“Reading Tea Leaves on Abortion Rights: Will the conservative majority deliver on Trump’s promise to overturn Roe v. Wade?” Louise Melling has this essay online at The New York Times.

“Trump administration: It’s ‘extraordinary’ judges won’t let military restrict transgender troops.” Ann E. Marimow has this article in today’s edition of The Washington Post.

Brandi Buchman of Courthouse News Service reports that “US Defends Military Sex-Change Ban at DC Circuit.”

And online at The Daily Beast, Samantha Allen has a report headlined “Trump Doubles Down: Trans People Can Serve in Military, If They Don’t Transition; The Trump Administration argued in court Monday that transgender people in the military would only be allowed to serve if they didn’t undergo transition-related medical care.”

You can access at this link the audio of yesterday’s oral argument before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

“Trump DOJ faces conundrum in SCOTUS review of Auer deference”: Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has this post.

“Trump’s Judicial Nominees Take Heat but Largely Keep Marching Through Senate”: Catie Edmondson of The New York Times has an article that begins, “The Senate narrowly confirmed Jonathan Kobes as a federal appeals court judge on Tuesday, brushing aside the conclusion of the American Bar Association that he was unqualified for the position, citing his inability to provide sufficient writing samples that were ‘reflective of complex legal analysis’ or sophisticated ‘knowledge of the law.'”

Jonathan Ellis of The Sioux Falls (S.D.) Argus Leader reports that “Trump nominee, Sioux Falls lawyer Jonathan Kobes, wins confirmation.”

And Jordain Carney of The Hill reports that “Pence casts tie-breaking vote for Trump appeals court judge.”

You can access at this link the U.S. Senate‘s official roll call vote tally on the nomination of Jonathan A. Kobes to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

“Brett Kavanaugh Didn’t Save Planned Parenthood Funding, No Matter What Susan Collins Seems to Think; On Monday, Justice Brett Kavanaugh voted to turn away two cases trying to kick Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid — but that doesn’t mean he’s suddenly friendly on abortion rights”: Jessica Mason Pieklo of Rewire.News has this report.

“Here are the issues Bill Cosby is raising to appeal his sex-assault conviction”: Laura McCrystal of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this report.

“An Interview With Jaime Santos: Circuit Breaker sits down with the co-founder of Law Clerks for Workplace Accountability to talk about the D.C. Circuit’s new policies against workplace harassment.” Katie Barlow has this post at the “Circuit Breaker” blog.

“The Fight for ‘Equal Justice Under Law'”: U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) has this judicial-nomination-related post online at Medium.

“Congress finally enacts ‘Paroline fix’ that should improve victim restitution in federal child porn cases”: Douglas A. Berman has this post at his “Sentencing Law and Policy” blog.

“Sen. Kamala D. Harris to remain on Judiciary Committee after deal cut with Republicans”: Seung Min Kim and John Wagner of The Washington Post have this report.

And Marianne LeVine of Politico has a report headlined “Kamala Harris to keep her spot on Judiciary, Schumer says.”

Don’t hate the Player — unanimous Eighth Circuit panel tells grass grower to sod off: You can access today’s ruling at this link.

Grain of truth: Today, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned the dismissal on the pleadings of a lawsuit alleging that a reasonable consumer would be misled by Kellogg’s product labels to believe that the grain in whole grain Cheez‐Its was predominantly whole grain. You can access today’s Second Circuit ruling at this link.

“Tim Scott wants his party to get smarter on race. His colleagues are making it tough.” Emma Dumain and William Douglas of McClatchy DC have an article that begins, “Sen. Tim Scott wants fellow Republicans to get smarter about judicial nominees — specifically, to stop nominating judges with questionable records on race.”

“Why We’re Writing a Book About Justice Brett Kavanaugh”: Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly recently had this “Times Insider” essay online at The New York Times.

Department of low expectations: Ariane de Vogue and Manu Raju of CNN report that “Republican senator feels ‘vindication’ after Kavanaugh votes in favor of Planned Parenthood.”

Others may find it more prudent to wait for additional data points that could take years to emerge before reaching any conclusions on this issue.

“Ninth Circuit Review — Reviewed: Inaugural Edition.” William Yeatman has this post at the “Notice & Comment” blog of the Yale Journal on Regulation.

“Deference rule may be on the chopping block”: Ellen M. Gilmer of Greenwire has this report.

And at the “School Law” blog of Education Week, Mark Walsh has a post titled “Justices to Weigh Deference to Federal Agencies’ Own Rules Interpretations.”

“Harvard Law School Pipeline Parity Project Celebrates Another Change to Controversial Law Firm Policies”: Aidan F. Ryan of The Harvard Crimson has this report.

In Bashman news from Australia: Radio station 3AW693 of Melbourne has a report headlined “Shocking CCTV: Mob of thugs bash man and steal from his unconscious body at St Kilda foreshore.”

“Supreme Court’s Conservative Revolution Will Wait Another Day; Justice Thomas seems impatient with Kavanaugh for refusing to hear a Planned Parenthood case”: Law professor Noah Feldman has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.

“The Ninth Circuit’s Asylum Ban Ruling is a Message to Trump”: Peter Margulies has this post at the “Lawfare” blog.

“Supreme Court Won’t Hear Planned Parenthood Cases, and 3 Court Conservatives Aren’t Happy”: Adam Liptak has this article in today’s edition of The New York Times.

Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Three Conservative Justices Chide Supreme Court for Not Taking Case Touching on Abortion; Action leaves in place conflicting rulings on whether Medicaid patients can sue for access to their preferred health provider.”

And Paul McLeod of BuzzFeed News reports that “Kavanaugh Sided With The Liberal Wing Of The Supreme Court In Declining To Hear Planned Parenthood Cases.”