“Why Kavanaugh partying with right-wing conservatives raises ethical questions”: Columnist Ruth Marcus has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“Gov. Kate Brown commutes sentences of all 17 people on Oregon’s death row”: Hillary Borrud of The Oregonian has this report.

And Bill Poehler of The Statesman Journal of Salem, Oregon reports that “Oregon Gov. Kate Brown to commute 17 people with death sentences to life without parole.”

“U.S. Senate confirms first Black woman to conservative-leaning 5th Circuit”: Nate Raymond of Reuters has this report.

Today, the U.S. Senate voted 65-to-31 to confirm U.S. Magistrate Judge Dana M. Douglas (E.D. La.) to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

“Inside Chuck Schumer’s Long Game On Judges: The Senate majority leader told HuffPost his goal is to ‘achieve balance’ on every appeals court in the next two years with Biden’s judicial picks.” Jennifer Bendery of HuffPost has this report.

“A notorious Trump judge just fired the first shot against birth control; In retrospect, it was inevitable that this particular judge would come for contraception”: Ian Millhiser has this essay online at Vox.

“Military interests parachute into Supreme Court cases on LGBTQ rights, elections; How much influence do amicus briefs tied to military interests have on the Supreme Court? It depends, experts say, but one played a major role in a 2003 case dealing with affirmative action.” John Fritze of USA Today has this report.

“DOJ says judge doesn’t need to hire historian to understand Supreme Court gun ruling”: Ariane de Vogue of CNN has this report.

You can access at this link the federal government’s filing yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

“The Context-Specific Case for Supreme Court Reform”: Andrew Coan has this post at the “Balkinization” blog.

“No insurance coverage for business COVID losses, says Ohio top court”: Nate Raymond of Reuters has this report on a ruling that the Supreme Court of Ohio issued yesterday.

“Biden to Sign Bill to Protect Same-Sex Marriage Rights; Proponents of the legislation argued that Congress needed to be proactive in ensuring a future Supreme Court would not invalidate same-sex marriages around the country”: Michael D. Shear of The New York Times has this report.

“Iowa’s ‘fetal heartbeat’ abortion law to remain blocked, court rules; Kim Reynolds to appeal”: William Morris of The Des Moines Register has this report.

And Katarina Sostaric of Iowa Public Radio reports that “Judge denies Iowa governor’s request to revive ‘fetal heartbeat’ law.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the Iowa District Court for Polk County at this link.

“Hochul’s Big Choice: Picking New York’s Most Powerful Judge; The Court of Appeals shifted to the right under the polarizing leadership of Chief Judge Janet DiFiore; Democrats hope the governor’s nominee to replace her will move it to the left.” Rebecca Davis O’Brien of The New York Times has this report.