“Conservative Supreme Court Justices Take Aim at Scalia; The Roberts court is poised to undo the late Justice’s landmark ruling on religious freedom and government overreach”: Matt Ford of The New Republic has this report.

“Constitutional rights are priceless — someone should tell the 11th Circuit”: John Bursch has this essay online at The Hill about a cert. petition he has pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

“School Choice Logic Doesn’t Apply Here. Does the Supreme Court Get That? The Montana education system was designed for fairness and pulling together. The justices should appreciate that legacy.” Sarah Vowell has this essay online at The New York Times.

“Some Thoughts from a Former Reinhardt Clerk”: Law professor Eve Brensike Primus has posted this essay online (via tweet from Sam Bagenstos).

“A nervous wait at Louisiana abortion clinic at center of U.S. Supreme Court fight”: Lawrence Hurley of Reuters has this report.

“A Legal Lion Lays Down His Gavel With a Ruling of ‘Love, Not Hate’; After 53 years as a federal judge in Brooklyn, Jack B. Weinstein is retiring; He still has a stubborn belief in the American future”: Alan Feuer of The New York Times has this report.

“The Equal Rights Amendment Could Still Do Some Good; Yes, times have changed, but ratifying the ERA could further shift constitutional law to help women”: Law professor Noah Feldman has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.

“Bill Barr Must Resign: The attorney general is working to destroy the integrity and independence of the Justice Department, in order to make Donald Trump a president who can operate above the law.” Donald Ayer, with whom I worked on a U.S. Supreme Court case many years ago, has this essay online at The Atlantic.

Online at The Washington Post, George T. Conway III has an essay titled “There is no one to stop Trump now.”

Online at Time magazine, law professor Joyce White Vance has an essay titled “If William Barr Truly Believed in Rule of Law, He Would Resign.”

And online at The Dispatch, law professor Jack Goldsmith has an essay titled “Should Attorney General Barr Resign? He has helped create the perception that the Justice Department is politicized.”

“Can a State Police Officer Search a Car Based on Probable Cause of a Federal Marijuana Crime? A fun case about cross-enforcement of the Fourth Amendment now before the Ninth Circuit.” Orin S. Kerr has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

“Federal judges’ association calls emergency meeting after DOJ intervenes in case of Trump ally Roger Stone”: Kevin Johnson of USA Today has this report.

“Embracing Supreme Court Expansion Carries No Political Cost, Study Says; ‘There is no reason for leaders to shy away from saying what needs to be said,’ the leader of a group promoting expansion of the high court said”: Daniel Marans of HuffPost has this report.

“Judge calls opponent ‘selfish’ for wanting to ‘break barriers’ as first elected female chief justice of Texas Supreme Court; Jerry Zimmerer, an appellate judge in Houston, said his campaign differs from Amy Clark Meachum’s because ‘I actually want the best candidate to win'”: Emma Platoff of The Texas Tribune has this report.

“Why Is William Barr Really Criticizing Donald Trump?” David Rohde has this post online at The New Yorker.

“Fearful of Trump’s Attacks, Justice Dept. Lawyers Worry Barr Will Leave Them Exposed; After a week of tumult, some career prosecutors expressed concerns about political interference and the attorney general’s response to the president weighing in on the prosecution of an associate”: Katie Benner, Sharon LaFraniere, and Nicole Hong of The New York Times have this report.

“Worker Fired Over Jail Term Gets Arbitration Award Reinstated”: Kathleen Dailey of Bloomberg News has this report on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued Thursday.

On the issue of substantive due process, Circuit Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton‘s opinion for the unanimous three-judge panel observes, “Ask yourself how often federal and state judges have used substantive due process over time to innovate new constitutional rights with which they disagreed.”

“Corpus Christi man, 72, gets prison time for morphed child pornography he said was ‘cute'”: Alexandria Rodriguez of The Caller Times of Corpus Christi, Texas had this report back in April 2019.

On Thursday, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued this decision affirming the defendant’s conviction but remanding for resentencing.

“Truth in Constitutional Amending: Justice Ginsburg says the push for the Equal Rights Amendment should start over.” This editorial appeared in Saturday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

“Former Justice Dept. Lawyers Press for Barr to Step Down; More than 1,100 former prosecutors and officials who served in Republican and Democratic administrations signed an open letter condemning the president and the attorney general over the Stone case”: Katie Benner of The New York Times has this report.

Devlin Barrett of The Washington Post reports that “More than 1,100 ex-Justice Department officials call for Barr’s resignation.”

Andrew Duehren and Sadie Gurman of The Wall Street Journal report that “Former Justice Department Employees Sign Letter Urging Barr to Resign; Attorney general faces criticism over decision to reduce prosecutors’ initial sentencing recommendation for President Trump’s confidant Roger Stone.”

Savannah Behrmann and Kristine Phillips of USA Today report that “More than 1,100 ex-DOJ employees call for Attorney General Barr’s resignation.”

Medium has published the “DOJ Alumni Statement on the Events Surrounding the Sentencing of Roger Stone.”

“Ruth Bader Ginsburg presents inaugural Leadership Award to philanthropist Agnes Gund”: Global News has posted this video on YouTube.

