“A weakness in the argument for vaccine mandates; The Supreme Court decision allowing the government to require vaccines came before dozens of other cases allowing people autonomy over their bodies”: Nicholas Tampio recently had this essay online at The Boston Globe.

“Va. Supreme Court affirms judge’s ruling reinstating Loudoun teacher who refused to use transgender pronouns”: Hannah Natanson of The Washington Post has this report on a ruling that the Supreme Court of Virginia issued yesterday.

“The 5th Circuit is staking out a claim to be America’s most dangerous court”: Columnist Ruth Marcus has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“A Retreat on Racial Preferences: The Justice Department declines to appeal a ruling against the USDA’s discriminatory farm policy.” This editorial will appear in Wednesday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

“An alarming new Supreme Court case could unravel Roe v. Wade as soon as Tuesday night; And the loss of abortion rights in Texas may not even be the most troubling aspect of this case”: Ian Millhiser has this essay online at Vox.

“Texas Officials Ask Supreme Court to Allow Six-Week Abortion Ban”: Greg Stohr and Laurel Calkins of Bloomberg News have this report.

You can access Texas’ U.S. Supreme Court filing at this link.

“Disbar Trump’s Lawyers Who Tried to Steal the Election; They used the courts to perpetuate a massive fraud on the American public; They should not be allowed to practice law”: Law professor Joshua Douglas has this essay online at Washington Monthly.

“Go-to Lawyer for Capitol Riot Defendants Disappears; John Pierce has been a combative advocate for those accused of participating in the Jan. 6 attack, but he’s missed court appearances for a week”: Alan Feuer of The New York Times has this report.

“The US supreme court is deciding more and more cases in a secretive ‘shadow docket’; These emergency rulings — short, unsigned and issued without hearing oral arguments — undermine the public’s faith in the integrity of the court”: Moira Donegan has this essay online at The Guardian (UK).

“Will Chief Justice Burger’s Official Biography Ever Arrive? Twenty-five years ago, the official biographer was paid $600,000. Timothy Flanigan is in no hurry.” Josh Blackman has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

“Was it Lawful for the Justice Department to Reach a Secret Non-Prosecution Agreement with Jeffrey Epstein Without Telling His Victims? My cert petition to the U.S. Supreme Court asks it review the Eleventh Circuit en banc’s decision concluding that Epstein’s victims cannot enforce their right to confer with prosecutors under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act because the Department never formally filed charges against Epstein”: Paul Cassell has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy” about a petition for writ of certiorari that he submitted for filing today to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Celebrating Justice Clarence Thomas’s 30th Anniversary on the Supreme Court”: The Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy has posted online this collection of essays and video interviews.

“The Court’s Partisan Rules on Executive Power”: Law professor Steven D. Schwinn has this essay online at Justia’s Verdict.

“The Supreme Court Has Just Two Days to Decide the Fate of Roe v. Wade“: Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern have this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Supreme Myths II: The Roberts Court Years.” Eric Segall has this blog post at “Dorf on Law.”

“Arizona launches a bold new experiment to limit racist convictions; The state embraces a reform proposed by Justice Thurgood Marshall more than three decades ago”: Ian Millhiser has this essay online at Vox.

“Are There Too Many Dissents from Denial of En Banc Petitions? A federal judge suggests that dissents from en banc denial make the courts seem too political. Others might think such dissents serve a useful purpose, including the flagging of important questions (and significant errors) for Supreme Court review.” Jonathan H. Adler has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

It is interesting to note that the places where such dissents seem to have proliferated — the Fourth and the Ninth Circuits — are the two federal appellate courts that are regarded as the most liberal, and thus the most likely to be out of step with the jurisprudence of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Perhaps in an alternate world where a truly liberal U.S. Supreme Court existed, we would see an increase in dissentals from those circuits dominated by conservative judges.

“4th Circ. judge calls for rule change to address en banc dissent ‘drawbacks'”: Nate Raymond of Reuters has this report on an order denying rehearing en banc, and the concurrence therein and dissents therefrom, that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued yesterday.

