“How Democrats Could Disqualify Trump If the Supreme Court Doesn’t: Without clear guidance from the Court, House Democrats suggest that they might not certify a Trump win on January 6.” Russell Berman of The Atlantic has this report.

“Third Scalia Law Graduate Since 2021 Selected as SCOTUS Clerk”: The George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School has issued a news release that begins, “The Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University has announced selection of a graduate as a U.S. Supreme Court clerk, the third since 2021. United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has named Crystal Clanton, ’22, as a judicial clerk for the 2024-25 Term.”

In news coverage, Abbie VanSickle of The New York Times reports that “Justice Thomas Hires Law Clerk Accused of Sending Racist Text Messages; Crystal Clanton, who is close with the Thomas family, has said she does not remember sending the messages, which emerged in 2017.”

And in commentary, online at The Washington Post, columnist Ruth Marcus has an essay titled “The case of Clarence Thomas’s new clerk taints the entire judiciary.”

“IVF, Alabama, and the Dobbs Ruling: The pausing of in-vitro fertility procedures looks like it won’t last long.” This editorial appears in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

“After 43 Years on Death Row, a Serial Killer Faces Execution; Decadeslong waits for capital punishment have become common, but 73-year-old Thomas Creech’s case is particularly extreme”: Jim Carlton of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

“New Records Show Supreme Court’s Sonia Sotomayor Took Unusual Step Of Traveling With A Medic; Marshals Service records indicate Sotomayor was the only sitting justice to request such care; Some progressives have called in the past for her to retire while Biden is president”: Molly Redden of HuffPost has this report.

“One big happy ‘family’? Supreme Court justices talk of unity as they weigh explosive cases; As the Supreme Court navigates epic political battles, Amy Coney Barrett and Sonia Sotomayor appeared together to talk of unity and bringing the ‘temperature down.’” Maureen Groppe of USA Today has this report.

And Josh Gerstein of Politico reports that “Sotomayor and Barrett stress Supreme Court camaraderie; As decisions key to Trump’s future loom, justices from different ideological flanks of the court professed independence from politics.”

C-SPAN has posted online a video titled “Justices Sonia Sotomayor & Amy Coney Barrett at Nat’l Governors Assn. Conference.”

“Why isn’t the Supreme Court moving faster on Trump’s immunity challenge?”: John Fritze of CNN has this report.

“The First Amendment Right to Affirmative Action”: Law professor Alexander Volokh has posted this article at SSRN.

The article’s abstract begins, “In the wake of Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, affirmative-action proponents should pursue a First Amendment approach. Private universities, which are speaking associations that express themselves through the collective speech of faculty and students, may be able to assert an expressive-association right, based on Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, to choose their faculty and students. This theory has been recently strengthened by 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis.”

“A Response to Professor John Mikhail on ‘Officers of the United States’ — Part II; The issues, arguments, and evidence raised by Mikhail have already been addressed by extant scholarship, including our scholarship; Mikhail’s arguments and evidence were not ‘ignored or overlooked’”: Josh Blackman and Seth Barrett Tillman have this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

“Ninth Circuit to rehear Hawaii butterfly knife ban; A full Ninth Circuit restored Hawaii’s 1993 ban on use of butterfly knives and agreed to take on an appeal of another decision that said the knife falls under the Second Amendment”: Candace Cheung of Courthouse News Service has this report.

“Some Idle Speculation About What the Supreme Court Will Do About Trump’s Request to Put His Election Subversion Case on Hold on Immunity Grounds; It’s Potentially Good News for a Trial This Spring/Summer”: Rick Hasen has this post at his “Election Law Blog.”

“Trump’s Wild Pursuit of Presidential Immunity: The former President has already lost the immunity case twice, but he has also won something.” Amy Davidson Sorkin recently had this Daily Comment online at The New Yorker.

“The Biggest Supreme Court Case That Nobody Seems to Be Talking About”: Law professor Richard L. Hasen — founder of the “Election Law Blog” — has this Jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“While eyes are on Trump, Supreme Court conservatives prepare to rewrite the rulebook”: Joan Biskupic of CNN has this news analysis.

