“Supreme Court Order Gives Parents Custody of Baby in Surrogacy Fight; A surrogate refused to have an abortion after the fetus was diagnosed with a serious heart problem; She asked the justices to block a court order giving custody to the biological parents”: Ann E. Marimow and J. David Goodman of The New York Times have this report.
Julian Mark, Praveena Somasundaram, and Justin Jouvenal of The Washington Post report that “Kagan declines appeal from surrogate mother who refused to get abortion; McKenna West gave birth to a child with a serious heart defect against the wishes of the biological parents; She has been fighting for a say in the baby’s care, but the Supreme Court will not get involved.”
And Louise Radnofsky of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Supreme Court Turns Away Surrogate Appeal in Messy Custody Fight; Dispute over infant with heart defect touched on abortion and parental rights.”
“Arkansas pushes Eighth Circuit to revive Ten Commandments requirement in schools; A group of parents claim the law violates students’ constitutional rights, but the state argues there’s nothing coercive about a poster”: Joe Harris of Courthouse News Service has this report.
You can access the audio of today’s oral argument before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit at this link.
“I’m Nebraska’s attorney general. No state can dictate the law for America. Each state is sovereign. Colorado must not have heard.” Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers has this essay online at The Washington Post.
“Is it time to rethink the office of the chief justice of the United States?” Russell Wheeler has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”
“Trump asks Supreme Court to allow DHS detention of pro-Palestinian scholar”: Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times has this report.
You can access the petition for writ of certiorari at this link.
“How States Are Pushing Back Against the Supreme Court’s Citizens United Decision; As it turns out, normal people do not like political corruption as much as the conservative legal movement does”: Madiba K. Dennie has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.
“Man challenging 150-year-old ban on making liquor at home hopes Supreme Court takes his case; Home-brewing enthusiast wants to distill small quantities of spirits at home for himself and his wife”: Teresa Mull of Fox News has this report.
“Appeals court’s Capitol steps ruling may signal trouble for Trump on media ban; The D.C. Circuit reaffirmed Tuesday that government restrictions on First Amendment activity must be ‘viewpoint neutral’”: Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein of Politico have this report.
Ryan Knappenberger of Courthouse News Service reports that “DC Circuit sides with minister in battle over Capitol steps protests; In a split decision, Trump appointee Neomi Rao ruled the Eastern Steps of the U.S. Capitol are a nonpublic forum and a ‘demonstration ban’ was too restrictive under the First Amendment.”
And Suzanne Monyak of Bloomberg Law reports that “Protest Limits on Capitol Steps Infringe Free Speech, Court Says.”
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.
“Why a Supreme Court justice visited Utah this week”: Bridger Beal-Cvetko and Daniel Woodruff of KSL have this report.
“Drunken-Driving US Judge Agrees to Counseling for Misconduct”: Eric Heisig of Bloomberg Law has this report.
You can access yesterday’s order of the Judicial Council of the Sixth Circuit at this link.
In the September 28, 2026 issue of The New Yorker: Jill Lepore has a Brave New World Dept. article titled “Is A.I. Above the Law? Our legal system isn’t ready for machines that act on their own.”
And Louis Menand has A Critic at Large essay titled “The Curious Power of Punctuation: Commas, dashes, semicolons, and spaces have shaped how we read for centuries; What happens when machines start crafting the sentences?“
“Are Marijuana Contracts Legal in Federal Court?” You can access today’s new episode of the “Advisory Opinions” podcast via this link and on YouTube.
“Listening to the Law: An Evening With Amy Coney Barrett.” UVA Karsh Institute of Democracy has posted this video on YouTube.
“Trump’s Assault on the Free Press”: You can access the new episode of the “Strict Scrutiny” podcast via this link and on YouTube.
“The Tell: Chapters 5 and 6; Alec Gores kept inviting Tom Goldstein back to his Beverly Hills mansion; By the end, Gores had lost $26 million; In Manila, the billionaire known as Tango had rated Goldstein a weak player; What he saw at the table made him suspect the lawyer was being coached.” Bradley Hope has this post online at The Foundry.
“The Thomas and Kavanaugh Hearings Restaged as a Theatre of Fact; ‘The Ford/Hill Project,’ a documentary play, may capture recent events, but it’s a product of the present: activist theatre in a moment when the idea of civic urgency is losing purchase.” Doreen St. Félix has this Critic’s Notebook online at The New Yorker.
“Antonin Scalia Prepares for His Confirmation Hearing; An insider’s account of choking up, running, eye rolling, and a smoking warning”: Ed Whelan has this post at his “Confirmation Tales” Substack site.
