“The emerging divide between the Supreme Court’s Republicans; The Republican justices are at a crossroads”: Ian Millhiser has this essay online at ThinkProgress.

“Governor names second Miami appellate judge, Robert Luck, to Florida Supreme Court”: David Ovalle of The Miami Herald has this report.

Curt Anderson of The Associated Press reports that “DeSantis picks 2nd Miami appeals judge for Supreme Court.”

And Lloyd Dunkelberger of The News Service of Florida reports that “Robert J. Luck is new justice on Florida Supreme Court.”

“What’s taking the Supreme Court so long to act on hot-button cases?” Ariane de Vogue of CNN has this report.

“Panel Rules Against Airbnb Hosts Fighting Chicago Ordinance”: Lorraine Bailey of Courthouse News Service has this report on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued today.

“Trump’s Emergency Powers Won’t Get Him a Wall; Congress has to approve any such action, just for starters”: Law professor Cass R. Sunstein has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.

“Philly judge blocks Trump efforts to roll back birth control mandate”: Jeremy Roebuck of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this report on a ruling that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued today.

And Michelle Hackman of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Judge Blocks Rules Allowing Employers to Opt Out of Covering Birth Control; Trump administration had revised regulations to let companies with religious or moral objections not offer such insurance plans.”

“What Statistics Can’t Tell Us in the Fight over Affirmative Action at Harvard: A group seeking to ban affirmative action has sued Harvard for discriminating against Asian Americans; But the core issues won’t be resolved by statistics alone.” Professors Andrew Gelman and Sharad Goel and law professor Daniel E. Ho have this article online at the Boston Review.

“Trump’s DC Circuit Nominee — And Reported Supreme Court Contender — Wrote Inflammatory Op-Eds In College; Neomi Rao is nominated for Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s former seat on the DC Circuit”: Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News has this report.

And Stephanie Mencimer of Mother Jones reports that “Trump’s Nominee to Replace Kavanaugh Questioned Date Rape, Discrimination, and Climate Change; Neomi Rao, reportedly on Trump’s Supreme Court short list, hasn’t moved far from the radical stances of her college writings.”

“Trump’s New Birth Control Rules Are Going Into Effect In A Majority Of States Following A Judge’s Limited Ruling”: Ema O’Connor of BuzzFeed News has this report.

“Chief Justice Robots”: Law professor Eugene Volokh has this article forthcoming in the Duke Law Journal (via “The Volokh Conspiracy“).

My struggle to educate various U.S. Supreme Court justices on how to properly pronounce law professor William Baude‘s last name persists: One lesson of having an appellate blog that is on the verge of commemorating its 17th birthday is that sometimes it’s necessary to play the long game.

Now if there’s one problem that more law school professors would wish to have, it’s probably having U.S. Supreme Court justices mispronounce their last names at oral argument because those law professors have filed meaningful and thought-provoking amicus briefs in pending cases.

Professor Baude’s connection to “How Appealing” dates back nearly to this blog’s inception, to a time when he was “merely” a college student who was interested in law-related issues. To be sure, I probably labored under a misconception about how to properly pronounce Will’s last name for a vast majority of the time between then and now. But, thanks to the internet, I eventually learned that Will pronounces his last name “bode” — as in, “that pronunciation doesn’t BODE well for those hoping to pronounce Will’s last name correctly.”

My first attempt at correcting a Supreme Court justice’s mispronunciation of Will’s last name occurred on February 2, 2018 and involved Justice Neil M. Gorusuch’s mispronunciation of Will’s last name using what, if I had to guess, must be the most common mispronunciation of the name — “baud.”

Last Wednesday, both Justice Elena Kagan and attorney Seth P. Waxman decided to get in on the fun during the oral argument (audio here; transcript here) of Franchise Tax Bd. of Cal. v. Hyatt, No. 17-1299.

During last Wednesday’s oral argument, Will’s last name was mentioned a total of four times, the first two by Justice Kagan and the final two by attorney Waxman. Justice Kagan twice (mis)pronounced Will’s last name as though it rhymes with “Brody.” And perhaps taking his cue from Justice Kagan, Waxman also mispronounced Will’s last name nearly that very same way (although more like “bawdy“) in his two attempts. If you search for “Baude” via this oral argument resource from Oyez, you can hear the specific instances.

Perhaps the answer to having Will’s last name pronounced correctly the next time it arises during a U.S. Supreme Court oral argument rests with Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., for whom Will clerked at the Court. Having Chief Justice Roberts be the first to mention Will by his last name at oral argument might assure that others also pronounced Will’s last name correctly.

“Supreme Court Rebuffs Challenge to Trump’s Whitaker Appointment”: Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News has this report.

“OT2018 #14: ‘Decent Take.'” You can access today’s new installment of the “First Mondays” podcast, featuring Dan Epps, Leah Litman, and guest Danielle D’Onfro, via this link.

Access today’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court: At this link. The Court did not grant review in any new cases, but the Court called for the views of the Solicitor General in two cases.

And in White v. Kentucky, No. 17-9467, Justice Samuel A. Alito issued a dissent, in which Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch joined, from the Court’s entry of a GVR order.

“U.S. Supreme Court may decide public’s access to Great Lakes’ shorelines”: Keith Matheny of The Detroit Free Press has this report.