“Supreme Court says Illinois may ban sale of rapid-fire assault weapons for now”: David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has this report on an order that the U.S. Supreme Court issued today.

“Supreme Court to Rule on Affirmative Action, Student Debt and Internet Companies’ Liability; Justices are set to issue far-reaching opinions in the coming weeks”: Jess Bravin and Jan Wolfe of The Wall Street Journal have this report.

“The Courts Should Be More Political, Not Less”: Online at The New York Times, law professor Jedediah Britton-Purdy has a guest essay that begins, “The details are all too familiar: Last fall, an election in North Carolina flipped the balance of the State Supreme Court from Democrats to Republicans, and in less than six months, the new conservative majority had reversed a decision from last December and ruled that the legislature can gerrymander election maps with no constitutional limit.”

“Breyer Looks Back on Sexism Faced by Female Harvard Classmates; ‘They were having a tougher time than we thought,’ retired Justice Stephen Breyer said of his female peers at Harvard Law School in the early 1960s”: Jimmy Hoover of The National Law Journal has this report.

“Senate Republicans blast judge during hearing over Clarence Thomas’s 2011 ethics review”: Tobi Raji of The Washington Post has this report.

And Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Federal Judge Says Judicial Body Gave 2011 Complaints About Clarence Thomas Short Shrift; Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing examines how complaints about Thomas gifts, payments to wife were handled internally.”

You can view the video of today’s U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing via this link.

“Interview: Emily Bazelon.” Elise Spenner has this post at the “High School SCOTUS” blog.

“A 150-year-old law could help determine the fate of U.S. abortion access; The courts will decide whether the Comstock Act still applies, a question that could be explored at a hearing Wednesday”: Dan Diamond and Ann E. Marimow of The Washington Post have this report.

“Key legislators see no ‘path forward’ on Lamont court nominee; Sandra Slack Glover, nominated for CT Supreme Court, interrogated over support for Justice Amy Coney Barrett in 2017”: Mark Pazniokas of Connecticut Mirror has this report.

“Pa. election results: Carluccio, McCaffery win Supreme Court primary, will advance to November general.” Katie Meyer of Spotlight PA has this report.

“Casting a Bright Light on the Supreme Court’s ‘Shadow Docket’; A new book by the legal scholar Stephen Vladeck argues that unsigned and unexplained decisions issued through the court’s shadow docket have helped propel its jurisprudence to the right”: Jennifer Szalai of The New York Times has this book review.

“US appeals court to weigh fate of abortion pill”: Brendan Pierson of Reuters has this report.

And Madlin Mekelburg of Bloomberg News reports that “Abortion Pill Ban Gets a Second Chance in Appeals Court; Two Trump-appointed judges are on appeals court panel; Texas judge rescinded FDA approval of drug in April ruling.”

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is scheduled to hear oral argument of this appeal beginning at 1 p.m. central time today. The audio of the oral argument will be live-streamed via this link.

“‘Paranoid’ Incidents Necessitate Newman Exam, Fed. Cir. Says; 95-year-old judge is ‘agitated,’ alienating staff, new filings say; Newman ordered to release medical records in 30 days”: Kelcee Griffis of Bloomberg Law has this report on two orders (access here and here) that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued today.

Update: In other coverage, Jacqueline Thomsen and Blake Brittain of Reuters report that “US federal judge, 95, faces fresh competency claims as she fights probe.”

“Dan McCaffery wins Democratic primary for Pennsylvania Supreme Court seat”: Marc Levy of The Associated Press has this report.

“North Carolina Lawmakers Uphold Abortion Ban Over Governor’s Objections; Republicans used their supermajority to reapprove a 12-week ban, overriding the Democratic governor’s recent veto of the bill”: Kate Kelly of The New York Times has this report.

“More on Rule 41 Dismissals of Actions and Claims: The Eleventh Circuit held that plaintiffs can voluntarily dismiss only entire actions, regardless of whether they use Rule 41(a)(1) or (2).” Bryan Lammon has this post at his “final decisions” blog.

“People of color and women are underrepresented on state supreme court benches, report finds”: Nicquel Terry Ellis of CNN has this report.

You can access the Brennan Center’s updated report via this link.

“Assault-style weapons oral arguments heard at Illinois Supreme Court”: Patrick Keck of The State Journal-Register of Springfield, Illinois has this report.

And Dave Byrnes of Courthouse News Service reports that “Illinois assault weapons ban goes before state high court; In addition to the state-level case, several federal challenges to the ban are also pending.”

