“The Biggest Takeaway From Todd Blanche’s Confirmation Hearing: The once-cherished ideal of dispensing impartial justice has all but disappeared.” Quinta Jurecic has this essay online at The Atlantic.

And online at Balls and Strikes, Jay Willis has an essay titled “Todd Blanche Understands Exactly Who His Client Is; Senators asked Trump’s attorney general nominee if he would run an ‘independent’ Justice Department; The thought would never have occurred to him.”

“Johnny Brown, father of Supreme Court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, dies at 80”: Austin Horn of The Miami Herald has written this obituary.

“Justices’ Security Pleas Mark Rare Transparency for Opaque Court”: Suzanne Monyak of Bloomberg Law has this report.

“New Jersey’s ban on assault rifles ruled unconstitutional by court”: William Westhoven of The Record of Woodland Park, New Jersey has this report.

Dana DiFilippo of New Jersey Monitor reports that “Court strikes down NJ’s ‘assault weapons’ ban and magazine capacity restrictions; Dissenting judges warn ruling risks ‘dangerous aftermath.’”

Kerry Picket of The Washington Times reports that “Court strikes down New Jersey’s ban on AR-15 rifles and ‘high-capacity’ magazines.”

Joey Fox and Daniel Han of Politico report that “Appeals court strikes down New Jersey’s assault weapons ban, magazine limits; The 3rd Circuit opinion strikes at the heart of the state’s gun laws, among the most restrictive in the nation.”

Josh Kelety of The Associated Press reports that “Federal appeals court rules that New Jersey’s assault weapons ban is unconstitutional.”

And Alex Ebert of Bloomberg Law reports that “NJ Assault Rifle Ban Struck, Sending Circuit Split to SCOTUS.”

You can access today’s en banc decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit at this link.

“A former prosecutor said DA Larry Krasner’s Office colluded with defense attorneys to try to overturn a murder conviction; Jaclyn Mason said supervisors in Krasner’s office also encouraged her to lie to a federal judge to try to conceal the way prosecutors had handled the case”: Chris Palmer of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this report.

And Kristen Johanson of KYW Newsradio reports that “Former assistant Philly DA says she was used as a ‘pawn’ in appeal of 2009 murder conviction.”

“Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Barbara Webb recovering from head injury after fall”: Tess Vrbin of Arkansas Advocate has this report.

“I worked at the Kansas Supreme Court. Here’s why justices should be elected.” Sarah Stula has this essay online at The Kansas City Star.

“Yale admissions is under investigation. Could it have broken the law? At the center of the Department of Justice’s investigation into the Yale School of Medicine’s admission practices is a question of whether Yale considered proxies for race in considering applications — and whether that counts as a violation of federal law.” Leo Nyberg of The Yale Daily News has this report.

“Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson lauds dissent at Fairbanks talk”: Patrick Gilchrist of KUAC has this report.

“Trump administration races the clock to rebuild US tariff wall knocked down by Supreme Court”: Paul Wiseman of The Associated Press has this report.

“There’s a Real Danger that Trump v. Barbara Becomes the New Roe v. Wade“: Veronica Cardenas has this Jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“The Supreme Court’s Most Brazen Attack on Congress Yet; The high court’s decision in Landor v. Louisiana Dept. of Corrections and Public Safety could incapacitate the legislative branch’s policymaking powers”: Simon Lazarus has this essay online at The New Republic.