“Justice Clarence Thomas Will Enter His 29th Term In The Fall”: Nina Totenberg had this audio segment on today’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

“George Will’s Libertarian Turn”: Mark Pulliam has this post at the “Law & Liberty” blog.

“Griffen, after petitioning state Supreme Court to restore him to capital cases, asks all justices to disqualify themselves from the case”: Lindsey Millar of Arkansas Times has this report.

“Why John Roberts may be right about gerrymandering”: Law professor Lawrence Lessig has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“Setback for Planned Parenthood: Court lets Trump’s funding cutoff remain in effect.” Maura Dolan of The Los Angeles Times has this report.

Jonathan Stempel of Reuters reports that “Trump abortion referral ‘gag rule’ survives demands for emergency halt.”

Caroline Kelly of CNN reports that “Federal appeals court allows abortion-referral restriction to proceed.”

Jessie Hellmann of The Hill reports that “Appeals court denies demands to halt Trump abortion referral ‘gag rule.’”

And Nicholas Iovino of Courthouse News Service reports that “Abortion Gag Rule Stays Ahead of Full 9th Circuit Rehearing.”

You can access today’s order of an 11-judge en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.

“7th Circ. Digs Into Injunction Over Ind. Abortion Clinic License”: Law360 has this report (subscription required for meaningful access) on an oral argument that occurred today before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

You can access the audio of today’s oral argument in Whole Woman’s Health Alliance v. Hill, No. 19-2051 (CA7), via this link.

“Supreme Court Review of the 2018-2019 Term”: The Heritage Foundation has posted on YouTube at this link the video of this event from earlier today.

“In his third Supreme Court of Canada appointment, Trudeau names Quebec judge Nicholas Kasirer; It is the first appointment made under a new process that gives the Quebec government a much greater say in appointments of Quebec-based SCC judges”: Brian Platt of National Post has this report.

Jim Bronskill of The Canadian Press reports that “Trudeau names Quebec judge Nicholas Kasirer to Supreme Court of Canada.”

And John Paul Tasker of CBC News reports that “Trudeau nominates Quebec jurist Nicholas Kasirer to the Supreme Court of Canada.”

“Trump, Twitter and the First Amendment: An appellate ruling blurs the line between private and public forums.” This editorial will appear in Friday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

“Trump Says He Will Seek Citizenship Information From Existing Federal Records, Not the Census”: Katie Rogers, Adam Liptak, Michael Crowley, and Michael Wines of The New York Times have this report.

Seung Min Kim, Tara Bahrampour, and John Wagner of The Washington Post report that “Trump retreats on adding citizenship question to 2020 Census.”

Noah Bierman and David Lauter of The Los Angeles Times report that “Trump backs down in fight over census citizenship question.”

Rebecca Ballhaus and Brent Kendall of The Wall Street Journal report that “Trump Drops Effort to Put Citizenship Question on Census; Agencies are told to provide records on citizens and noncitizens; moves cap weeks of maneuvers after setback in Supreme Court.”

David Jackson and Ledyard King of USA Today report that “Donald Trump drops fight to get citizenship question on 2020 census; other federal records to be used.”

Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times reports that “Trump drops census citizenship question, orders count from existing records.”

Jill Colvin, Mark Sherman, and Zeke Miller of The Associated Press report that “Trump abandons bid to include citizenship question on census.”

Jeff Mason and David Shepardson of Reuters report that “Trump drops census citizenship question, vows to get data from government.”

Margaret Talev, Justin Sink, and Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News report that “Trump Capitulates in Fight Over Census Citizenship Question.”

Allan Smith and Hallie Jackson of NBC News report that “Trump backs off census citizenship question, issues order to collect data in other ways; The president’s announcement comes after the Supreme Court blocked the administration.”

Kevin Liptak, Pamela Brown, Jim Acosta, and Kaitlan Collins of CNN report that “Trump backs away from census citizenship question, orders agencies to hand over citizenship information to Commerce.”