“Grandma Versus The Foster Parents”: You can access this week’s episode three of season two of the “This Land” podcast — which focuses on litigation to strike down the Indian Child Welfare Act — via this link.

“Texas is about to turn private citizens into antiabortion vigilantes”: The Los Angeles Times has published this editorial.

“Capitol riot defendants’ lawyer apparently hospitalized with covid leaves clients without counsel, prosecutors say”: Spencer S. Hsu and Rachel Weiner of The Washington Post have a report that begins, “An attorney who represents the largest number of defendants charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and who has criticized vaccine mandates has dropped out of sight amid conflicting statements by associates over whether he has been hospitalized with covid-19, U.S. prosecutors told judges Monday.”

“Supreme Court Asked to Block Texas Law Banning Most Abortions; The law, set to go into effect on Wednesday, bans abortions after about six weeks and deputizes citizens to file suits to enforce it”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this report.

Ann E. Marimow and Emily Wax-Thibodeaux of The Washington Post report that “Supreme Court asked to block Texas abortion law deputizing citizens to enforce six-week ban.”

Brent Kendall of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Supreme Court Asked to Intervene on Texas Six-Week Abortion Ban; State’s so-called fetal-heartbeat law is set to go into effect this week.”

Alex Swoyer of The Washington Times reports that “Abortion providers ask Supreme Court to block Texas’ post-six-weeks ban.”

You can access the emergency application filed today in the U.S. Supreme Court at this link.

“On Death Row in Texas, a Last Request: A Prayer and ‘Human Contact’; Scheduled for execution on Sept. 8, John Henry Ramirez is suing to have his Baptist pastor lay hands on him as he dies”: Ruth Graham of The New York Times has this report.

“Warren Burger’s Biography: Decades in the Making, and Still Not Done.” Tony Mauro of The National Law Journal has this report.

“Haynes Boone Nabs Veteran Supreme Court Advocate Geyser”: Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson of Bloomberg Law has this report.

“Unreviewable: The Final Installment of the ‘Epic’ Obamacare Trilogy.” Law professor Josh Blackman has posted this paper at SSRN.

“Where We Stand: Assessing Vacancies and Nominations in the Federal Judiciary — The South.” Harsh Voruganti has this post at his blog, “The Vetting Room.”

“Are Censures of Politicians a Form of Free Speech or a Threat to It? The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments this fall on whether the censure of an elected official in Houston ran afoul of the First Amendment.” Adam Liptak will have this new installment of his “Sidebar” column in Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times.

“Appeals court rules ballot postage isn’t a poll tax in Georgia”: Mark Niesse of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has this report.

Kate Brumback of The Associated Press has a report headlined “Appeals court: Postage for absentee ballots isn’t a poll tax.”

And Erika Williams of Courthouse News Service reports that “Appeals court rejects demand for free postage on Georgia absentee ballots; A three-judge panel gave its stamp of approval to the Peach State’s practice of making voters pay for their own postage for mail-in ballots.”

You can access Friday’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit at this link.

“9th Circ revives trademark dispute between Ayla and Alya beauty brands”: Blake Brittain of Reuters has this report on a personal jurisdiction-related ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued Friday.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has posted online its 2020 Annual Report: You can access it at this link.

“Neurological Tests for Death Row Inmate Approved by 6th Cir.” Brian Flood 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 Sixth Circuit issued Thursday.

“Mothers of shooting victims get another chance in lawsuit against Biddeford police; A federal appeals court has asked the judge to reconsider his dismissal based on a recent ruling in a different case”: Megan Gray of The Portland (Me.) Press Herald has this report on a ruling that a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued Friday.

“Appeals court says intelligence agencies not required to confirm existence of Khashoggi records”: Celine Castronuovo of The Hill has this report on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued Friday.

“Arizona to end peremptory challenges to potential jurors”: Paul Davenport of The Associated Press has a report that begins, “Arizona’s top court is eliminating the longstanding practice of allowing lawyers in criminal and civil trials in state courts to remove potential jurors without explanation, a move that proponents said would help prevent discrimination in the selection of trial jurors.”