“123. What Vice President Vance Did — and Didn’t — Say About Judicial Power: A weekend tweet provides a useful opportunity for articulating some nuance in understanding what federal courts can — and can’t — do when reviewing the executive branch.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.

“Texas Court’s Unexpected Jurisdiction Invites Shopping, Deluge; Lawmakers created court to handle business, state matters; Recent decision could lead to judge shopping, overworked court”: Ryan Autullo of Bloomberg Law has this report.

“Trump’s power to fire executive branch officials will be tested in another lawsuit; Hampton Dellinger, who led an ethics enforcement office, said his firing is illegal”: Josh Gerstein of Politico has this report.

“Trump Allies Start Bullying Judges After Adverse Rulings; Musk, Vance criticize judges’ reach after Manhattan court decision; Obama appointee put block on accessing Treasury information”: Jacqueline Thomsen of Bloomberg Law has this report.

Zoe Tillman and Erik Larson of Bloomberg News report that “Trump’s Rush to Unleash Executive Power Hits a Judicial Wall; Courts have halted action on immigration, federal operations; More than 40 federal lawsuits filed over Trump’s actions.”

And in commentary, online at Bloomberg Opinion, law professor Noah Feldman has an essay titled “JD Vance Is Playing a Dangerous Legal Game; The vice president’s comments about the relationship between the executive and judicial branches are intentionally misleading.”

“Goldstein Rearrested After Feds Say He Hid Millions In Crypto”: Law360 has this report (subscription required for full access).

And Holly Barker of Bloomberg News has an updated report headlined “Tom Goldstein Arrested for Allegedly Violating Release Terms.”

“Trump’s Tariffs Could Squeeze the Supreme Court; They represent another major effort to expand presidential authority”: Ankush Khardori has this essay online at Politico Magazine.

“How the ‘10th justice’ can help Trump’s agenda at the Supreme Court”: Joan Biskupic of CNN has this news analysis (subscription required for access).

“DOGE Runs Amok & Originalism’s Ahistoricism”: You can access today’s new episode of the “Strict Scrutiny” podcast via this link and on YouTube.

“Supreme Court that Trump helped shape could have the last word on his aggressive executive orders”: Mark Sherman of The Associated Press has this report.

“122. Contempt of the Supreme Court: The Supreme Court has the power to hold individuals in contempt (and send them to jail) for defying its judgments; In its 235-year history, it has exercised that authority only once.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.

“Supreme Court Signals That Landmark Libel Ruling Is Secure; Attacked by two justices, lower-court judges and litigants, the 1964 ruling in New York Times v. Sullivan keeps getting cited approvingly in the Supreme Court’s decisions”: Adam Liptak has this new installment of his “Sidebar” column online at The New York Times.

“How the Roberts Court Killed Originalism”: Eric Segall recently had this blog post at “Dorf on Law.”

“Judicial Notice (02.09.25): Everything Enjoined Everywhere, All At Once; Latham raids Wachtell and Simpson, