“Union loses free speech fight over inflatable rat at 7th Circuit”: Dena Aubin of Reuters has this report (subscription required for full access) on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued on Thursday.

And, since this is the Seventh Circuit, the opinion of course includes photos of the inflatable creature.

Fifth Circuit tells Federal Circuit “thanks, but no thanks” and returns transferred appeal to sender: Given this ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued Friday, it seems that neither the Fifth Circuit nor the Federal Circuit wants to decide this appeal, and now the appeal is heading back to the Federal Circuit, which originally transferred the appeal to the Fifth Circuit. If any of the other eleven U.S. Courts of Appeals is interested in deciding this case, please volunteer promptly.

Interestingly, when the Federal Circuit issued an order denying rehearing en banc of its original transfer decision, two Federal Circuit judges noted their disagreement with that Court’s earlier decision to transfer the appeal to the Fifth Circuit, and one of those two judges wrote a dissent from the denial of rehearing en banc.

Now that an undeniable circuit split exists over whether the Federal Circuit or the Fifth Circuit should hear and decide the merits of this appeal, the parties — instead of simply allowing the appeal to return to the Federal Circuit in what threatens to be the next step in an endless loop — should file a petition for writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide at this time which federal court of appeals should hear and decide the appeal.

“U.S. court allows ‘No-Fly List’ lawsuits, dissenters warn of danger”: Jonathan Stempel of Reuters has this report.

And Adam Klasfeld of Courthouse News Service reports that “Feds Stumble in Bid to Avoid Liability for No-Fly Schemes.”

You can access Thursday’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denying rehearing en banc, and the concurrence therein and dissents therefrom, at this link.

“Appeals Court Says Puerto Rico Board Was Illegally Appointed; Ruling will allow bankruptcy proceedings to continue”: Andrew Scurria of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

Reuters reports that “U.S. court faults Puerto Rico board appointments, keeps bankruptcy alive.”

And at “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Will Baude has a post titled “The Invalidation of the PROMESA Appointments: A few thoughts on the First Circuit’s separation of powers ruling on the Puerto Rico bankruptcy board.”

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

“First black woman elected to Ohio Supreme Court has chance to be trendsetter”: Kate Snyder of The Toledo Blade has this report.

“Alabama Supreme Court stays Jefferson County ruling on Confederate monument law”: Anna Beahm of Alabama Media Group has this report.

And Brian Lyman of The Montgomery Advertiser reports that “Alabama Supreme Court stays ruling against monument law.”

“What we can learn from Fred Korematsu, 75 years after the Supreme Court ruled against him”: Charles Lam of NBC News has this report.

“Return to sender: High court to hear undeliverable mail case.” Jessica Gresko of The Associated Press has this report.

“Ruth Bader Ginsburg Expected to Return to Supreme Court Bench Tuesday”: Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News has this report.