“Kavanaugh’s impact on the Supreme Court and the country may not be as profound as predicted”: Law professor Ofer Raban has this essay online at The Conversation.

“How the Supreme Court fractured the nation — and how it threatens to do so again: Abortion and America’s new sectional divide.” H.W. Brands has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“Will Supreme Court Reargument of the Knick Takings Case Come Down to the Federal Government’s ‘Klingon Forehead’ Argument? The Supreme Court has ordered reargument in a crucial property rights case; The outcome could hinge on an extremely dubious theory put forward in an amicus brief by the federal government.” Ilya Somin has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

“Who Owns Oklahoma? The Supreme Court must decide the fate of a murderer — and whether roughly half of Oklahoma is rightfully reservation land.” Law professor Garrett Epps has this essay online at The Atlantic.

“Boyertown students ask U.S. Supreme Court to hear appeal of transgender bathroom challenge”: Peter Hall of The Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania has this report.

“Ninth Circuit Orders New Look at Bond Hearings for Immigrants”: Helen Christophi of Courthouse News Service has this report on a per curiam ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued today.

“Neil Gorsuch and Sonia Sotomayor Have Started Teaming Up to Protect Criminal Defendants”: Mark Joseph Stern has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“President Trump’s conservative court shift may slow down as liberal judges avoid retirement”: Richard Wolf of USA Today has this report.

“The Virtues of Judicial Self-Restraint”: William J. Haun has this article in the Fall 2018 issue of National Affairs.

“An intro to Twitter for lawyers on the fence about trying it”: Matthew Stiegler has this post at his “CA3blog.” You can follow him on Twitter (as I do).

“A Lawyer With Conservative Ties And No Diplomatic Experience Is Being Vetted For US Ambassador to Mexico; Washington lawyer Christopher Landau is under serious consideration by the White House, according to multiple sources”: Zoe Tillman and Emily Tamkin of BuzzFeed News have a report that begins, “Christopher Landau, a veteran appellate lawyer in Washington, DC, who does not have formal diplomatic experience, is being vetted as a potential nominee for US ambassador to Mexico, four sources familiar with the situation told BuzzFeed News.”

“Pa. students ask US Supreme Court to reverse decision that allows violation of their bodily privacy; ADF represents students, parents challenging locker room, restroom policy”: Alliance Defending Freedom issued this news release in connection with the petition for writ of certiorari the organization’s attorneys filed today in the case captioned Doe v. Boyertown Area School District.

The court filing also reveals that attorney John J. Bursch, who formerly worked as a solo appellate practitioner, now serves as vice president of appellate advocacy and senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom.

“Rejected Forensics Case Makes Strange High Court Bedfellows”: Barbara Leonard of Courthouse News Service has this report.

And at Reason’s “Hit & Run” blog, Damon Root has a post titled “Gorsuch and Sotomayor Fault SCOTUS for Declining to Hear Important Criminal Justice Case; The two jurists dissent from denial of certiorari in Stuart v. Alabama.”

Access today’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court: At this link. The Court did not grant review in any new cases.

And in Stuart v. Alabama, No. 17-1676, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch issued a dissent, in which Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined, from the denial of certiorari.

“Trump Pick Criticized Affirmative Action in ‘Angry Yellow Men'”: Patrick L. Gregory of Bloomberg Law has this report.

“Follow the Experts: Framing Petitions for Cert.” Adam Feldman has this post at his “Empirical SCOTUS” blog.

“The Supreme Court should block the execution of a Texas man with intellectual disability — again”: Timothy P. Shriver has this essay online at The Los Angeles Times.

“The Supreme Court justices control whether court-packing ever happens; They must give the elected branches room to address societal needs”: Thomas M. Keck has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“OT2018 #8: ‘Animal Magnetism.'” You can access today’s new installment of the “First Mondays” podcast, featuring Dan Epps and guest hosts Marin Levy and Steve Sachs, via this link.

“RBG Rap: Pete Davidson and Chris Redd rap a tribute to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.” This short film appeared on last night’s broadcast of NBC’s Saturday Night Live.

The video of the song on which the short film was based, by Sheck Wes, can be viewed on YouTube at this link.

“How A ‘Court Records Nerd’ Discovered The Government May Be Charging Julian Assange”: Jason Breslow had this audio segment on yesterday evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

And Rachel Weiner of The Washington Post reports that “This prosecutor’s cut-and-paste mistake revealed case against WikiLeaks founder.”

“How Voting Rights Fared in the Midterms: There is cause for hope, and not just in the results from Election Day.” Jeffrey Toobin will have this Comment in the Talk of the Town section of the November 26, 2018 issue of The New Yorker.

“The Axe Files with David Axelrod” — Interview with Justice Sonia Sotomayor: You can access the podcast audio via this link.

