Programming note: On Saturday, I will be traveling back home from Little Rock, Arkansas, where this afternoon I had the pleasure of speaking at the Corbin Symposium. The UA Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law, where the event was occurring, was spared any damage from the huge tornado that passed through town nearby, but other areas sadly were not so fortunate.

Additional posts will appear here on Saturday evening.

“Activist group led by Ginni Thomas received nearly $600,000 in anonymous donations; Funding for group that battled ‘cultural Marxism’ was channeled through right-wing think tank, Post investigation finds”: Shawn Boburg and Emma Brown of The Washington Post have this report.

“How Two Supreme Court Cases Made ‘Cruel and Unusual Punishment’ Meaningless: Two decades ago, the Supreme Court had the chance to stop lawmakers from sentencing people to life in prison for petty theft; It decided to look the other way.” Jay Willis has this post at Balls and Strikes.

“Health Plans No Longer Have to Cover All Preventive Care at No Cost. Here’s What to Know. A ruling by a federal judge this week could set up yet another Supreme Court challenge to the Obamacare health law.” Sarah Kliff of The New York Times has this report.

“‘Mom’s still there.’ Sandra Day O’Connor just turned 93. Here’s how she’s doing.” Nicole Carroll of USA Today has this report, along with a report headlined “Women of the Year honoree Sandra Day O’Connor’s mark on Supreme Court still prominent today.”

And online at USA Today, Scott O’Connor has an op-ed titled “My mom was the most powerful woman in US government. Here’s what she taught me. My mother, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, has an uncanny sense of what it is to be American, full of optimism and possibilities, yet with a yearning to be of service to others in meaningful ways.”

“Johnson & Johnson unit loses bid to stay in bankruptcy during Supreme Court appeal”: Dietrich Knauth of Reuters has this report.

“The $37m question: why do US states elect judges in expensive, partisan elections? The Wisconsin state supreme court election urges the question: why are partisan groups able to be involved?” Kira Lerner of The Guardian (UK) has this report.

“Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: Time For Reform? And a new culture-war controversy at Columbia Law — over an Instagram post.” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.

“Equity’s Constitutional Source”: Owen W. Gallogly has this article in the March 2023 issue of The Yale Law Journal.

“Supreme Preparation: What attorneys go through before facing the nine.” Matt Reynolds has this cover story in the April 2023 issue of ABA Journal.

“How the LAPD abortion squad went after women and doctors in pre-Roe L.A.” Brittny Mejia of The Los Angeles Times has this report.

“Even as mass shootings multiply, federal judges are erasing gun safety laws”: Law professor Adam Winkler has this essay online at The Los Angeles Times.

“Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Mourns Passing of Judge Edward Leavy”: The Public Information Office of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has posted this obituary online.

“Judge orders end to many ACA preventative care coverage requirements, including PrEP and cancer screenings; Judge Reed O’Connor, a conservative Texas federal judge, earlier suggested this ruling was coming; Although many coverage requirements were struck down, he upheld the contraceptive care requirements”: Chris Geidner has this post at his “Law Dork” Substack site.

You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas at this link.

“Diplomats in Robes? The Supreme Court’s Unwelcome Forays Into Foreign Policy.” Aziz Huq and Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar have this essay online at Foreign Affairs.

“Penn plans for expected overturn of affirmative action as Supreme Court ruling looms”: Sara Forastieri and Elea Castiglione of The Daily Pennsylvanian have this report.

“A secret deal between Justices John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy on gay rights and what it means today”: Joan Biskupic of CNN has this report.

“Time for Supreme Court to adopt ethics rules? Retired federal judge Nancy Gertner says lack of transparency, recent incidents involving justices, spouses, activists have tarnished public standing.” Liz Mineo of The Harvard Gazette has this report.

“Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race could be the beginning of the end for GOP dominance; The stakes of this down ballot race could have a domino effect on abortion rights, the House majority — and maybe the 2024 presidential election”: Zach Montellaro and Megan Messerly of Politico have this report.

