How Appealing



Monday, September 28, 2026

“Ketanji Brown Jackson Is Getting Tired of the Supreme Court’s Shadow Docket Abuses; The conservative supermajority keeps refusing to take the real-world harms of its work seriously”: Madiba K. Dennie has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.

Posted at 8:58 PM by Howard Bashman



“Short Shrift? Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Mostly Skips This Appeals Court; Since its creation in 1982, the Federal Circuit has sent just one of its former clerks on to the Supreme Court; It took an extraordinary resume and years of effort to break the mold; A personal connection to the justice didn’t hurt either.” Jimmy Hoover of The National Law Journal has this report.

Posted at 8:53 PM by Howard Bashman



“Second Prosecutor Quits Trump’s ‘Grand Conspiracy’ Case; The resignation adds to the setbacks to the most sweeping effort by the Justice Department to fulfill the president’s desire to take revenge against the federal officials who have investigated him”: Alan Feuer of The New York Times has this report.

Posted at 8:40 PM by Howard Bashman



“Justice Alito Recuses Himself Days Before Major Climate-Change Case; Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. had faced pressure to recuse himself from the climate case because he owns stock in oil companies”: Abbie VanSickle of The New York Times has this report.

James Romoser of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Justice Alito Won’t Participate in Supreme Court Case on Climate Change; The justice previously indicated he wouldn’t recuse himself over his ownership of oil-and-gas stocks.”

Lesley Clark and Alex Guillén of Politico report that “Alito bows out of blockbuster Supreme Court climate case; The conservative justice had previously resisted calls from environmentalists to recuse himself.”

And Kelsey Reichmann of Courthouse News Service reports that “Justice Alito steps away from major climate dispute; Despite pushing back on earlier calls to step away from the case for his financial interests in oil companies, the conservative justice issued an about-face only a week before oral arguments.”

You can view the recusal notification letter at this link.

Posted at 8:35 PM by Howard Bashman



“Guantanamo Dispatch: Innocent or Guilty, Accused USS Cole Bomber May Never Go Free.” Carol Rosenberg has this post at the “Just Security” blog.

Posted at 4:50 PM by Howard Bashman



“253. Introducing ‘The Court We Need’: Due out May 4, 2027, my second book about the Supreme Court offers a more nuanced diagnosis of exactly what’s wrong with the Court — and how (and why) we should fix it.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.

Posted at 2:51 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court vote shadows Maine Sen. Susan Collins in her first race after abortion rights decision”: Kimberlee Kruesi and Patrick Whittle of The Associated Press have this report.

Posted at 1:04 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump takes fight over prisoners’ transgender medical treatment to Supreme Court”: Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times has this report.

John Fritze of CNN reports that “Trump asks Supreme Court to suspend transgender medical care in federal prisons.”

And Josh Gerstein of Politico reports that “Trump asks Supreme Court to OK limits on transgender-related care for prisoners; Lower courts ruled that the Bureau of Prisons policy didn’t appear to grapple with relevant evidence.”

You can access the court filing at this link.

Update: In other coverage, Ann E. Marimow of The New York Times reports that “Trump Administration Asks Justices to Allow It to Deny Hormones to Trans Inmates; The Bureau of Prisons policy, which has been blocked by lower courts, would give transgender prisoners access to psychotherapy and antidepressants instead of certain gender-transition medical treatments.”

Posted at 1:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“Clarence Thomas, a Profile in Courage; Justice Clarence Thomas’s brand of originalism is ‘going further,’ and he is now on track to set the Supreme Court’s longevity record”: Mark Pulliam has this book review post at the “Law & Liberty” blog.

Posted at 12:52 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Fourteen-Year Labor to Try the 9/11 Case; Justice has been delayed; Will it be denied?” Bryce G. Poole has this post at Civitas Outlook.

Posted at 12:48 PM by Howard Bashman



“Is the SCOTUS Climate Change Case a ‘Conservative Intuition in Search of a Constitutional Clause’?” Ryan J. Walsh and Michael A. Fragoso have this essay online at the In Limine site of the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy.

Posted at 12:02 PM by Howard Bashman



In the October 5, 2026 issue of The New Yorker: In the Talk of the Town section, Jelani Cobb has a Comment titled “The President vs. the Press: Donald Trump’s behavior cannot be called unexpected at this point; What was noteworthy last week, however, was the way that the media responded.”

And Eyal Press has an Annals of Law article headlined “Should I Stay or Should I Go? The quandary faced by government lawyers who think that the Trump Administration is subverting justice.”

Posted at 11:58 AM by Howard Bashman



“Everybody Out of the Pool: Trump banned three news outlets from the White House; Then something unprecedented happened.” You can access the new installment of Slate’s “Amicus” podcast via this link.

Posted at 11:52 AM by Howard Bashman



“Judicial Notice (09.27.26): Slow On The Uptake? An ‘epic resignation letter,’ a Trump judge ruling against Trump, a Supreme rebuke of a circuit court, and ‘boomerang’ partners returning to Weil Gotshal.” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.

Posted at 10:32 AM by Howard Bashman