“The Biden administration must go into overdrive to reclaim our courts”: Derrick Johnson and Leslie Proll have this essay online at The Washington Post.

“The Supreme Court’s run out of excuses to avoid controversial issues”: Ariane de Vogue of CNN has this report.

“First Amendment Allows False Ad Suit Against Ratings Publisher”: Martina Barash of Bloomberg Law has this report (subscription required for full access) on a ruling that a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued Friday.

“California’s ban on indoor worship upheld, but future caps on church services in limbo”: Vincent Moleski of The Sacramento Bee has this report.

And Martin Macias Jr of Courthouse News Service reports that “Ninth Circuit Denies California Church’s Bid to Overturn Indoor Worship Ban.”

You can access Friday’s ruling of a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.

“Still serving at 87, Dianne Feinstein brushes off calls to resign over memory issues”: Kate Irby has this front page article in today’s edition of The Sacramento Bee.

“Apple Keeps iPad Trademark Win Against Website Owner on Appeal”: Blake Brittain of Bloomberg Law has this report (subscription required for full access) on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued Thursday.

“Federal judge says Boston can reject raising of Christian flag at City Hall”: Andrew Martinez of The Boston Herald had this report back in February 2020.

And in August 2020, columnist Jeff Jacoby had an essay titled “The Christian flag and the Boston flagpole: Whose messages can fly above City Hall Plaza? That question is at the heart of an important First Amendment case” online at The Boston Globe.

On Friday, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued this decision affirming the district court’s judgment in favor of the City of Boston. Senior Circuit Judge Bruce M. Selya wrote the opinion of the court.

In response to the ruling, Liberty Counsel — whose attorneys represent the plaintiffs — issued a news release titled “Next Step for Christian Flag: U.S. Supreme Court.”

“Internet Gambling Hits the Jackpot in First Circuit; The Justice Department went bust-o Wednesday in its attempt to shut down online betting, including state lotteries”: Thomas F. Harrison of Courthouse News Service has this report on a ruling that a two-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued Wednesday.

“Is an Innocent Man Still Languishing on Death Row? We’ve seen the DNA evidence in the Kevin Cooper case. It points elsewhere.” Columnist Nicholas Kristof has this essay in the Sunday Review section of today’s edition of The New York Times.

“Ex-DOJ Official Called ‘Radioactive’ After Alleged Election Plot”: Ellen Gilmer of Bloomberg News has this report.

And Jason Nark of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that “Trump tapped attorney from Northeast Philadelphia to push claims of election fraud, report says.”

“‘Bamboozled.’ Hawley mentors stunned by conduct, but early warning signs were there.” Bryan Lowry, Jonathan Shorman, and Eric Adler have this front page article in today’s edition of The Kansas City Star.

“Political upheaval alters strategies in US abortion debate”: David Crary of The Associated Press has this report.

“‘Strong and full of life’: Family, classmates mourn Iowa State student who was found dead at sorority house.” Danielle Gehr of The Ames Tribune has this report.

“Pennsylvania Lawmaker Played Key Role in Trump’s Plot to Oust Acting Attorney General; The congressman’s involvement underlined how far the former president was willing to go to overturn the election, and Democratic lawmakers are beginning to call for investigations into those efforts”: Katie Benner and Catie Edmondson will have this article in Sunday’s edition of The New York Times.

“Yes, the Senate Can Try Trump: Impeachment for former officials was the norm at the time of the founding.” Professor Keith E. Whittington has this op-ed in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

“Trump Pressed Justice Department to Go Directly to Supreme Court to Overturn Election Results; The former president dropped the efforts to replace the acting attorney general after top DOJ officials agreed to resign en masse in protest if he succeeded, people familiar said”: Jess Bravin and Sadie Gurman of The Wall Street Journal have this report.

“Virginia moves toward banning capital punishment, in a shift for prolific death penalty state”: Laura Vozzella and Gregory S. Schneider of The Washington Post have this report.

