, “In an overcrowded hearing room Tuesday afternoon, the Vermont Supreme Court heard arguments about whether Gov. Peter Shumlin has authority to appoint a new Supreme Court justice during his final hours in office.”

“GOP Bill Would Ban Supreme Court From Citing Its Own Obamacare Cases”: Tierney Sneed of TPM DC has an article that begins, “Rep. Steve King (R-IA) hates Obamacare so much that he doesn’t even want the Supreme Court to cite its own major Obamacare cases in future opinions, according to a bill he introduced Tuesday.”

You can view the proposed legislation at this link.

“S.E.C.’s In-House Judges Face Supreme Court Scrutiny”: Peter J. Henning has this post today at his “White Collar Watch” blog at The New York Times.

“Appellate court affirms constitutionality of Minnesota’s sex-offender program; Reversal is a victory for Minnesota, defeat for sex offenders who sued”: Chris Serres of The Minneapolis Star Tribune has this report.

And The Associated Press has a report headlined “Appeals court: Minnesota sex offender program constitutional.”

You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit at this link.

“Three years late, seminal death penalty report still unfinished”: Riley Yates has this front page article in today’s edition of The Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania.

“Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow to step down at the conclusion of the academic year; With a focus on access to justice, public service, and entrepreneurship, Minow has guided HLS in new directions to prepare lawyers for challenges and opportunities brought by globalization and a changing legal profession”: Harvard Law Today has this report.

“Another judicial dirty trick from Senate Republicans”: The Los Angeles Times has posted this editorial online.

“U.S. Sentencing Commission announces Circuit Judge William H. Pryor, Jr. will serve as Acting Chair of the Commission”: The U.S. Sentencing Commission issued this news release today.

“President Obama’s Supreme Court Nomination of Merrick Garland Expires; Garland’s nomination languished for 293 days as Republicans declined to give him a hearing”: Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

And Mallory Shelbourne of The Hill reports that “Schumer regrets Dems triggering ‘nuclear option.’”

“Inside Trump’s strategy to remodel the Supreme Court: The president-elect is narrowing his short list while his advisers look beyond the current opening.” Shane Goldmacher and Josh Gerstein of Politico.com have this report.

And Gerstein also has a related article headlined “A closer look at Trump’s potential Supreme Court nominees: These eight people have been identified by people on the transition team as frontrunners to replace late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.”