“The Fallout Is Growing on Trump’s Deals With Law Firms; The deals are looking worse and worse — for Trump and the law firms”: Ankush Khardori has this essay online at Politico Magazine.

“Appeals Court Overturns Plea Deal in 9/11 Case; The court found that Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III had the authority to invalidate a contract reached between the accused mastermind and a Pentagon official”: Carol Rosenberg of The New York Times has this report.

Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Court Quashes Sept. 11 Plea Bargains That Military Judge Had Approved; Ruling extends troubled Guantanamo prosecution over 2001 terrorist attacks.”

You can access today’s 125-page ruling of a partially divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at this link.

“Third Circuit nominee Emil Bove walks tightrope on Jan. 6, DOJ firings in Senate questionnaire; Bove, a top DOJ official involved in firing federal prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases, condemned illegal activity but also criticized ‘overreach and heavy-handed tactics’ by federal law enforcement”: Benjamin S. Weiss of Courthouse News Service has this report.

You can access the nominee’s responses at this link.

“Why State Supreme Court Justices Would Rather Be Federal Judges; Compensation, tenure, and other factors”: Ed Whelan has this post at his “Confirmation Tales” Substack site.

“The Supreme Court ‘kneecapped’ the lower federal courts. Or did it?” Nancy Gertner has this essay online at Boston’s WBUR.

“Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Chris Taylor sets early pace in fund-raising for 2026 race”: Jessie Opoien of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this report.

“Ketanji Brown Jackson Is Telling the Truth About the Supreme Court; The task of interpreting the law is inherently ‘political’; But no justice has been this comfortable saying so in public”: Jay Willis has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.

“Clarence Thomas has long tried to undercut the Voting Rights Act. Now, he may finally have the numbers.” Joan Biskupic of CNN has this news analysis.

“Bonus 165: The Appeasement Thesis; One defense of the Court’s behavior on Trump-related emergency applications is that the justices are picking their battles; If so, the question becomes which battles they actually intend to fight.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.

“A Legal Mistake at the Heart of Trump v. CASA? It is technical, but important for future cases.” Jack Goldsmith has this post at the “Executive Functions” Substack site.