“Biden DOJ nixes last-minute Trump administration memo on LGBTQ rights; A Supreme Court ruling last June concluded that a half-century-old prohibition on sex discrimination in employment applies equally to discrimination against gay and lesbian workers as well as those who are transgender”: Josh Gerstein of Politico has this report.

“Students Win in Federal Appeals Court — With Argument Partly Via Sign Language”: Mike Fox of the University of Virginia School of Law has this report.

My earlier coverage of the Fourth Circuit’s ruling in this case, and its oral argument, can be accessed here.

“Judicial Notice: January 23, 2021 — Notable legal news from the week that was.” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.

“Bad conduct, leering ‘jokes’ — immigration judges stay on bench; Chronicle investigation: U.S. Justice Department lacks strong harassment oversight for judges.” Tal Kopan of The San Francisco Chronicle has this report.

“Why McConnell Dumped Trump: After the Capitol assault — and after losing his perch as Majority Leader — the senator finally denounced the outgoing President; Was it a moral reckoning or yet another act of political self-interest?” Jane Mayer will have this article in the February 1, 2021 issue of The New Yorker.

“Sotomayor Emerges as Heir to Marshall in Death Penalty Dissents”: Jordan S. Rubin of Bloomberg Law has this report.

“Nashville lawyer suspended after posting advice on how to make murder look like self-defense”: Brinley Hineman of The Tennessean has this report.

Yesterday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Tennessee consists of a majority opinion and an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.*

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* The majority opinion describes the separate opinion as dissenting in part, while the separate opinion describes itself as concurring in part. I have thus opted to characterize the separate opinion in a way that encompasses both descriptions.

“House Republican introduces bill to hold Supreme Court at nine justices”: Caitlin McFall of Fox News has this report.

“Woman found dead in Iowa was daughter of Minnesota justice, Allina CEO; Olivia Chutich’s body was found in the parking lot of an Iowa State University sorority house”: The Minneapolis Star Tribune has this report.

And Danielle Gehr of The Ames Tribune reports that “21-year-old Iowa State student found dead at sorority is identified; no foul play suspected.”

“Nevada church presses US Supreme Court on COVID-19 limits”: Scott Sonner of The Associated Press has this report.

“Trump Left A Big Legal Mess For Biden; There are numerous lawsuits pending over Trump-era policies Biden doesn’t support, along with cases that ensnared the Justice Department with Trump’s own legal troubles”: Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News has this report.

“Trump and Justice Dept. Lawyer Said to Have Plotted to Oust Acting Attorney General; Trying to find another avenue to push his baseless election claims, Donald Trump considered installing a loyalist, and had the men make their cases to him”: Katie Benner of The New York Times has this report.

Access online the Winter 2021 edition of Appellate Issues, a publication of the ABA Council of Appellate Lawyers: Via this link. Usually, this issue focuses on the previous November’s Appellate Judges Education Institute Summit, but this year out of necessity it mostly focuses on the new normal.

Access online the new issue of The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process: You can access the table of contents via this link and you can download a PDF copy of the entire issue via this link.

“No, You Can’t Carry a Gun on the Floor of the House: Rep. Lauren Boebert and other members of the shoot-’em-up caucus think they have an unfettered right to pack heat in the Capitol and even in the House and Senate chambers; They don’t; Here’s why.” Law professor Garrett Epps has this essay online at Washington Monthly.

“Biden’s solicitor general will play critical role in early efforts to undo Trump policies”: Ariane de Vogue of CNN has this report.

“Florida High Court Strikes Clerk Redaction Rule, Affirms Principle of Timely Access; The Florida Supreme Court strikes down an old rule requiring that court clerks find and redact private information in public records, based on damage caused to the principle of timely access”: Bill Girdner of Courthouse News Service has this report on a unanimous per curiam decision that the Supreme Court of Florida issued yesterday.

“Texas Supreme Court: Alex Jones, InfoWars can be sued by Sandy Hook parents.” Chuck Lindell of The Austin American-Statesman has an article that begins, “The Texas Supreme Court on Friday rejected, without comment, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ attempt to toss out four defamation lawsuits by parents of children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012.”