“Alabama justice who ruled embryos are people says American law should be rooted in the Bible; Tom Parker, chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, expressed his support for the Seven Mountains Mandate, a once-fringe philosophy that calls on evangelical Christians to reshape American law and society based on their beliefs”: Mike Hixenbaugh of NBC News has this report.

Trevor Hughes and Minnah Arshad of USA Today have an article headlined “Alabama justice invoked ‘the wrath of a holy God’ in IVF opinion. Is that allowed?”

And in commentary, online at The Los Angeles Times, columnist Harry Litman has an essay titled “Alabama’s highest court declared frozen embryos people. The U.S. Supreme Court is to blame.”

“Supreme Court Signals It’s Done With Affirmative Action for Now”: Lydia Wheeler of Bloomberg Law has this report.

“New Marquette Law School national survey finds approval of U.S. Supreme Court at 40%, public split on removal of Trump from ballot; Confidence in juries remains high compared to other institutions; public remains opposed to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, supportive of gun rights outside home”: Law professor Charles Franklin has this report.

“Supreme Court Allows $2.4 Billion Boy Scouts Sex Abuse Deal to Go Forward; The justices denied an emergency request by a group of victims to pause the deal, allowing the settlement to proceed”: Abbie VanSickle of The New York Times has this report on an order the U.S. Supreme Court issued today.

“Embryos are vessels of hope, pain and love. But they are not children. The Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling has gone too far.” Columnist Monica Hesse has this essay online at The Washington Post.

Also online at The Washington Post, columnist Ruth Marcus has an essay titled “Alabama ushers in the theocracy.”

“There’s an Enormous, Impossible-to-Resolve Contradiction in Alabama’s Anti-IVF Ruling”: Law professor John Culhane has this Jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

Also online at Slate, Mark Joseph Stern has a Jurisprudence essay titled “Alabama’s Assault on IVF Is Even Worse Than It Sounds.”

“Accidents, Lax Rules and Abortion Laws Now Imperil Fertility Industry; Fertility clinics are routinely sued by patients for errors that destroy embryos, as happened in Alabama; An effort to define them legally as ‘unborn children’ has raised the stakes”: Azeen Ghorayshi and Sarah Kliff of The New York Times have this report.

Rick Rojas of The New York Times has an article headlined “The Alabama Chief Justice Who Invoked God in Deciding the Embryo Case; Chief Justice Tom Parker has long been revered by conservative groups as an architect for the overturning of Roe v. Wade.”

And in commentary, online at The New York Times, columnist Charles M. Blow has an essay titled “Alabama’s I.V.F. Ruling Shows Our Slide Toward Theocracy.”

“Pennsylvania’s high court sides with township over its ban of a backyard gun range”: Mark Scolforo of The Associated Press has a report that begins, “A township ordinance that limits firing guns to indoor and outdoor shooting ranges and zoning that significantly restricts where the ranges can be located do not violate the Second Amendment, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.”

Yesterday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania consists of a majority opinion, an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, and a dissenting opinion.

“Was John Roberts Ever a Member of Federalist Society? Smoothing the already clear path to confirmation.” Ed Whelan has this post at his “Confirmation Tales” Substack site.

“9th Circuit Judge Chastises DOJ for ‘Abrupt About-Face’ in Case Challenging Asylum Policy; Lawrence VanDyke calls government’s request to hold case in abeyance ‘wholly political’”: Avalon Zoppo of The National Law Journal has this report on a dissent from an order that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued yesterday.

“Hawaii’s Butterfly Knife Ban Will Get Full Ninth Circuit Review; Vacated opinion said ban wasn’t consistent with tradition; Majority of active judges voted to rehear knife case”: Ufonobong Umanah of Bloomberg Law has this report (subscription required for full access) on an order granting rehearing en banc that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued today.