“Ruth Bader Ginsburg Versus the Equal Rights Amendment: The Supreme Court justice says backers of the ERA must ‘start over’ in their bid to amend the Constitution; A leading backer of the effort explains why she believes that the icon of the women’s-rights movement is wrong.” Russell Berman of The Atlantic has this report.

And Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times reports that “Changing definition of ‘sex’ since ERA was written poses thorny legal issues; Transgender movement did not even exist when amendment drafted in 1972.”

“Contest for spot on Arkansas Supreme Court low-key; Candidates talking up qualifications; ‘dark money’ attack ads absent so far”: John Moritz of The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has this report.

And Max Brantley of Arkansas Times has a report headlined “Partisanship and dark money in the race for Arkansas Supreme Court.”

“Forced recusals for new Louisiana Supreme Court justice show campaign attacks still linger”: Andrew Gallo of The Advocate of Baton Rouge, Louisiana has this report.

“Michael Avenatti Found Guilty in Extortion Case; Lawyer for Stormy Daniels convicted on charges linked to effort to extort millions from Nike”: Rebecca Davis O’Brien of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

And Jeff Mordock of The Washington Times reports that “Michael Avenatti convicted on all counts in Nike extortion trial.”

“New Developments Feed Debate on Justice Department Independence; Prosecutors decline to charge McCabe; outside prosecutor appointed to examine investigation into Flynn”: Aruna Viswanatha and Sadie Gurman of The Wall Street Journal have this report.

“Eight apply for pending Alaska Supreme Court vacancy”: James Brooks of The Anchorage Daily News has this report.

“Cop’s Strip Club Dancer Plate Search May Test Scope of Hack Law”: Sara Merken of Bloomberg Law has a report that begins, “The U.S. Supreme Court may decide if someone who improperly uses their authorized computer access, such as a cop looking up a strip club dancer’s license plate as a favor, can be liable under a federal anti-hacking law.”

You can view the cert. petition at this link.The deadline for the federal government’s response has thus far been extended to March 10, 2020.

“Senate Democrats pressure Trump to drop ObamaCare lawsuit”: Alexander Bolton of The Hill has this report.

“Appeals court unanimously strikes down Medicaid work requirements”: Amy Goldstein of The Washington Post has this report.

Alex Swoyer of The Washington Times reports that “Appeals court unanimously rules against Trump Medicaid work requirement.”

Deborah Yetter of The Courier Journal of Louisville, Kentucky reports that “Court rejects Medicaid work rules sought by former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin.”

Lindsey Millar of Arkansas Times reports that “Federal appeals court affirms lower court ruling striking down Arkansas work requirement.”

Lydia Wheeler and Andrew M Harris of Bloomberg News report that “Trump-Backed Work-for-Medicaid Plan Is Rejected on Appeal.”

Rachana Pradhan and Susannah Luthi of Politico report that “Appeals court rejects Trump-approved Medicaid work requirements; The decision brings the Trump administration’s Medicaid overhaul closer to possible review from the Supreme Court.”

Peter Sullivan of The Hill reports that “Appeals court strikes down Trump approval of Medicaid work requirements.”

And in commentary, online at Vox, Ian Millhiser has an essay titled “Trump just got bad news from Neil Gorsuch’s mentor in a big Medicaid case; When you’ve lost David Sentelle . . . .”

My earlier coverage of today’s D.C. Circuit ruling can be accessed here.

“The Astros’ cheating derailed my career. So I’m suing.” Mike Bolsinger has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“A President So Unhinged That Even Bill Barr Says He’s Out of Control; Welcome to the post-acquittal Trump Presidency”: Susan B. Glasser has this post online at The New Yorker.

“McConnell reiterates that Senate would confirm a Supreme Court nominee if there’s a vacancy this year”: Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN has this report.

“Schumer: Justice Roberts should blast Trump over remarks about Stone’s sentencing judge.” Alex Swoyer of The Washington Times has this report.

And Jeff Mordock of The Washington Times reports that “D.C. federal court chief judge stands firm against Trump criticism of Roger Stone case.”

“Trump bucks Barr’s request to stop tweeting about Justice Dept., declaring a ‘legal right’ to seek intervention in criminal cases”: Matt Zapotosky and John Wagner of The Washington Post have this report.

Sadie Gurman and Aruna Viswanatha of The Wall Street Journal report that “Trump Again Tweets About Justice Department After Barr Urges a Stop; President says he hasn’t asked AG to intervene in criminal cases, but has the right to do so.”

In commentary, today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal contains an editorial titled “Trump’s Worst Enemy: He needs to stop tweeting about cases and let Barr do his job.”

And also in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, columnist Kimberley A. Strassel has an op-ed titled “The Trials of Bill Barr: Bureaucrats bristle as the attorney general delivers on his pledge of accountability.”

“The Constitution’s Ugly Win”: Greg Weiner has this post at the “Law & Liberty” blog.

“Appeals Court Rejects Trump Administration Approval of Work Requirements for Medicaid; Case involved Arkansas plan for imposing work-related conditions for Medicaid coverage”: Brent Kendall and Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal have this report on a ruling that a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued today.