“The Senate’s Shameful Acquiescence to Todd Blanche as Attorney General; A number of Republicans resisted his confirmation, but enough ultimately accepted the notion that Trump could do even worse”: Ruth Marcus has this essay online at The New Yorker.

“En banc Ninth Circuit reverses lower court bar on Arizona voter registration law; The law was upheld by a Ninth Circuit panel last year, which found that the plaintiffs had no standing to challenge a provision requiring cancellation of some voter registrations”: Margaret Attridge of Courthouse News Service has this report on a decision that an 11-judge en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued today.

“Jan. 6 Defendants Boost Claims for Million-Dollar US Payouts”: Zoe Tillman of Bloomberg News has this report.

“Appeals Court Upholds Block on Trump Ballroom Construction; A federal appeals court panel backed a lower court’s ruling, and made it likely that the Supreme Court will decide the case; But the decision does not mean construction will halt immediately”: Zach Montague and Mattathias Schwartz of The New York Times have this report.

Dan Diamond and Jonathan Edwards of The Washington Post report that “Trump says he’ll bring ballroom fight to Supreme Court after lower court halts work; An appeals court ruled earlier Friday that construction must stop until Congress authorizes the project; The ballroom is among the president’s top priorities for this term.”

Lydia Wheeler and James Romoser of The Wall Street Journal report that “White House Ballroom Construction Must Stop, Appeals Court Rules; Panel says it will give Trump administration two weeks to seek Supreme Court review.”

And Ryan Knappenberger of Courthouse News Service reports that “DC Circuit blocks construction on Trump’s White House ballroom; The appellate panel gave the Justice Department two weeks to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, likely setting up a contentious start to the 2026 term in October.”

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

“Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Obsession Lives On”: Ed Kilgore has this post at the “Intelligencer” blog of New York magazine.

“Justice Samuel Alito: ‘Practical Originalism’ and Its Facile Critics; He explains his interpretive method and defends it against a hostile biographer — and his high-school English teacher.” James Taranto has this new installment of “The Weekend Interview” online at The Wall Street Journal.

And in news coverage, Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Alito Tells WSJ He’s ‘Here for Another Term’ on Supreme Court.”

“Trump moving forward with attempt to fire Lisa Cook after Supreme Court setback: Sources; The White House demanded she respond to allegations within three weeks.” Katherine Faulders, Peter Charalambous, Alexander Mallin, and Steven Portnoy of ABC News have this report.

And Colby Smith and Maggie Haberman of The New York Times report that “Trump Restarts Battle to Fire Sitting Fed Governor; The Trump administration, rebuffed by the Supreme Court in its first attempt to fire Lisa D. Cook, sent the Federal Reserve governor a letter saying it was ‘considering’ removing her from the job.”

“Cassidy Will Back Blanche, Salvaging His Confirmation; The Louisiana senator said that, despite reservations, he would back President Trump’s pick for attorney general, giving Republicans enough votes for a majority”: Michael Gold and Carl Hulse of The New York Times have this report.

“Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: Meet The October Term 2026 SCOTUS Clerks; Plus Justice Kagan’s latest hires, Justice Jackson’s letter to clerkship applicants, and a demographic analysis of the OT 2026 clerks.” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.

“Lisa Murkowski says she will oppose Blanche, endangering his confirmation; Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy remains undecided on the attorney general nominee”: Riley Rogerson and Jordain Carney of Politico have this report.

“Trump Calls Roberts’s Bluff With New Executive Order On Birthright Citizenship; What will Justice Barrett do?” Josh Blackman has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”