“She wanted to be a musician. Instead, she became a groundbreaking judge in Ohio.” Michael D. Pitman of The Dayton Daily News has an article that begins, “Law school wasn’t in the plans for Ohio Supreme Court Justice Melody Stewart when she graduated high school. It was music.”

“OT2018 #19: ‘Fake Mootness.'” 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.

“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.

“One Obstacle to Trump’s Border Wall Might Be His First Supreme Court Appointee; To get to the border, Trump may have to go through Neil Gorsuch”: Stephanie Mencimer of Mother Jones has this report.

“Trump Declared a Border Emergency. Here’s How It Could Be Undone in Court.” Simon Romero has this article in today’s edition of The New York Times.

And in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, Rebecca Ballhaus has a front page article headlined “Trump Declares Emergency Over Wall, Inviting Likely Court Fight; Plan heads off another shutdown, diverts money from elsewhere in government to pay for additional barriers.”

“Don’t Let Trump’s Abortion Rhetoric Numb You to Kavanaugh’s Distortions; The president’s words are much more bombastic, but it’s the justice’s that will matter”: Dahlia Lithwick has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Trump’s National Emergency Declaration Is Likely To Face Constitutionality Challenges”: This audio segment featuring Nina Totenberg appeared on yesterday’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

“Parsing the Shadow Docket: What recent, seemingly procedural SCOTUS decisions can tell us about substance.” Slate has posted online this new installment of its “Amicus” podcast featuring Dahlia Lithwick with guests Risa Goluboff and Leslie Kendrick.

“Will the Supreme Court stop Trump’s national emergency?” Priscilla Alvarez of CNN has this report.

“Trump Isn’t Just Defying the Constitution. He’s Undermining SCOTUS. The president defended his national emergency by boasting that he’ll win at the Supreme Court because it’s full of his judges.” Dahlia Lithwick has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Judicial Statesmanship versus Judicial Fidelity”: At the “Law & Liberty” blog, John O. McGinnis has a post that begins, “It is commonly thought that Chief Justice John Roberts is very concerned about preserving the legitimacy of the Court in a polarized America. Many believe that as a result, he will become the Court’s balance, making sure it does not lurch too far right, which would supposedly dissipate its political capital.”

“Trump Said He ‘Didn’t Need’ To Declare An Emergency To Build The Wall And Liberal Lawyers Are Thrilled”: Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News has this report.

“Appeals court largely upholds Philadelphia win over Trump administration in sanctuary city case”: Jeff Gammage of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this report.

Jonathan Stempel of Reuters reports that “Philadelphia beats U.S. appeal in sanctuary city case.”

And at his “CA3blog,” Matthew Stiegler has a post titled “Third Circuit rules against Trump administration in major sanctuary-cities appeal.”

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

“Where El Chapo Could End Up: A Prison ‘Not Designed for Humanity.'” Alan Feuer and Alan Blinder have this article in today’s edition of The New York Times.

“Federal Court Frees Fort Collins Nipples, U.S. Supreme Court May Be Next”: Michael Roberts of Westword has an article that begins, “By a 2-1 margin, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a Fort Collins ordinance making female toplessness a crime is unconstitutional.”

You can access today’s ruling of a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Free the Nipple v. City of Fort Collins at this link.

“Supreme Court to Hear Case on Census Citizenship Question”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this report.

Robert Barnes of The Washington Post reports that “Supreme Court takes up Trump administration’s plan to ask about citizenship in census.”

Richard Wolf of USA Today reports that “Supreme Court will rule on Trump administration’s effort to add question on citizenship to 2020 Census.”

Brent Kendall and Janet Adamy of The Wall Street Journal report that “Supreme Court Agrees to Decide Legality of Census Citizenship Question; The 10-year questionnaire to U.S. residents is used to allocate government funding and reshape the number of congressional seats.”

Mark Sherman of The Associated Press reports that “Justices to decide if 2020 census can ask about citizenship.”

Andrew Chung of Reuters reports that “U.S. Supreme Court to decide legality of census citizenship query.”

Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “High Court to Decide Trump’s Bid for Citizenship Query on Census.”

Pete Williams of NBC News reports that “Supreme Court agrees to rule quickly on citizenship question on census; States, cities and immigration groups sued to prevent the Trump administration from asking over fears immigrants would be reluctant to respond.”

Ariane de Vogue of CNN reports that “Supreme Court agrees to take up 2020 census case.”

Brooke Singman of Fox News reports that “Supreme Court to decide whether citizenship question can be included in 2020 census.”

And Lydia Wheeler of The Hill reports that “Supreme Court to hear Census citizenship case this term.”

You can access today’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court at this link. The order states that the case will be argued the second week of the Court’s April 2019 sitting.

Further proof that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg may, in fact, actually still be alive: Ariane de Vogue of CNN reports that “Ruth Bader Ginsburg returns to Supreme Court.”

“Census Citizenship Case Pulls Supreme Court Into Political Fray”: Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News has this report.

“Trump’s Face-Saving Way Out of Political Crisis Raises Fears Over Rule of Law”: Charlie Savage of The New York Times has this report.

Friday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal will contain an editorial titled “Trump’s Political Emergency: His border order will divide Republicans and may be stopped in court.”

And online at The New York Times, Peter H. Schuck has an essay titled “The Real Problem With Trump’s National Emergency Plan: The fact that the president may have the authority to throw away billions on a foolish campaign promise is itself scandalous.”

“El Chapo escaped two prisons in Mexico — but no one’s ever busted out of the American ‘ADX'”: Deanna Paul of The Washington Post has this report.

“Former Wisconsin Solicitor General and Supreme Court Litigator Joins Troutman Sanders to Lead National Appellate and Supreme Court Practice”: Troutman Sanders LLP issued this news release today about attorney Misha Tseytlin.

“Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate founded school that allows ban on teachers, students and parents in gay relationships”: Molly Beck of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this report.

Riley Vetterkind of The Wisconsin State Journal reports that “Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate helped found academy that bans LGBT teachers, students.”

Jessie Opoien of The Cap Times of Madison, Wisconsin reports that “Supreme Court candidate Brian Hagedorn founded school banning same-sex relationships.”

And Laurel White of Wisconsin Public Radio reports that “State Supreme Court Candidate Brian Hagedorn Backs School That Bans Homosexuals; Conservative-Backed Candidate Says His Religious Beliefs Can Exist Separately From Judicial Rulings.”

“Supreme Court weighs a Trump census question that could undercut California’s power”: David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has this report.

“Justice Sonia Sotomayor talked about her life and career during an event hosted by the Law Library of Congress in Washington, DC”: C-SPAN has posted online at this link the video of this event from this afternoon.

“Who Would Do This?” The third installment of the “Over My Dead Body” podcast focusing on the murder of law professor Dan Markel was posted online today, and you can access it via this link.

“Penn State law and women’s studies professors discuss Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s role in modern feminism”: Natalie Schield of The Daily Collegian, the student newspaper of Penn State University, has this report.

“The Court Should Tear Down Everson, Not the Maryland Cross”: David Upham has this post at the “Law & Liberty” blog.