“Second Amendment fight moves beyond guns with Supreme Court poised for big ruling; Federal judges strike down switchblade and body armor restrictions, fueling optimism ahead of Supreme Court AR-15 fight”: Elaine Mallon of Fox News has this report.

“Republicans claim UNH law school’s event on judicial ethics gives Democrats an ‘in-kind’ boost; A prominent GOP politician is calling on the state attorney general to open a sweeping investigation as questions about three New Hampshire Supreme Court justices linger”: Steven Porter of The Boston Globe has this report.

“Gov. Green’s Mark On Hawaiʻi Supreme Court Set To Grow Even Larger; The governor will soon pick his third justice to the high court, and another vacancy is expected next year”: Chad Blair of Honolulu Civil Beat has this report.

“$800-a-day penalty threatens to bleed reporter dry as explosive legal fight heads to Supreme Court; The former Fox News reporter faces $800-a-day contempt fines for refusing to reveal who exposed alleged China ties”: Morgan Phillips of Fox News has this report.

“Former Hawaiʻi Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald Receives National Judicial College’s Highest Honor”: The Hawaii State Judiciary has issued this news release.

“How the conservative Supreme Court has rewritten the rules for the midterms”: John Fritze of CNN has this report.

“Trump Rushes to Put Imprint on DC — If Lawsuits Don’t Stop Him”: Georgia Fearn of Bloomberg News has this report.

“Bets on Alito Show Supreme Court Tangled in Prediction Markets”: Jordan Fischer of Bloomberg Law has this report.

“In the memoir, Woodward clears up another decades-long mystery: Which Supreme Court justices talked to him for the 1979 bestseller ‘The Brethren’?” So reports Craig Whitlock of The Washington Post in an article headlined “Bob Woodward spills his ‘Secrets’; In a new memoir, the legendary reporter names a parade of confidential sources who enabled monumental scoops in The Washington Post and his blockbuster books.”

“Supreme Court Justices Grouse About Job as Divisions Take Toll”: Justin Wise of Bloomberg Law has this report.

“How the Supreme Court Is Shaping the Midterm Elections; Recent rulings have affected the ads voters see and the candidates on their ballots”: James Romoser and Neil Mehta of The Wall Street Journal have this report.

“The State Officials Defending the Midterms from the President; Donald Trump has tried to purge voter rolls nationwide; Deidre Henderson, the Republican lieutenant governor of Utah, is among the chief election officers standing in his way”: Barton Gellman has this “The Political Scene” article in the November 2, 2026 issue of The New Yorker.

“259. DOJ’s Preemptive Election Interference: Two new lawsuits by the Trump administration — in California and Alaska — are almost certain losers; But it’ll be hard to remedy the further distrust in election results that they seem intended to sow.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.

“How to Straddle the MAGA Divide; Beth Wilkinson is a Washington lawyer who has thrived representing the Trump administration’s enemies and allies alike; Does she represent a vanishing type?” Noam Scheiber of The New York Times has this report.

“Impeach Trump Y/N? Impeachment scholar Frank Bowman has a warning for Democrats dabbling in magical removal thinking.” You can access the new installment of Slate’s “Amicus” podcast via this link.

“Judicial Notice (10.25.26): ‘A Botch Job’; A benchslap for the ages, a $50 million pay package for Alina Habba, the latest in ‘As the Weil Turns,’ and a new SCOTUS case about race in school admissions.” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.

“9th Circuit panel questions basis for feds’ request to block 20,000 California ballots”: Kevin Rector of The Los Angeles Times has this report.

Zach Montague of The New York Times reports that “Appeals Court Appears to Doubt Justice Dept. Claims in California Ballot Case; A federal appeals court panel seemed disinclined to order the state to set aside as many as 20,000 mail-in ballots the Trump administration claimed were sent to noncitizens.”

Josh Gerstein, Kyle Cheney, and Lindsey Holden of Politico report that “Justice Department faces skeptical appeals court panel in California ballot fight; All three judges voiced concerns that the DOJ rushed too quickly to the appeals court while a lower-court judge was still weighing the matter.”

And at his “Election Law Blog,” Rick Hasen has a post titled “Ninth Circuit Panel Seems Skeptical of DOJ’s Attempt to Force California to Segregate Ballots from Purported Noncitizens.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has posted the video of today’s oral argument on YouTube.

In posts of interest at the “Election Law Blog”: Rick Hasen has posts titled “Timing Issues Alone (Laches and the Purcell Principle) Should Doom DOJ’s Attempt to Get California Election Officials to Pull Out Ballots from Purported Possible Noncitizens” and “The Major Questions Doctrine Alone Should Doom DOJ’s Lawsuits in Both Alaska and California: Congress Would Not Hide Broad Federal Powers over State Elections in A Law Making Noncitizen Voting a Misdemeanor or in General Language in a Voter Registration Statute’s Preamble.”

