“How Trump’s claims of vandalism at the renovated Reflecting Pool crumbled; Trump has lashed out at U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro after she dropped vandalism cases and blamed damage at the pool on rushed and flawed work by a contractor”: Dan Diamond, Liam Bowman, Salvador Rizzo, and Jake Spring of The Washington Post have this report.
And online at The Washington Post, columnist Jim Geraghty has an essay titled “What ruined the Reflecting Pool? Jeanine Pirro had a choice. Despite Trump’s claims, there was no evidence of vandalism.”
“Blanche Clears Crucial Vote, Paving Way for Confirmation as Attorney General; Todd Blanche’s nomination now advances to the Senate floor, where he is expected to be confirmed, even though several Republicans have not yet committed to supporting him”: Glenn Thrush and Michael Gold of The New York Times have this report.
Jeremy Roebuck and Theodoric Meyer of The Washington Post report that “Senate committee advances Blanche’s AG nomination after standoff over Trump fund; The Judiciary Committee sent Todd Blanche’s nomination to the full Senate after he agreed in writing to rescind the president’s payout fund.”
And Sadie Gurman of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Senate Committee Advances Todd Blanche’s Nomination as Attorney General; Two GOP holdouts supported him after getting written assurances that a controversial fund was dead.”
“Fifth Circuit Judges Cry Foul on Full Court’s Review of Cases”: Jacqueline Thomsen of Bloomberg Law has this report.
“Todd Blanche Bends on the $1.776 Billion Fund; Tillis and Cornyn get useful concessions from Trump’s Attorney General nominee”: This editorial will appear in Tuesday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.
“Democratic states urge Supreme Court to block Trump’s new limits on mail ballots”: David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has this report.
“Trump Has Discussed Ousting Jeanine Pirro After Reflecting Pool U-Turn; The U.S. attorney in D.C. and longtime ally of the president had dropped criminal charges over damage to the pool”: Natalie Andrews and Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal have this report.
“Supreme Court denies PLO request to pause $655 million win for terror victims; Amid an ongoing conflict at home, Palestinian officials are fighting a legal battle in the U.S. after the Supreme Court revived a decade-old case from families of terror attack victims”: Kelsey Reichmann of Courthouse News Service has this report.
“Trump’s mail voting appeal tests Supreme Court’s anti-chaos election rule”: John Fritze of CNN has this report.
“Gilead Beats the Plaintiff Bar; California’s Supreme Court rejects liability for a cautious drug rollout”: The Wall Street Journal has published this editorial.
“Republicans Let Trump Keep Unparalleled Benefit: I.R.S. Immunity; The rebellion against Todd Blanche’s nomination to be attorney general, now seemingly contained, at no point fundamentally questioned President Trump’s new protections from the I.R.S.” Andrew Duehren of The New York Times has this news analysis.
“Populists Have Always Hated the Senate. How Does It Survive?” Law professor Noah Feldman has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.
“Blanche Assurances to GOP Holdouts Leave Trump Settlement Intact”: Zoe Tillman and Jimmy Jenkins of Bloomberg News have this report.
“White House directly involved in Blanche order rescinding ‘anti-weaponization’ fund”: Alayna Treene, Kristen Holmes, and Hannah Rabinowitz of CNN have this report.
“Gilead wins key ruling in suit over AIDS medication side effects”: Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle has this report.
And Jonathan Stempel of Reuters reports that “California’s highest court rules for Gilead, says drugmakers don’t have ‘duty to innovate.’”
You can access today’s decision of the Supreme Court of California at this link.
“Protection for the Justices, but What About the Rest of Us? In an age of political violence, the Supreme Court deserves enhanced protection. If only they treated the American people with the same concern.” Jesse Wegman has this post at his “Major Questions” Substack site.
“The Push to Elect Kansas Supreme Court Justices Is a Cynical Anti-Abortion Power Grab; In 2022, Kansas voters overwhelmingly rejected the GOP’s anti-abortion agenda; Four years later, state lawmakers are trying ‘another path’”: Jay Willis has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.
“She Voted for a Justice Who Overturned Roe. Now it Haunts Her on the Trail. Senator Susan Collins, who supports abortion rights, endorsed Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination for the Supreme Court. It has emerged as a major issue in her campaign for re-election.” Lisa Lerer and Beth Reinhard of The New York Times have this report.
“Dispatch: Setting Up Secret Courts; The first public hearing of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court had its stumbles.” Peter Beck has this post at the “Lawfare” blog.
“242. The ‘Independent Court’ Narrative: Efforts to defend the Supreme Court *because* of its independence from President Trump miss both the real-world impacts of its recent behavior and the reason *why* judicial independence matters.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.
“Furious Trump is considering removing Pirro over Reflecting Pool filing, sources say”: Alayna Treene of CNN has this report.