Anita Kumar and Caitlin Oprysko of Politico report that “Trump abandons effort to add citizenship question to census; Instead, the president will issue an executive order directing various agencies to obtain citizenship data by tapping existing databases and documents.”

Jordan Fabian and Jacqueline Thomsen of The Hill report that “Trump drops bid to add citizenship question to 2020 census.”

And Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News reports that “Trump Has Backed Down On Adding A Citizenship Question To The 2020 Census; Trump said he would direct federal agencies to provide citizenship data to the Commerce Department — a plan Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had rejected in favor of adding the question.”

“The New Plot Against Obamacare: Will specious, bad-faith legal arguments prevail?” Columnist Paul Krugman has this essay online at The New York Times.

Programming note: This afternoon, I will be meeting with co-counsel to prepare for an appellate oral argument that I will be presenting next Tuesday. As a result, additional posts will appear here this evening. In the interim, you can sign-up to follow this blog on Twitter if you don’t already do so.

“Title VII Bans Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation”: Joshua Matz has this post at the “Take Care” blog.

Save the date: This fall, the Appellate Judges Education Institute Summit returns to Washington, DC, from Thursday, November 14 to Sunday, November 17, 2019 at the Grand Hyatt.

I am once again on the AJEI Summit’s Education Committee, and this year’s Summit is shaping-up to be another must-attend event. I expect to be there, and I will post a link to the online registration page once it becomes available.

“In the Census Case, Roberts Got Liberals to Help Undercut the Bureaucracy; The Supreme Court rejected Trump’s citizenship question, but the ruling serves a conservative counterrevolution against the administrative state”: Law professor John Yoo and James Phillips have this essay online at The Atlantic.

“Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference to Convene in Spokane, Washington”: The Public Information Office of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued this news release today.

“The Trump Administration’s Bid To Swap Lawyers In The Census Cases Is Not Going Well; Federal judges in California, Maryland, and New York rejected DOJ’s first attempt at switching lawyers, saying the government didn’t submit enough information about the late change”: Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News has this report.

“McGrath flip-flops on whether she would have voted to put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court”: Phillip M. Bailey of The Courier Journal of Louisville, Kentucky has this report.

And Niels Lesniewski of Roll Call reports that “Amy McGrath walks back remarks on Kavanaugh confirmation; Kentucky Democrat is challenging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2020.”

“Connecticut Supreme Court agrees to hear appeal in lawsuit by Sandy Hook parents against InfoWars broadcaster Alex Jones”: Dave Altimari of The Hartford Courant has this report.

And Daniel Tepfer of The Connecticut Post reports that “State Supreme Court to hear InfoWars appeal in Sandy Hook case.”

“Silver bullets, blue pencils, and the future of the ACA”: Nick Bagley has this post at the “Take Care” blog.

“Ninth Circuit Review — Reviewed: Supreme Court Puts Wind in Sails of Court’s Critics of Morally Turpitudinous Crimes in Immigration Law.” William Yeatman has this guest post at the “Notice & Comment” blog of the Yale Journal on Regulation.

“Did the Trump Justice Department Seek to Change its Legal Team in the Census Case Because the Original Lawyers Refused to Lie?” Law professor Michael C. Dorf has this essay online at Justia’s Verdict.

And at the “Dorf on Law” blog, he has a related post titled “The Not-So-Fine-Line Between Creative Lawyering And Dishonesty.”

Sixth Circuit judges opine for and against using corpus linguistics to construe federal statutes: In clashing concurring opinions issued today, Circuit Judge Amul R. Thapar came out in favor, while Circuit Judge Jane B. Stranch (who also wrote the majority opinion) came out mostly against. And the third person on the panel, Senior Circuit Judge John M. Rogers, kept his views on this subject to himself.

“The Clarence Thomas Effect: The notoriously quiet Supreme Court justice has had a far-reaching influence on the personnel of the Trump administration, which may be his most lasting legacy.” Emma Green of The Atlantic has this report.

“Appellate Jurisdiction in the Fourth Circuit’s Emoluments Appeals: The Fourth Circuit took the extraordinary (and possibly improper) step of directing a district court — via a writ of mandamus — to certify a § 1292(b) appeal in an emoluments case.” Bryan Lammon has this post at his “Final Decisions” blog.

