“Facial and As-Applied Cruelty”: Michael C. Dorf has this post at his blog, “Dorf on Law.”

Third Circuit goes bananas: I have it on good authority (see summary of second case listed here) that yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit heard oral argument in a lawsuit involving whether banana costumes are subject to copyright protection.

Unfortunately, as of this moment, the audio of that oral argument has not yet been posted online at the court’s website. Indeed, word has it that banana suits themselves were displayed to the judges at the oral argument, causing me to hope against hope that this will be one of the exceedingly rare cases in which the Third Circuit posts the video of an oral argument online.

After all, as the Ninth Circuit demonstrates on a daily basis, what’s the point of having the wonderful civic resource of online oral argument video and not providing public access to the court in-action as much as possible. Today the calendar says April 4, and thus far in 2019 the Third Circuit has posted a grand total of two oral argument videos online.

Update at 4:50 p.m. EDT: The audio of the Third Circuit’s oral argument of this appeal can now be accessed here.

“Make the Supreme Court bigger, but not the Democrats’ way”: Law professor Jonathan Turley has this op-ed in today’s edition of The Los Angeles Times.

“The Supreme Court’s Turn Toward Cruelty: Justice Neil Gorsuch warmly embraces state killing — even if the state knowingly inflicts agony in the process.” Law professor Garrett Epps has this essay online at The Atlantic.

And online at National Review, Kevin D. Williamson has an essay titled “The Supreme Court’s Absurd Death-Penalty Debate; This is not jurisprudence but jurispretext.”

“On death penalty, Supreme Court veering badly off course”: The Baltimore Sun has published this editorial.

“Talk to my former Supreme Court judge: Retired Supremes are getting busy in their post-work years — see the SNC-Lavalin case — and it is raising concerns”: Shannon Proudfoot of Maclean’s has this report.

“Groups try to get lame-duck lawsuit to the Wisconsin Supreme Court”: Patrick Marley of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has an article that begins, “Groups challenging lame-duck laws limiting the powers of Gov. Tony Evers asked the state Supreme Court on Wednesday to take up their case quickly.”

“Senate Republicans trigger ‘nuclear option’ to speed Trump nominees; Democrats blasted the move as a blow to the Senate and a sign the filibuster might soon be on its way out”: Burgess Everett of Politico has this report.

And Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News reports that “Mitch McConnell Just Made It A Whole Lot Easier For Trump To Confirm A Bunch Of Nominees; Republicans on Wednesday forced through a rules change that slashes the amount of time it will take to confirm many of Trump’s nominees.”

“Texas bans chaplains from its execution chamber; The U.S. Supreme Court last week halted the execution of Patrick Murphy because he wasn’t given access to a Buddhist chaplain; Now, no chaplains will be allowed in the death chamber”: Jolie McCullough and Elizabeth Byrne of The Texas Tribune have this report.

“Pack the Court? Putting a popular imprint on the federal judiciary.” Russell Wheeler has this post at the “FixGov” blog of the Brookings Institution.

“Justice Neil Gorsuch to release book in September”: Ariane de Vogue of CNN has this report. It may prove to be even more popular than his last book, published in 2006.

“Trump floated nominating Merrick Garland to supreme court, book reveals; Exclusive: Trump raised the prospect in summer 2018, according to The Hill to Die On, but it was ‘not clear how serious’ he was.” Tom McCarthy and Martin Pengelly of The Guardian (UK) have this report.

The official publication date of the new book “The Hill to Die On: The Battle for Congress and the Future of Trump’s America,” by Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer, is April 9, 2019.

“Gains in northern Wisconsin boost Hagedorn to narrow lead in Wisconsin Supreme Court race”: Craig Gilbert of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this report.

And Riley Vetterkind of The Wisconsin State Journal reports that “Brian Hagedorn calls win ‘historic’ victory, says he’s prepared for possible recount.”

“Is Kavanaugh as Conservative as Expected?” Adam Feldman has this post at his “Empirical SCOTUS” blog.