“Trump Proposes a New Way Around Birth Control Mandate: Religious Exemptions and Title X.” Robert Pear will have this article in Sunday’s edition of The New York Times.

“Judges: Louisiana breast-and-buttocks law is clear enough.” Kevin McGill of The Associated Press has this report on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued yesterday on panel rehearing. The panel’s original ruling reaching the opposite result, from September 2018, can be accessed here.

And in other coverage, Jonathan Stempel of Reuters has a report headlined “Louisiana can enforce ban on strippers under 21: U.S. appeals court.”

“National Injunctions: Historians Enter the Lists; A major new brief in the Seventh Circuit sanctuary city case.” At “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Samuel Bray has this post, along with a related post titled “More Notes on the Historians’ Brief.”

Update: You can access the amicus brief at this link.

“Did President Trump make a sex joke about the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia?”: Christal Hayes of USA Today has this report.

Anne Gearan of The Washington Post reports that “Trump jokes and jabs as he bestows Presidential Medal of Freedom.”

Adam Edelman of NBC News has a report headlined “‘Very busy’: Trump jests about Scalia widow at Medal of Freedom event for having 9 kids; ‘I always knew I liked him,’ Trump wisecracked about the Supreme Court justice and father of many.”

And Sara Boboltz of HuffPost has a report headlined “‘You Were Busy’: Trump Marvels At Antonin Scalia’s Large Brood At Medal Ceremony; To the Supreme Court justice’s widow, Maureen Scalia, the president remarked, ‘Wow.’”

Elsewhere, in related coverage, Paul Walsh of The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that “President Trump honors Minnesota’s Alan Page with Medal of Freedom; The retired state Supreme Court justice, Vikings legend and tireless philanthropist was among seven honored in a White House ceremony with the nation’s most prestigious civilian honor.”

“Justice Sonia Sotomayor Allows Stephen To Approach The Bench”: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has this posted this video on YouTube.

“Trump’s Nominee to Replace Kavanaugh Is a Staunch Defender of Dwarf-Tossing; Neomi Rao is best known as Trump’s anti-regulation czar, but she’s a veteran of the culture wars”: Stephanie Mencimer of Mother Jones has this report.

“At UVa, Kennedy calls for civil discourse in democracy”: Ruth Serven Smith has this front page article in today’s edition of The Daily Progress of Charlottesville, Virginia.

Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Retired Justice Kennedy Says Supreme Court Will Work in ‘Inspiring Way.’”

And Eric Williamson of the University of Virginia School of Law has a report headlined “The Supreme Court Still Works, Says Retired Justice Anthony Kennedy; Karsh Center for Law and Democracy Launches With David Rubenstein Interview.”

“Sotomayor says Kavanaugh a part of the Supreme Court ‘family'”: Paul LeBlanc of CNN has this report.

“With Kavanaugh on Supreme Court, Lawyers Shift Strategies; Some groups on the right are emboldened to push new policy”: Corinne Ramey of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

“Technology, Social Media and Professional Ethics”: This panel is now underway at the Federalist Society’s 2018 National Lawyers Convention. You can view the session live, online on YouTube via this link.

“Justices Asked to Rule on Legality of Acting Attorney General’s Appointment”: Adam Liptak has this article in today’s edition of The New York Times.

In today’s edition of The Washington Post, Devlin Barrett has an article headlined “Whitaker’s opponents take legal challenge to Supreme Court.” And Deanna Paul and Robert Barnes have an article headlined “Supreme Court will hear arguments concerning Census citizenship question.”

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times reports that “Supreme Court will weigh Trump’s plan to add citizenship question to 2020 census.”

Jess Bravin and Brent Kendall of The Wall Street Journal report that “Lawyer Asks Supreme Court to Rule on Matthew Whitaker’s Role as Acting Attorney General; Critics have argued President Trump’s selection of Mr. Whitaker is an invalid run around constitutional requirements.”

From USA Today, Richard Wolf and Kevin Johnson report that “Supreme Court asked to rule on Trump’s choice of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general.” And Wolf has an article headlined “Supreme Court to hear case on Trump administration plan to add citizenship question to 2020 Census.”

Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times reports that “High court obliges Trump, will enter census citizenship fray.”

And Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed News has articles headlined “Lawyers Challenge Matthew Whitaker’s Appointment As Acting Attorney General At The Supreme Court” and “The Supreme Court Will Hear Arguments Over What Evidence Can Be Used In The Census Citizenship Question Case.”

“Grassley to Lead Senate Finance Panel; Veteran Iowa senator to switch from Judiciary Committee next year”: Richard Rubin of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

And Elana Schor of Politico reports that “Grassley to trade Judiciary gavel for Finance; His departure paves the way for Lindsey Graham to lead Judiciary.”