“Objections to Protecting Transgender People Under Title VII Are Meritless”: Joshua Matz has this post at the “Take Care” blog.

“Because a reasonable observer would conclude that exposure to the Fresno Bee article neither influenced the magistrate judge’s verdict nor prevented him from adjudicating Carey’s case impartially, he was not required to recuse himself.” So holds a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a decision issued today in a case in which the defendant was challenging his conviction for misdemeanor offenses stemming from an unlawful BASE jump in Yosemite National Park.

The Fresno Bee article at issue was headlined “He leaps off Yosemite cliffs, knowing it’s illegal. Can his court case make BASE jumping legit?“

“Water-rights dispute Florida v. Georgia seems to have stalled”: Lara Fowler has this guest post at “SCOTUSblog.”

“Are dinosaur fossils ‘minerals’? The Montana Supreme Court will decide high stakes case.” Jeremy P. Jacobs of Greenwire has this report (via Science magazine).

“Justice Lee Johnson to retire from Supreme Court in September”: Tim Carpenter of The Topeka Capital-Journal has an article that begins, “Kansas Supreme Court Justice Lee Johnson plans to bring a nearly 20-year career on the appellate bench to a close in September, granting Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly an opportunity to put an imprint on the state’s highest court.”

And Jonathan Shorman of The Wichita Eagle reports that “Kansas Supreme Court justice retiring ahead of expected GOP push to change system.”

“Executive Council rejects MacDonald nomination for chief justice”: John Koziol of The Union Leader of Manchester, New Hampshire has an article that begins, “The Executive Council voted 3-2 Wednesday on party lines against appointing Attorney General Gordon MacDonald to serve as chief justice on the New Hampshire Supreme Court, handing Republican Gov. Chris Sununu a defeat he likened to Washington, D.C., politics.”

And Holly Ramer of The Associated Press reports that “Council rejects attorney general as chief justice.”

“Federal Appeals Court Rules for Trump in Emoluments Case”: Sharon LaFraniere of The New York Times has this report.

Ann E. Marimow and Jonathan O’Connell of The Washington Post report that “Appeals court dismisses emoluments lawsuit involving President Trump’s D.C. hotel.”

Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times reports that “Appeals court tosses suit against Trump, says president can run hotel.”

Jan Wolfe of Reuters reports that “U.S. appeals court hands win to Trump in hotel ’emoluments’ case.”

Andrew M Harris of Bloomberg News reports that “Trump Wins Dismissal of Emoluments Case by Maryland and D.C.”

Allan Smith of NBC News reports that “Appeals court dismisses emoluments clause case against Trump involving Washington hotel; The president immediately celebrated the decision on Twitter.”

Katelyn Polantz, Evan Perez, and Betsy Klein of CNN report that “Appeals court hands Trump a victory over Democratic challenge to DC hotel.”

Jacqueline Thomsen of The Hill reports that “Appeals court dismisses Emoluments Clause lawsuit in win for Trump.”

And Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News reports that “Trump Can’t Be Sued By DC And Maryland Over His Hotel, A Federal Appeals Court Ruled; The 4th Circuit questioned whether the lawsuit filed by DC and Maryland against Trump was ‘an appropriate use of the courts.’”

Today, the same unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued two decisions in two related cases, and you can access those decisions here and here.

“Originalism: A Unitarian Church for the Legal Profession?” Michael S. Greve has this post at the “Law & Liberty” blog.

“Dear Judges Elrod, Engelhardt and King”: Marty Lederman has this post at the “Balkinization” blog.

“Senate Confirms Attorney Daniel Aaron Bress to Seat on Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals”: The Public Information Office of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued this news release today.

Ordinarily, the Ninth Circuit’s news release announcing the confirmation of a new judge will identify whose vacancy the new judge is filling. The three most recent examples can be accessed here, here, and here.

Today’s news release, however, did not do so. The apparent reason why can be accessed here and here.