“Amy Wax and the Limits of Academic Freedom”: The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression has posted this video on YouTube.

And in news coverage, Ximena Conde of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that “Penn Law’s Amy Wax makes her case to college professors, hoping to gain their support; Facing a disciplinary hearing at Penn Law over controversial remarks made over the years, Amy Wax tried to win over faculty across the country in attempt to pressure her school to drop hearing plans.”

“U.S. appeals court weighs free speech challenge to attorney conduct rule”: David Thomas of Reuters has a report that begins, “A federal appeals court in Philadelphia on Thursday questioned whether a free-speech advocate and Pennsylvania attorney can pursue his First Amendment challenge against the state’s adoption of an anti-harassment and discrimination professional rule for lawyers.”

You can access via this link the audio of yesterday’s oral argument before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

“Texas Bar Application Adds Questions About ‘Incivility’ and Free Speech in Wake of Stanford Law School Fracas”: Aaron Sibarium of The Washington Free Beacon has this report.

“What Law Students Should Take Away from the Stanford Law School Controversy Involving Disruption of a Federal Judge’s Speech: Part One in a Series.” Law professors Vikram David Amar and Jason Mazzone have this essay online at Justia’s Verdict.

Also online at Justia’s Verdict, law professor Neil H. Buchanan has an essay titled “A Public Statement About Law Students (and Others) Acting Like Children, from a Fictional University President — Or, the Stanford Incident is Not What You Think.” At “Dorf on Law,” Buchanan has a related blog post titled “Fabricated Outrage and the Right’s Attack on Higher Education.”

And online at The Los Angeles Times, Nico Perrino has an essay titled “College campus hecklers, your disruptions don’t count as free speech.”

“Clarence Thomas enters the danger zone”: Columnist Ruth Marcus has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“U.S. appeals court judge faces rare probe into competency, misconduct”: Blake Brittain and Andrew Goudsward of Reuters have this report.

And at the “Patently-O” blog, Dennis Crouch has a post titled “Federal Circuit Confirms its Scrutiny of Judge Newman.”

“Justice Samuel Alito temporarily extends access to abortion drug while Supreme Court considers case”: Ariane de Vogue, Tierney Sneed, and Devan Cole of CNN have this report.

You can view today’s orders here and here.

“Quid Pro Crow: Clarence Thomas’ position toward disclosure is actually clarified by his jurisprudence.” Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern have this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Appeals court will decide if lawyers can evade common fund fees in consolidated cases”: Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Reuters has this post about the appeal I will be arguing next Tuesday before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit sitting in Phoenix, Arizona.

The post’s headline may be a bit misleading, however, since the issue is whether MDL common fund fees can be assessed against cases that were never a part of the MDL proceeding because they were never filed in any court, were filed in state court, or were filed in federal court after the MDL closed, simply because the lawyer for the plaintiffs in these cases also represented clients in the MDL proceeding.

In today’s mail: I received a copy of Martin J. Siegel‘s new book, “Judgment and Mercy: The Turbulent Life and Times of the Judge Who Condemned the Rosenbergs.” The book is a biography of former U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and Second Circuit Judge Irving R. Kaufman.

“Asking Clarence Thomas to testify in Senate could spark a showdown; Some groups want the Senate Judiciary Committee to hear from a sitting justice over reports on his relationship with a wealthy GOP donor”: Michael Macagnone of Roll Call has this report.

“Why Clarence Thomas’s Ethical Dilemma Won’t Change the Supreme Court; Tradition of letting the Supreme Court police itself continues; Chief justice has history of resisting a formal ethics code”: Laura Litvan and Billy House of Bloomberg News have this report.

“Federal Circuit Confirms Complaint Against 95-Year-Old Judge”: Riddhi Setty of Bloomberg Law has a report that begins, “The Judicial Council for the Federal Circuit confirmed the existence of a complaint against Judge Pauline Newman by Chief Judge Kimberly A. Moore and said that an investigation process is underway.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has posted online a “Statement of the Judicial Council of the Federal Circuit,” along with related orders dated March 24, 2023 (partially redacted) and April 13, 2023.

“Supreme Court makes it easier to bring constitutional challenges to federal agencies”: Ariane de Vogue of CNN has this report on a ruling that the U.S. Supreme Court issued today.

Justice Elena Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court in Axon Enterprise, Inc. v. FTC, No. 21-86. Justice Clarence Thomas issued a concurring opinion. And Justice Neil M. Gorsuch issued an opinion concurring in the judgment. You can access the oral argument via this link.

“Biden Administration Asks Supreme Court to Restore Broad Availability of Abortion Pill; In an emergency application, lawyers for the government asked the justices to stay all of a Texas judge’s ruling suspending a commonly used abortion medication”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this report.

Robert Barnes and Ann E. Marimow of The Washington Post report that “Justice Department asks Supreme Court to restore access to abortion pill.”

Jess Bravin and Laura Kusisto of The Wall Street Journal report that “Supreme Court Faces Swift New Abortion Test With Mifepristone Case; Justice Department asks high court to preserve access to widely used abortion pill.”

And Alex Swoyer of The Washington Times reports that “Justice Department takes abortion pill fight to Supreme Court.”

You can access the federal government’s stay application at this link. And you can access the drugmaker’s stay application at this link.

“President Biden Names Thirty-Second Round of Judicial Nominees”: The White House has issued this news release today, announcing nominees to the Fifth and Ninth Circuits.