“North Carolina justices cast state Supreme Court election result into doubt; Democratic Justice Allison Riggs won her November election by 734 votes, but the court put into play enough votes to possibly hand the seat to her Republican challenger”: Patrick Marley of The Washington Post has this report.

Eduardo Medina and Nick Corasaniti of The New York Times report that “Thousands of Voters Must Verify Information in Contested Election, N.C. Supreme Court Rules; The number of ballots in question exceeds the slim margin by which the Democratic incumbent won, potentially leading to the November election being overturned.”

Kyle Ingram of The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina reports that “NC Supreme Court rejects main Griffin ballot challenge — but some votes remain in jeopardy.”

Rob Schofield of NC Newsline reports that “North Carolina Supreme Court issues order in Riggs-Griffin case; 4-2 ruling reinstates 60,000-plus ballots challenged for clerical reasons, but sides with Griffin on military and overseas voters.”

And Will Doran of WRAL reports that “NC Supreme Court votes to throw out some, but not all, ballots contested in 2024 race for seat on court; Republican Jefferson Griffin’s challenges against several thousand voters will be allowed to go through — an outcome that could help him secure a seat on the state’s highest court; One GOP justice broke ranks, calling the order ‘judicial tampering in election results.’”

You can access today’s decision of the Supreme Court of North Carolina at this link.

“White House Continues Defiant Stance on Seeking Return of Deported Man; The Trump administration clashed with a federal judge, refusing to comply with her demand for a road map to release a Maryland man it inadvertently deported to a Salvadoran prison last month”: Alan Feuer and Aishvarya Kavi of The New York Times have this report.

Steve Thompson, Katie Mettler, and Victoria Bisset of The Washington Post report that “Justice Dept. skirts judge’s deadline on plans to return wrongly deported man; A government lawyer argued that a Friday deadline was not enough time to detail steps for the return of Kilmar Abrego García, who was sent to a Salvadoran mega-prison despite another judge’s protection order.”

And Joseph De Avila and C. Ryan Barber of The Wall Street Journal report that “Judge Orders Daily Updates From Trump Administration on Mistakenly Deported Man; Justice Department lawyers say they can’t yet provide details on what officials are doing to seek Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return from a prison in El Salvador.”

“Mangione Says U.S. Bid to Execute Him Is an Instagram Stunt; Lawyers for the man accused of killing a health insurance executive in Manhattan said the attorney general was putting ‘partisan politics over justice’”: Benjamin Weiser and Hurubie Meko of The New York Times have this report.

“Trump’s Triple-Dog Supreme Court Dare; Will the justices be comfortable with the president’s wholesale regulatory changes?” Columnist Kimberley A. Strassel has this op-ed in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

“Luigi Mangione: Lawyers ask judge to block DOJ from seeking death penalty.” Kara Scannell of CNN has this report.

And Patricia Hurtado and David Voreacos of Bloomberg News report that “Mangione Lawyer Asks Court to Bar DOJ From Seeking Death Penalty.”

“The Supreme Court Just Wants Trump to Break the Law the Right Way; The opinion in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia shows little interest in actually bringing him home, or holding the White House accountable for failing to do so”: Jay Willis has this post at his “Balls & Strikes” Substack site.

“Anti-Choice Lawyer Reduced to Writing Humiliating Op-Ed Begging For John Roberts’s Vote; Oral argument in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic didn’t go great for the Alliance Defending Freedom, so John Bursch is giving it another shot”: Susan Rinkunas has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.

“‘Showerhead’ Executive Order Hides a Serious Surprise; Tucked in with the frivolity of low-flow showerheads and the ‘war on showers’ is another of President Trump’s attempted power grabs”: Law professor Noah Feldman has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.

“Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., announced today that the Board of the Federal Judicial Center has selected United States District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg to be the twelfth director of the Federal Judicial Center.” So begins a news release that the U.S. Supreme Court issued yesterday.

“Judge Chides Trump Officials for Delay Bid in Deportation Case”: David Voreacos and Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News have this report.

And Alan Feuer of The New York Times reports that “U.S. Continues to ‘Delay’ and ‘Flout’ Courts in Return of Deported Man, Lawyers Say; The judge, clearly frustrated, reminded the Justice Department that the administration’s act of mistakenly sending a Maryland man to El Salvador ‘was wholly illegal from the moment it happened.’”

“141. Abrego Garcia and the Presumption of Regularity: How one reads Thursday’s ruling ordering the federal government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s return depends upon how much (or how little) one expects *this* administration to turn square corners.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.