“Jeanine Pirro’s motion to dismiss the Reflecting Pool case is going to have ripple effects; The decision to end the case against former Olympian David Hearn is already making a big splash — and this is likely just the beginning, not the end, of the matter”: Chris Geidner has this post at his Substack site.
“How a Top Law Firm Went From Standing Up to Trump to Bending the Knee; Paul Weiss was a progressive stalwart for decades and led the legal resistance against President Trump in his first term; Then it surrendered without a fight; This is the inside story of its transformation”: Michael S. Schmidt and Jessica Silver-Greenberg of The New York Times have this report.
“Will Trump Succeed in Rigging the Midterms?” You can access today’s new episode of the “Strict Scrutiny” podcast via this link and on YouTube.
“Judicial Notice (08.02.26): Whither Wachtell? Leading litigators leave Wachtell Lipton for a rival, the Trump administration tries to revive a ‘zombie court,’ and Milbank announces special bonuses (again).” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.
“The Blanche Confirmation Deal Is a Farce; And it just might work”: Ankush Khardori has this post at his “OPENfile” site.
“By The People | Two Steps Forward, One Step Back; Everyday activism created a perfect storm at the Supreme Court in 2015; There’s a lot we can learn from it today”: You can access the new episode of Slate’s “Amicus” podcast via this link.
“Blanche Gives G.O.P. Senators Written Assurances on Trump’s I.R.S. Deal; Todd Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general has been held up over concerns about a planned $1.8 billion fund for Trump allies and the president’s immunity from tax scrutiny”: Michael Gold, Andrew Duehren, and Hari Raj of The New York Times have this report.
Jeremy Roebuck and Perry Stein of The Washington Post report that “Blanche’s AG nomination back on track after he formally rescinds payout fund; GOP Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis issued a statement Monday saying they will now support Todd Blanche’s confirmation.”
Sadie Gurman, Richard Rubin, and Lindsay Wise of The Wall Street Journal report that “Blanche Formally Rescinds ‘Anti-Weaponization’ Fund in Bid to Smooth Confirmation; Two holdout Republican senators who were blocking Blanche’s nomination over the fund say they now plan to advance him.”
And Chris Marquette of Politico reports that “Cornyn, Tillis confirm they will vote for Blanche; The two holdout Republicans said their deal could assuage other GOP senators, too.”
“The Mentor: How Roy Cohn taught Donald Trump everything.” Kai Bird and Susan Goldmark have this American Chronicles article in the August 10, 2026 issue of The New Yorker.
“Trump’s Meddling in Justice Dept. Causes Problems of His Own Making; In the past week alone, President Trump’s interference has imperiled one criminal case, set the stage for sanctions in a second and hindered the confirmation chances of his pick for attorney general”: Alan Feuer of The New York Times has this news analysis.
“Trump appears to order the government to lie on behalf of tariffs; The president moves to subvert the Supreme Court — and the truth”: Columnist Fareed Zakaria has this essay online at The Washington Post.
And Clark Packard and Scott Lincicome have an essay online at The Washington Post titled “Congress courts another Trump tariffs disaster; The Sanctioning Russia Act will give the president another way to tax allies.”
“Loyalty to Trump Proves a Double-Edged Sword for Attorney General Nominee; Todd Blanche’s approach has collided with the jury-of-two reality in the Senate that has, thus far, kept him from the prize he covets: the stability and status conferred by a Senate confirmation.” Glenn Thrush of The New York Times has this report.
Michael Gold of The New York Times reports that “Trump Escalates Feud With Senate Over Blanche; The president’s comments threw the confirmation of Todd Blanche, his pick to be attorney general, further into doubt.”
And Perry Stein, Jeremy Roebuck, and Theodoric Meyer of The Washington Post have an article headlined “Why senators fear Trump’s DOJ payout fund isn’t dead, despite Blanche’s promises; Legal experts say that changes to a deal would ordinarily be put in writing, but the acting attorney general says the administration’s word should be enough.”
“The next abortion battle is over Kansas’s highest court; Voters will decide whether to replace a nearly 70-year-old appointment system with direct elections that could reshape the state Supreme Court for decades”: Patrick Marley of The Washington Post has this report.
“US Supreme Court lawyer Tom Goldstein appeals tax conviction”: David Thomas of Reuters has this report. The notice of appeal was signed by Elizabeth Prelogar.
“Houston mothers challenge Ten Commandments posters under Texas’ new parental rights amendment; The parents’ suit leverages Texas law — versus federal First Amendment arguments — in the latest legal case involving the classroom posters”: Ellie Ashby of The Texas Tribune has this report.
“Trump’s plan to keep undocumented immigrants locked up rejected by his own judicial appointee”: Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle has this report.