“Justices Must Disclose Travel and Gifts Under New Rules; The change comes as members of Congress have called for the justices to be held to ethics standards similar to those for the executive and legislative branches”: Abbie VanSickle of The New York Times has this report.

“Dueling court cases in Washington state and Texas could determine legality of abortion pill”: Spencer Kimball of CNBC has this report.

“Supreme Court’s new target: the Americans with Disabilities Act; A ruling could essentially rewrite the ADA, which was designed to put enforcement partly in the hands of those best positioned to recognize public access discrimination: those with disabilities.” Columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr has this essay online at The Boston Globe.

“‘Wrong things can be changed’: Justice Sotomayor speaks on disillusionment.” Ariane de Vogue of CNN has this report.

“Americans remain pessimistic about Supreme Court months after Roe’s demise, poll finds”: John Fritze of USA Today has this report.

“Stanford students violated free speech by shouting down a conservative speaker”: Law professor Erwin Chemerinsky has this essay online at The Sacramento Bee.

“Idaho Is About To Become The First State To Restrict Interstate Travel For Abortion; A bill would create a whole new crime — dubbed ‘abortion trafficking’ — which aims to limit minors’ ability to travel for abortion care without parental consent”: Alanna Vagianos of HuffPost has this report.

“We’re About to Find Out How Far the Supreme Court Will Go to Arm America”: Linda Greenhouse has this guest essay online at The New York Times.

“Challenge to Biden ESG investing rule will stay in Texas court”: Daniel Wiessner of Reuters has this report on a ruling that U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk (N.D. Tex.). issued yesterday.

And online at Slate, law professor Steve Vladeck has a jurisprudence essay titled “A Federal Judge Couldn’t Handle My Criticism. So He Made Fun of My Tweets.”

“Garland looks to hand off security duty for Supreme Court justices; Sen. Katie Britt unveiled training materials showing that marshals were discouraged from arresting protesters”: Josh Gerstein of Politico has this report.

Greetings from Little Rock: Where on Friday I will be speaking at the Corbin Symposium, Arkansas’ premier appellate CLE event.

My flight from Charlotte to Little Rock was delayed for over one hour, but I figured the four-person maintenance team had properly fixed the issue, since Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was on board (sitting in the very last row of coach, surprisingly!), and it wouldn’t be very good marketing for American Airlines if the flight didn’t operate successfully.

“Court Improperly Nixed Unvaccinated Jurors, Pa. Panel Told”: Matthew Santoni of Law360 has this report (subscription required for access) on the oral argument before a three-judge Pa. Superior Court panel in which I participated yesterday in Pittsburgh on behalf of the plaintiff-appellee. The argument that is the subject of the article’s headline was being advanced by counsel for the defendant-appellant.

Programming note: I will be arguing an appeal tomorrow morning on behalf of the plaintiff-appellee in this case before a three-judge Pa. Superior Court panel sitting in Pittsburgh. As a result, additional posts may not appear here until Tuesday evening.

“Israel’s Netanyahu Suspends Judicial Overhaul After Mass Protests; Opposition leaders say they are ready to negotiate, as labor union calls off nationwide strike”: Dov Lieber, Aaron Boxerman, and Shayndi Raice of The Wall Street Journal have this report.

And Patrick Kingsley, Isabel Kershner, and Eric Nagourney of The New York Times report that “Netanyahu Delays Bid to Overhaul Israel’s Judiciary as Protests Rage; The Israeli prime minister called for dialogue as civil unrest and work stoppages reached a crisis point, grinding the country to a halt.”

“Supreme Court won’t review contempt conviction of anti-Chevron environmental lawyer”: Ariane de Vogue of CNN has this report.

“U.S. Supreme Court mulls Amgen bid to revive cholesterol drug patents”: John Kruzel and Andrew Chung of Reuters have this report.