“Judge Overseeing Texas Buoy Challenge Responds to Fifth Circuit; Federal judge suggested recusal for Judge James Ho; New trial date set for Aug. 6 following reaction from circuit”: Ryan Autullo of Bloomberg Law has a report (subscription required for full access) that begins, “A federal judge in Texas was appalled Thursday by the reaction of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to his management of a case before him regarding the legality of Texas’ floating river barriers at the Mexico border.”

“Judge criticizes US Supreme Court’s reliance on historical ‘tradition’; Judge Kevin Newsom warns of risks of citing ‘tradition’ to justify rulings; Judge cites abortion, gun rights and standing cases as examples”: Nate Raymond of Reuters has this report.

“Justices Mull Dismissing ‘Discovery Rule’ Copyright Damages Case; Justices suggest weighing discovery rule before damages scope; Damage question only one splitting circuits, rapper says”: Kyle Jahner of Bloomberg Law has this report.

Blake Brittain of Reuters reports that “US Supreme Court may dump Warner Music dispute over copyright damages.”

And at the “IPWatchdog” blog, Eileen McDermott has a post titled “DIG, Dogs and Bad Wine: Justices Float Scrapping Warner Chappell to Consider Alternate Petition on ‘Discovery Accrual Rule’ for Copyright.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has posted online the transcript and audio of yesterday’s oral argument in Warner Chappell Music, Inc. v. Nealy, No. 22-1078.

“U.S. Supreme Court Decides Great Lakes“: John F. Coyle has this post at the “Transnational Litigation Blog.”

“Biden nominates Chicago judge to be first Hispanic judge on 7th Circuit”: Nate Raymond of Reuters has this report.

Tiana Headley of Bloomberg Law reports that “Biden Puts Forward Trial Court Judge for Seventh Circuit Seat.”

And Nolan Stout of Courthouse News Service reports that “Biden announces 5 judicial, 2 US attorney nominees; The nominations are for positions in D.C., Illinois, Arizona, Iowa and the Court of Appeals.”

“Let’s Unpack the Latest Islamophobic Smear of Biden Judicial Nominee Adeel Mangi; A right-wing attack ad on Third Circuit nominee Adeel Mangi says he has ‘refused’ to condemn terrorism; Let’s check the record of what actually happened!” Madiba K. Dennie has this post at Balls and Strikes.

“Supreme Court Rules for Georgia Man on Double Jeopardy Claim”: Lydia Wheeler of Bloomberg Law has this report.

Ryan Knappenberger and Kelsey Reichmann of Courthouse News Service report that “Supreme Court says Georgia can’t retry mentally ill man who killed his mother; The high court said that despite an unusual split verdict, Georgia could not bring another trial against Damian McElrath because doing so would violate the double jeopardy clause.”

At “SCOTUSblog,” Ronald Mann has a post titled “Double jeopardy clause bars Georgia from retrying man acquitted by reason of insanity.”

And in commentary, online at Slate, Mark Joseph Stern has a Jurisprudence essay titled “Turns Out It’s Really Useful to Have a Former Public Defender on the Supreme Court.”

“Justices order vigorous enforcement of choice-of-law clauses in maritime insurance contracts”: Ronald Mann has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

And Ryan Knappenberger and Kelsey Reichmann of Courthouse News Service report that “Justices uphold federal maritime law’s primacy for insurer in boat accident debacle; A Supreme Court insurance fight allows maritime contract choices to prevail over state public policies.”

“A Law Clerk’s Memories of the Late Justices O’Connor and Ginsburg; In 2008, Justice O’Connor invited Isaac Lidsky to be one of her law clerks, and Justice Ginsburg gave him a clerkship, too.;He had an experience that year he will never forget”: Tony Mauro of The National Law Journal has this post at his “The Marble Palace Blog.”

“A Perpetual Monopoly”: At the “Balkinization” blog, Jill Lepore has a guest post that begins, “In May 1923, weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Adkins v. Children’s Hospital, the nation’s leading labor reformer, the lawyer Florence Kelley, called for an overhaul of the federal judiciary. She wanted to put women on the bench.”

Also at that blog, Thomas P. Schmidt has a guest post titled “Building the Court.”