“Angry at the Supreme Court, liberals push a slew of plans for overhauling it; As the midterms near, Democrats are proposing adding more justices, limiting their terms and more”: Julian Mark of The Washington Post has this report.

“Pennsylvania ended automatic life sentences for felony murder. Here’s what happens next. The state Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life sentences for second-degree murder were unconstitutional. Then state lawmakers missed the deadline to write a new law. Now what?” Jillian Kramer and Gillian McGoldrick of The Philadelphia Inquirer have this report.

“Trump’s legal team shrinks; The departures have thinned the president’s legal team as Sullivan & Cromwell appeals his criminal and civil cases”: Erica Orden of Politico has this report.

“Blanche Refuses to Say He’ll Always Be Independent of Trump as Attorney General; The new head of the Justice Department said on ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday that the president had never asked him to prosecute specific people — and never would”: Glenn Thrush of The New York Times has this report.

And Matthew Choi of The Washington Post has an article headlined “Blanche on whether DOJ will be independent: ‘I’m not going to pledge that’; The newly sworn-in attorney general rejected the idea of an independent Justice Department, lent support to Jeanine Pirro and declared the ‘anti-weaponization’ fund dead.”

“Trump says White House needs ‘military complex’ as courts block his ballroom; When Trump first unveiled his plans for the new East Wing addition, he said it was needed to host VIP guests. More recently, he is calling it a ‘desperately needed National Security structure’”: Dan Diamond of The Washington Post has this report.

And Will Hobson and Louise Radnofsky of The Wall Street Journal report that “Trump’s Ballroom Was His Dream of Beauty and Space; Now It’s a ‘Military Complex’; As courts have questioned the president’s authority for the project, he has leaned in to arguments of national security.”

“Judge Lee Rudofsky to the Eighth Circuit; Trump’s latest nominee is an originalist success from his first term”: This editorial will appear in Monday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

“An Unlikely Emergency Appeal to the Supreme Court From a Dog Named Bruce; A last-ditch filing this week came on behalf of a dog that a judge found to be ‘vicious’ and shows how the court’s emergency docket has been growing”: Ann E. Marimow of The New York Times has this report.

“Judicial Notice (08.16.26): Curtain Time; A dramatic development in the Luigi Mangione case, possible ‘auditioning’ by a SCOTUS shortlister, a major in-house hire, and a billion-dollar sports deal.” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.