“What Happens If President Trump Defies a Judge’s Order?” David Voreacos of Bloomberg News has this report.

“Appeals court rejects Trump in showdown over firing of ethics watchdog; The D.C. Circuit panel voted, 2-1, against the president’s bid to immediately remove Hampton Dellinger”: Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney of Politico have this report on an order that a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued yesterday.

“This Is What the Courts Can Do if Trump Defies Them”: Law professors Trevor W. Morrison and Richard H. Pildes have this guest essay online at The New York Times.

“Justice Department fires multiple immigration judges amid case backlog; A union representing the judges said it ‘makes no sense’ to make cuts to immigration courts as Trump promises to carry out mass deportations, which must go through the courts”: Julia Ainsley, Aaron Gilchrist, Nnamdi Egwuonwu, and Megan Lebowitz of NBC News have this report.

“Can Trump Defy the Supreme Court? The theoretical power to do so runs far ahead of presidential practice.” Jack Goldsmith has this post at the “Executive Functions” Substack site.

“The TikTok Ban Withers Away; As Apple and Google put TikTok back in app stores, Trump’s non-enforcement policy threatens to permanently nullify Congress’s law”: Alan Z. Rozenshtein has this post at the “Lawfare” blog.

“The Gangster Presidency: The DoJ’s Eric Adams shakedown sets off a series of defiant and courageous resignations.” You can access the new episode of Slate’s “Amicus” podcast via this link.

“The Situation: No Way Out; On the necessity and impossibility of being a federal prosecutor under Donald Trump.” Benjamin Wittes has this post at the “Lawfare” blog.

And The Free Press has published an editorial titled “Danielle Sassoon’s Courage and the Rule of Law: The Justice Department ordered New York’s top federal prosecutor to drop charges against Mayor Eric Adams; She refused.”

“74 Lawsuits Have Been Filed to Stop Trump, Most in a Handful of Courts; Democratic-led states, advocates focus on handful of circuits; ‘Forum shopping’ by both parties has slowed new policies”: Zoe Tillman of Bloomberg News has this report.

And Maureen Groppe of USA Today reports that “Biden’s focus on confirming judges reshaped courts as Democrats challenge Trump agenda; Nearly six out of 10 federal district judges have been appointed by Democratic presidents.”

“Control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court is up for grabs — again — in first big 2025 battleground race; The contest will serve as a barometer of the political environment in the early stages of the new Trump administration”: Adam Edelman of NBC News has this report.

“‘Unitary executive’ theory may reach Supreme Court as Trump wields sweeping power”: John Kruzel of Reuters has this report.

“83% of Americans say the president must honor Supreme Court rulings — even the divisive ones”: John Fritze of CNN has this report.

And Charles Franklin of The Marquette Law Poll reports that “New Marquette Law School Poll national survey finds approval of U.S. Supreme Court above 50% for first time since March 2022.”

“Amid Opposition, Bill to Shrink Montana Supreme Court Moves Forward; Despite pushback from current and former justices of the Montana Supreme Court, a bill to decrease the size of the state’s highest court passed committee on Wednesday and will head to the House floor”: Denali Sagner of The Flathead Beacon has this report.

“NC Board of Elections wants Griffin’s election challenge to skip the Court of Appeals”: Lynn Bonner of NC Newsline has this report.

“Who is Susan Carney, Alaska’s new chief justice? Carney says each justice of the Supreme Court brings different strengths, points to progress in court access and praises judicial selection process.” Corinne Smith and James Brooks of Alaska Beacon has this report.

“A GOP lawmaker wants to add justices to the Utah Supreme Court; The bill comes as the judiciary is in the crosshairs of the Republican-dominated Legislature after courts have repeatedly blocked significant pieces of the agenda”: Robert Gehrke of The Salt Lake Tribune has this report.

“Idaho Supreme Court hears arguments to reconsider ruling on ski area liability law; Justices say law as written is contradictory, difficult to interpret after major lawsuit against Sun Valley Resort”: Betsy Z. Russell of Idaho Capital Sun has this report.

“Trump administration moves to drop transgender discrimination cases; The EEOC, citing executive orders targeting gender identity, is aiming to dismiss half a dozen cases, marking a reversal in U.S. civil rights enforcement”: Julian Mark and Beth Reinhard of The Washington Post have this report.

“In Seeking Adams Dismissal, Trump’s Appointees Use Legal System to Their Advantage; The demand for dismissal underlines the degree to which President Trump has long viewed the justice system as a battleground on which power is deployed for transactional political or personal ends”: Jonah E. Bromwich, Maggie Haberman, and Glenn Thrush of The New York Times have this report.

