“NC chief justice race is a historically close call, with a ways to go”: Gary Pearce has this essay online at The Fayetteville Observer.

“Experts doubt Supreme Court intervention before ‘safe harbor’ deadline; Trump allies look to Supreme Court as states finalize Electoral College picks”: Devin Dwyer, Alisa Wiersema, and Matthew Mosk of ABC News have this report.

“What ‘safe harbor day’ is and why it’s bad news for Trump; Congress must count the electoral votes from states that meet the Tuesday deadline”: Pete Williams of NBC News has this report.

“With time running out, GOP state reps file new challenge to Pa.’s election results, citing already rejected claims of fraud”: Jeremy Roebuck of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this report.

And Amy Gardner, Josh Dawsey, and Rachael Bade of The Washington Post report that “Trump asks Pennsylvania House speaker for help overturning election results, personally intervening in a third state.”

“Equal First Amendment Rights for Non-Media Speakers in Oregon; We’ve just filed a friend-of-the-court brief asking the Oregon Supreme Court to protect such equal rights, and overturn Oregon precedent that denies such rights”: Eugene Volokh has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy” about an amicus brief he recently filed. “SCOTUSblog,” the founder of the “InstaPundit” blog, and I are among the amici.

Tomorrow at the U.S. Supreme Court: Paul D. Clement argues a case against Bryan A. Garner, one of whom will be making his #SCOTUS debut.. And Kannon K. Shanmugam argues a case against Daniel L. Geyser. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, we don’t have to worry what might happen if all this talent were in fact in the same room at the same time. You can view the Court’s Day Call for tomorrow’s oral arguments at this link.

At the “Language Log” blog, Mark Liberman had a post about the Clement v. Garner case titled “Lawyers as linguists.” And, more recently, at his “LAWnLinguistics” blog, Neal Goldfarb had posts about the case titled “Robocalls, legal interpretation, and Bryan Garner” and “The precursors of the Scalia/Garner canons.”

“No, President Trump can’t pardon himself”: Former Fourth Circuit Judge J. Michael Luttig (who is now also on Twitter — who says there’s no consolation prize for not being elevated to #SCOTUS) has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“Cruz offers to argue Pennsylvania election case before Supreme Court”: John Bowden of The Hill has this report.

“Covid-19 Liability Shield Is a Bad Idea; Mitch McConnell says he wants to protect businesses from pandemic lawsuits; Hasn’t he heard of moral hazard?” Law professor Stephen L. Carter has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.

“25 progressive groups urge Congress to expand number of federal judges; Groups note lack of expansion for 30 years, say federal courts ‘overwhelmed'”: Paul Steinhauser of Fox News has this report.

And Madison Alder of Bloomberg Law reports that “Liberals Push Congress for ‘Robust’ Lower Court Expansion.”

You can view the group letter conveying this request at this link.

“Supreme Court Hears Holocaust Survivors’ Cases Against Hungary and Germany; The justices struggled to decide whether a 1976 law that bars most suits against other nations allows Jewish victims to sue over the theft of their property”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this report.

Robert Barnes of The Washington Post reports that “Nazi atrocities from decades ago occupy the Supreme Court’s attention.”

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times reports that “Supreme Court wary of having U.S. judges decide Nazi-era claims of forced art sales.”

Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Jewish Property in Nazi Germany and Hungary; Lawyers for the two countries say Jewish heirs’ Holocaust-era claims have no place in U.S. courts.”

Christopher Vondracek of The Washington Times reports that “Holocaust heirs ask Supreme Court for right to sue Germany over stolen property.”

Jessica Gresko of The Associated Press reports that “High court hears Nazi-era cases from Germany, Hungary.”

Lawrence Hurley of Reuters reports that “U.S. Supreme Court hears World War Two-era Jewish property claims.”

Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson of Bloomberg Law reports that “Nazi-Era Jewish Art Cases Get Mixed Reception from Justices.”

Ariane de Vogue of CNN reports that “Holocaust victims suing Germany and Hungary have their day at the Supreme Court.”

John Kruzel of The Hill reports that “Supreme Court weighs property theft claims by Holocaust victims.”

Megan Mineiro of Courthouse News Service reports that “Treasure Sold During Holocaust Fought Over at High Court.”

And on this evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Nina Totenberg had an audio segment titled “Looted Nazi Art Again Before Supreme Court.”

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument today in two related cases. You can access via this link the oral argument audio and transcript in Republic of Hungary v. Simon, No. 18-1447. And you can access via this link the oral argument audio and transcript in Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp, No. 19-351.

“Governor Newsom Swears in Justice Martin Jenkins to the California Supreme Court”: The Office of Governor Gavin Newson issued this news release last Friday.

“Would serving as Solicitor General help or hurt a SCOTUS shortlist member’s prospects for the Supreme Court? For a sitting judge, there are risks of leaving the bench and entering the political fray.” Josh Blackman has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

“First Cuomo, Now Newsom; The Supreme Court extends in scrutiny of orders limiting the free exercise of religion to California and Kentucky”: This editorial appears in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

“Big Whiteboard Energy”: You can access today’s new installment of the “Strict Scrutiny” podcast — featuring law professors Melissa Murray, Leah Litman, and Kate Shaw, and their guest, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) — via this link.

“Holocaust Survivors Deserve Their Day in Court; Congress has made clear that Nazi expropriation victims can bring lawsuits”: Akiva Shapiro has this op-ed in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

“Trump ratchets up pace of executions before Biden inaugural”: Michael Tarm and Michael Balsamo of The Associated Press have this report.

“Commemorating 20 Years of ‘Upon Further Review'”: Tomorrow’s print edition of The Legal Intelligencer, Philadelphia’s daily newspaper for lawyers, will contain this month’s installment of my “Upon Further Review” column.

“Expanded Pa. Appeals Panel to Eye Decision Striking Down Federal Curb on Gunmaker Liability; A three-judge Superior Court panel’s ruling allowed the family of a teen killed in an accidental shooting to sue companies involved in the manufacture and sale of the gun”: Max Mitchell of The Legal Intelligencer has this report on an order granting reargument en banc that the Superior Court of Pennsylvania issued Thursday.

My earlier coverage of the original three-judge panel’s now-vacated ruling can be accessed here and here.

“Theft of $15, a 10-2 Verdict, Sent Man to Prison for 35 Years”: Valerie Bauman of Bloomberg Law has an article that begins, “Roderick Vidau turned down a plea deal in 2005 because he never expected a jury of 12 of his peers would convict him of committing armed robbery. He was right: Only 10 jurors found him guilty, but in Louisiana that was enough to send him to prison for 35 years. He allegedly stole $15.”

“Tobacco Liability Suits Are Still Smoldering in the Courts; When the Florida Supreme Court decertified a class of plaintiffs, it created a deluge of individual cases”: Joe Nocera has this article online at Bloomberg Businessweek.

Access today’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court: At this link. The Court did not grant review of any new cases, but the Court did call for the views of the Solicitor General’s Office in one case.

“The Shortlist of Four”: Harsh Voruganti has this post at his blog, “The Vetting Room,” looking at President-elect Biden’s likely U.S. Supreme Court shortlist.