How Appealing



Wednesday, April 14, 2021

“Biden’s court-packing theater could tame the Supreme Court’s conservatives”: Andrew C. McCarthy has this essay online at The Hill.

Posted at 10:02 PM by Howard Bashman



“Can this Latina law professor tapped by Biden help reform the Supreme Court? Cristina M. Rodríguez, a professor at the Yale Law School and co-chair of President Joe Biden’s high court commission, is described as a sophisticated legal thinker.” Raul A. Reyes of NBC News has this report.

Posted at 9:58 PM by Howard Bashman



“Democratic Lawmakers to Present Plan to Expand Supreme Court; Initiative runs counter to Biden administration’s commission on overhauling court after three conservative Trump appointments”: Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

And Sahil Kapur of NBC News reports that “Democrats to introduce bill to expand Supreme Court from 9 to 13 justices; Last week, President Joe Biden announced the formation of a commission to study the court’s structure, including length of service and number of justices.”

Posted at 8:54 PM by Howard Bashman



“Three Supreme Court justices tackle U.S. partisan divisions in public remarks”: John Fritze of USA Today has this report.

Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Justices Sotomayor, Gorsuch Warn That Divisions Threaten U.S. Democracy.”

And Ariane de Vogue of CNN has a report headlined “Sotomayor: ‘This is the scariest of times, and the most exciting times.’

The Center for Strategic & International Studies has posted on YouTube a video titled “Civics as a National Security Imperative: A Conversation with Justice Sotomayor and Justice Gorsuch.”

Posted at 8:47 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court rules Gov. Evers can’t limit bars and restaurant capacity without Legislature”: Molly Beck of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this report.

Scott Bauer of The Associated Press has a report headlined “Wisconsin high court: Governor can’t limit business capacity.”

And Shawn Johnson of Wisconsin Public Radio reports that “For A Third Time, Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules Against Evers Administration’s COVID-19 Order; Wednesday’s Decision Involved An October Order Limiting Bar And Restaurant Capacity.”

You can access today’s 4-to-3 ruling of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin at this link.

Posted at 8:37 PM by Howard Bashman



“‘Frankly, I Think Everyone Is Baffled’: Searching For Clues In SCOTUS’ Abortion Silence.” Kate Riga of TPM has this report.

Posted at 8:16 PM by Howard Bashman



“Challenge to Male-Only Draft Is ‘Premature,’ Biden DOJ Tells Justices; Congress is ‘actively considering the scope’ of the registration requirement, Elizabeth Prelogar, acting U.S. solicitor general, told the Supreme Court in the Justice Department’s filing”: Marcia Coyle of The National Law Journal has this report.

You can access the federal government’s Brief in Opposition at this link.

Posted at 7:53 PM by Howard Bashman



“House and Senate Democrats Plan Bill to Add Four Justices to Supreme Court; The Constitution allows Congress to set the number of Supreme Court justices”: Ryan Grim of The Intercept has this report.

Posted at 7:50 PM by Howard Bashman



“Professional Irresponsibility and Judicial Opinions”: Law professor Nina Varsava has posted this article at SSRN.

The article’s abstract begins, “In the U.S., the style of judicial opinions is subject to little formal constraint, and judges exercise sweeping, and sometimes shocking, rhetorical discretion in their opinion writing.”

Posted at 7:46 PM by Howard Bashman



“Justice Thomas’s Misguided Concurrence on Platform Regulation”: Berin Szóka and Corbin Barthold have this post at the “Lawfare” blog.

Posted at 7:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“The phony furor over expanding the Supreme Court”: Columnist Charles Lane has this op-ed in today’s edition of The Washington Post.

Posted at 3:27 PM by Howard Bashman



“Zoom Court Is Changing How Justice Is Served; For better, for worse, and possibly forever”: Eric Scigliano has this article in the May 2021 issue of The Atlantic.

Posted at 2:36 PM by Howard Bashman



“Leading scholar of civil procedure, constitutional law, Stephen Sachs joins HLS faculty”: Harvard Law today has a report that begins, “Stephen E. Sachs, a leading scholar of civil procedure and constitutional law, will join the faculty of Harvard Law School as the inaugural Antonin Scalia Professor of Law, effective July 1.”

Posted at 2:22 PM by Howard Bashman



“Can Biden Fix the Courts That Trump Broke? There is no progressive future without a serious fight to reclaim the judiciary from the grips of conservative judges.” Elie Mystal has this cover story in the April 19, 2021 issue of The Nation.

Posted at 1:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“Do Transgender Students Have Rights to Equal Treatment in the Classroom? An appellate court gets the facts wrong in an ill-conceived decision.” Law professor Andrew Koppelman has this essay online at The American Prospect.

Posted at 1:06 PM by Howard Bashman



“F.D.A. Will Allow Abortion Pills by Mail During the Pandemic; The agency said it would stop enforcing a rule requiring women to get the first of two pills in person at a medical clinic or hospital”: Pam Belluck has this article in today’s edition of The New York Times.

Posted at 10:05 AM by Howard Bashman



“‘Breyer Retire’ campaign looms over Dems’ tenuous majority; Neither Democratic lawmakers nor President Joe Biden are putting overt retirement pressure on the Supreme Court justice — but his future is on everyone’s minds”: Burgess Everett, Marianne LeVine, and Laura Barrón-López of Politico have this report.

Thanks to this article’s headline, I’m left to struggle with whether “everyone’s minds” is grammatical.

Posted at 9:25 AM by Howard Bashman



“Originalism in the Lower Courts in Sixth Circuit Abortion Case; In this case of first impression, Judge Bush turns to the original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment”: Josh Blackman has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

Posted at 9:20 AM by Howard Bashman