“How a 150-Year-Old Law Against Lewdness Became a Key to the Abortion Fight; The Comstock Act, named for a public-morals crusader on a mission to ‘sanitize’ the U.S. in the 1870s, makes a comeback in the abortion-pill battle”: Emily Bazelon of The New York Times has this report.

“Why the Court Should Dismiss the Most Important Case of the Year (Moore v Harper)”: Eric Segall has this blog post at “Dorf on Law.”

“New book explores how the Supreme Court uses its ‘shadow docket’ to change the law”: Devan Cole of CNN has this report.

Ed Pilkington of The Guardian reports that “US supreme court pursuing rightwing agenda via ‘shadow docket,’ book says; Steve Vladeck says conservative majority is bypassing public scrutiny with unsigned orders on religion, abortion and more.”

And Texas Standard has posted an interview titled “How the shadow docket is changing justice at the Supreme Court.”

“Gov. Lamont stands by CT Supreme Court nominee as she faces criticism over Amy Coney Barrett support”: Ken Dixon of Greenwich Time has this report.

“The Brutal Past and Uncertain Future of Native Adoptions: The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 sought to keep Native children in tribal communities; The Supreme Court may change that this spring.” Gabrielle Glaser will have this article in this upcoming Sunday’s issue of The New York Times Magazine.

“Abortion Pill Fight to Be Heard by One of Nation’s Most Conservative Courts; The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has long been at the center of high-profile challenges, and a wave of Trump appointees has pushed it to the leading edge of potent policy decisions”: Abbie VanSickle of The New York Times has this report.

“Clarence Thomas Ethics Review Critic to Appear Before Senate; Judge Mark Wolf questioned judiciary handling of complaints; Judiciary declined to share some records with Senate committee”: Zoe Tillman of Bloomberg News has this report.

“Abortion Showdown in North Carolina May Hinge on a Single Vote; After the G.O.P.-led legislature passed a 12-week ban, the Democratic governor vetoed the bill; The Republicans could override it, if all their members stay unified”: Kate Kelly of The New York Times has this report.

“Races for 4 court seats, including 1 on Supreme Court, lead statewide Pennsylvania primary ballots”: Marc Levy of The Associated Press has this report.

And Fredreka Schouten of CNN reports that “A Pennsylvania Supreme Court primary could offer clues about the GOP’s direction in a key presidential battleground.”

“Senate confirms Bradley N. Garcia to appeals court in DC; DOJ official is the first Latino judge on the court that hears cases with a national sweep on environment, labor and other policies”: Ryan Tarinelli of Roll Call has this report.

This evening, the U.S. Senate confirmed Bradley N. Garcia to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by a vote of 53-to-40.

“Supreme Court Takes Up Case on Trump Hotel Records; The justices will decide whether individual House Democrats have standing to sue for documents concerning possible conflicts of interest”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this report, along with an article headlined “Supreme Court to Consider South Carolina Voting Map Ruled a Racial Gerrymander; A unanimous three-judge panel found that a congressional voting district anchored in Charleston, S.C., violated the Constitution’s equal protection clause.”

“The Supreme Court outlawed split juries, but hundreds remain in prison anyway”: Jason Breslow of NPR has this report.

“Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting law gets beaten up on GOP campaign trail”: Marc Levy of The Associated Press has a report that begins, “Election integrity and Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting law are prominent subjects in the state’s Republican primary contest for an open state Supreme Court seat, as Donald Trump continues to baselessly claim that the 2020 election was stolen.”

“Connecticut high court nominee regrets signing 2017 letter supporting Amy Coney Barrett”: Dave Collins of The Associated Press has this report.

“16 Crucial Words That Went Missing From a Landmark Civil Rights Law; The phrase, seemingly deleted in error, undermines the basis for qualified immunity, the legal shield that protects police officers from suits for misconduct”: Adam Liptak will have this new installment of his “Sidebar” column in Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times.

“GOP state lawmakers try to restrict ballot initiatives, partly to thwart abortion protections”: Julie Carr Smyth of The Associated Press has this report.

“How the Supreme Court might view the debt limit fight: A debt-ceiling deadlock could push Biden to invoke the 14th Amendment — setting up a showdown at the high court.” Betsy Woodruff Swan of Politico has this report.

“Memos show how Supreme Court justices scramble at the end of the session”: Joan Biskupic of CNN has this news analysis.