“Trump is appointing judges at a record pace. Now McConnell wants to move even faster.” Jennifer Haberkorn of The Los Angeles Times has this report.

“What Bucklew Doesn’t Say”: John Stinneford, a law professor who is a leading scholar on the original understanding of the Eighth Amendment, has this guest post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

“Brian Hagedorn declares victory in tight Wisconsin Supreme Court race that has both campaigns bracing for a recount”: Patrick Marley and Molly Beck of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel have this report.

And Scott Bauer of The Associated Press has reports headlined “1.2M votes later, Wisconsin Supreme Court race up in air” and “Wisconsin Supreme Court race firmly in recount territory.”

“The Supreme Court Recognizes Victims’ Rights in Death Penalty Cases; The Court acknowledges that crime victims and their families have important interests in the timely enforcement of capital sentences — and encourages lower courts to prevent ‘dilatory’ tactics”: Paul Cassell — who served as co-counsel on the only non-government amicus brief filed in support of the State of Missouri in this death penalty case — has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

As you might imagine, the comments to the post are themselves rather interesting.

“The anti-death-penalty movement just got a cold dose of Gorsuch”: Columnist Scott Martelle has this essay online at The Los Angeles Times.

“The Supreme Court’s Twisted Devotion to the Death Penalty: The conservative justices’ convoluted opinions are undermining the court’s legitimacy more than any confirmation battle could.” Matt Ford of The New Republic has this report.

“Wisconsin Supreme Court race still too close to call”: Riley Vetterkind of The Wisconsin State Journal has this report.

You can view updated election results via this link.

“The Moral Failure of the Justices’ Death Penalty Debate: The Supreme Court’s most recent opinion is a literal horror show that avoids the key problem with executions.” Law professor Noah Feldman has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.

“Trump’s New Legal Strategy Is to Lose and Then Blame the Courts”: Dahlia Lithwick has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“The Supreme Court’s Bitter Feud Over a Controversial Death Penalty Case Boils Over Into the Public”: Mark Joseph Stern has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“It’s Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court Now, Not Anthony Kennedy’s; Monday’s 5-4 decision is a foreboding omen of the rancor yet to come”: Law professor Stephen I. Vladeck has this essay online at Politico Magazine.

“In census and Obamacare amicus briefs, Big Law sides against Trump”: Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has this post.

“In prelude to nuclear option, Senate rejects speeding up confirmation of nominees; McConnell now expected to move forward with only Republican support”: Niels Lesniewski of Roll Call has an article that begins, “The Senate inched closer Tuesday to Republicans using the ‘nuclear option’ to slash the time for debate on the vast majority of judicial and executive nominations.”

In today’s mail: I received an advance copy of Stephen Budiansky new book, “Oliver Wendell Holmes: A Life in War, Law, and Ideas.” The book’s official publication date is May 28, 2019.

Based on Budiansky’s recent, very interesting “SCOTUSblog” interview with Ronald Collins, I am very much looking forward to reading this book.

“A Little-Noticed Judicial Election Could Determine Wisconsin’s Political Course for a Decade; The GOP-backed candidate has alienated some Republican allies with his extreme anti-LGBT stances”: Ari Berman of Mother Jones has this report.

“Effort to historically zone Texas Supreme Court justice’s house narrowly fails at HLC”: Jessi Devenyns of the Austin Monitor has this report.

“Court packing would destroy judicial independence”: Thomas Jipping has this essay online at The Detroit News.

“Trump reshapes long-liberal 9th Circuit, as Republican-appointed judges gain seats on court”: Gregg Re of Fox News has this report.

“The Supreme Court Changes Its Mind About Clergy on Death Row; The justices have a belated but welcome recognition of the rights of inmates facing capital punishment”: Law professor Stephen L. Carter has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.

“Census officials await Supreme Court decision on whether to add, drop citizenship question”: Deborah Barfield Berry and Richard Wolf of USA Today have this report.

“The Supreme Court Must Rule That Juries Can’t Sentence a Man to Death Because He’s Gay”: Daniel S. Harawa has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.