“Trump Will Force the Supreme Court to Face Its Biggest Fear; Throughout US history, the judiciary has worried that a president might simply ignore its decisions”: Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News has this Weekend Essay.

“The Radical Legal Theories That Could Fuel a Constitutional Crisis; An increasingly influential group of conservative scholars has some drastic ideas about the president’s power”: Mattathias Schwartz of The New York Times has this report.

“Trump Might Have a Case on Birthright Citizenship”: Law professors Randy E. Barnett and Ilan Wurman have this guest essay online at The New York Times.

“Trump administration eyes canceling leases for space used by US judiciary”: Nate Raymond of Reuters has this report.

“A Rupture on the Right Over Prosecutors, Politics and the Rule of Law; Differing interpretations of Attorney General Robert H. Jackson’s classic 1940 speech, ‘The Federal Prosecutor,’ figured in Thursday’s showdown in the Eric Adams case”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this report.

Benjamin Weiser and Jonah E. Bromwich of The New York Times have an article headlined “Judges Generally Let Prosecutors Drop Charges; Maybe Not for Adams; Judge Dale E. Ho will weigh the request after the resignation of Manhattan’s U.S. attorney and her accusations of misconduct.”

And in commentary, columnist Ross Douthat has an essay titled “Why Emil Bove’s Battle Against Danielle Sassoon Is So Self-Defeating.”

“Goldstein Loses Bid to Substitute House as Bond Collateral; Judge is willing to revisit the issue with more information; Court says it needs more clarity on Goldstein’s finances”: Holly Barker of Bloomberg Law has this report (subscription required for full access).

“Can You Spot What’s Missing From This Soft-Focus Profile of Jonathan Mitchell? ‘I’m a lawyer, not really an activist,’ says an activist trying to ban abortion nationwide.” Susan Rinkunas has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.

“Another Star U.S. Prosecutor Quits Over Eric Adams Case; Resignation deepens crisis at Justice Department sparked by demand to dismiss criminal charges against New York mayor”: Corinne Ramey of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

Jonah E. Bromwich, Benjamin Weiser, and William K. Rashbaum of The New York Times have an article headlined “Adams’s Lead Prosecutor Quits Defiantly: ‘It Was Never Going to Be Me’; Hagan Scotten told Justice Department officials that he would not be party to a political prosecution; He was the latest in succession of federal prosecutors to quit.”

And Glenn Thrush, Devlin Barrett, and Adam Goldman of The New York Times have a news analysis headlined “Trump Official’s Demand in Adams Case Forces Justice Dept. Showdown; A crisis at the department over the Eric Adams case is an early test of the criminal justice system’s resilience against a retribution-minded president and his appointees.”

“May It Please the Court, for 20 Years and Counting: Stanford’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic Celebrates Two Decades of Advocacy and Landmark Victories at the Nation’s High Court.” Rebecca Beyer has this article in the Fall/Winter 2024 issue of Stanford Lawyer.

“The Strategy Behind Trump’s Defiance of the Law: His violations follow an old playbook — trigger lawsuits, giving the Supreme Court a chance to declare statutes unconstitutional.” Law professor Jeannie Suk Gersen has this essay online at The New Yorker.

“Billboard Wars: How Personal Injury Lawyers Took Over Philly; Armed with multimillion-dollar marketing budgets, personal injury attorneys have wallpapered the city with ads, flooding billboards, bus stops, social media feeds, and airwaves with their shiny pitches. But at what cost?” Tom McGrath has this article in the February 2025 issue of Philadelphia magazine.

“124. The Thursday Night Massacre(s): Two very different episodes on Thursday provide growing evidence of a Department of Justice that is showing less respect, by the day, for the rule of law.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.

“How John Roberts Teed Up Elon Musk’s War on the Court: The mogul seems bent on pushing the Trump White House into a nuclear confrontation with the federal judiciary; He has the Chief Justice to thank.” Matt Ford has this essay online at The New Republic.

“The SCOTUS Beat — Divided by Principle: How Justices Barrett and Jackson are Shaping the Future of Constitutional Law; Two justices, two distinct philosophies — when Barrett and Jackson take the bench, their questions don’t just seek answers; they help shape the very future of constitutional law.” Adam Feldman has this post at his “Legalytics” Substack site.

“Tom Goldstein Ran Out of Luck: How the most influential Supreme Court lawyer of his generation gambled it all away.” Matt Stieb has this article online at the “Intelligencer” blog of New York magazine.

“SCOTUSblog founder released in sweeping tax case after crypto questions; Tom Goldstein, 54, faces 22 charges, including tax evasion and false statements made to mortgage lenders”: Dan Morse of The Washington Post has this report.