And Justin Levitt has a post titled “The Lack of Any Cause of Action Alone Should Doom DOJ’s Lawsuits in Both Alaska and California: DOJ Needs Actual Statutory Authority to Sue.”

“In Second Term, Trump’s Justice Dept. Submits to His Election Demands; With moves in Alaska and California, the department has stepped up interventions in the midterm elections as the president’s instrument of unmediated executive power”: Glenn Thrush, Katie Rogers, and Zolan Kanno-Youngs of The New York Times have this report.

“Hegseth Barred Trans Troops. Military Boards Are Rejecting Those Orders. The service members at Navy and Marine Corps hearings are finding ways to keep trans troops in uniform.” Dave Philipps of The New York Times has this report.

“Dewey Won’t Defeat Trump; My grandfather Earl Warren wanted to campaign vigorously in 1948; He was overruled”: Jeffrey Earl Warren has this essay online at The Wall Street Journal.

“Dan Abrams Defends CBS Reporter After Controversial El-Sayed Post”: Dan Abrams has posted this video on YouTube.

“Pa. Supreme Court denies request to intervene in questioned capital punishment cases; Defenders asked the justices to bar Washington County prosecutors from seeking death sentences”: Peter Hall of Pennsylvania Capital-Star has this report.

“Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Inspires University of New Haven Volleyball Players Through Career Advice and Mentorship”: Hannah Adderly and Zaira Kearns have this post at “The Charger Blog” of the University of New Haven.

“Hawaiʻi Supreme Court Law Library Celebrates 175 Years of Service”: The Hawaii State Judiciary has issued this news release.

“Why Would Trump Make A Deal With A Judge Who Ruled Illegal Aliens Have A Right To ‘Locomotion’ In The United States? And does Todd Butler agree with Judge Southwick that denying a bond hearing to illegal aliens is an affront to freedom ‘at its most basic’?” Josh Blackman has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

“Dick Durbin Sends His Filibuster Regrets; As he leaves office, he rues Harry Reid’s Senate arson of 2013”: The Wall Street Journal has published this editorial.

“ICE agents’ smartphone searches trash privacy rights; In a possible Supreme Court case, border guards’ invasions of privacy collide with the Fourth Amendment”: Columnist George F. Will has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“Appeals court considers Trump’s power to fire court-appointed federal prosecutors; The arguments came in a case challenging Trump’s removal of the court-appointed U.S. attorney in Seattle”: Erica Orden of Politico has this report.

And Monique Merrill of Courthouse News Service reports that “Feds fight to keep US attorney fired; The fired U.S. attorney argued Trump lacks the authority to fire court-appointed attorneys.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has posted the video of the oral argument on YouTube.

“Tension over judicial independence on display in WA Supreme Court race”: Paul Roberts of The Seattle Times has this report.

“Abortion Is on the Ballot Again. Where’s the GOP? Dobbs returned the issue to the states, and that’s where Democrats are fighting, at least for now.” Nicole Ault has this essay online at The Wall Street Journal.

“Appeals Court Backs Trump on Constitutionality of Detentions; The ruling, from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, sharply curtails the ability of judges to free undocumented immigrants”: Mattathias Schwartz of The New York Times has this report.

Kyle Cheney of Politico reports that “Appeals court shores up ICE mass detention policy; The 5th Circuit ruling rejects ICE detainees’ rights to bond hearings.”

And Uriel J. García of The Texas Tribune reports that “Trump administration can hold immigrants in ICE custody without bond, court rules; The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled detained immigrants don’t have a constitutional right to a bond hearing after they enter the country illegally.”

“Elena Kagan’s Idea of Democracy; The Justice wants judges, not elected officials, to draw Congressional maps”: This editorial will appear in Saturday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

“9th Circuit blocks path for Trump to again deploy national guard without state approval”: Sonja Sharp of The Los Angeles Times has this report.

And Edvard Pettersson of Courthouse News Service reports that “Ninth Circuit says Trump had no authority to deploy National Guard in LA; The panel followed last year’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court barring the deployment of the National Guard in Chicago, finding no plausible basis there was a ‘rebellion’ last summer in LA.”

Update: In other coverage, Laurel Rosenhall of The New York Times reports that “Court Says Trump Violated Law in Los Angeles National Guard Deployment; The ruling, which comes as the midterm election nears, could make it more difficult for President Trump to seize control of the National Guard.”

“The DOJ Just Telegraphed Trump’s Biggest Election Target”: Law professor Richard L. Hasen has this Jurisprudence essay online at Slate.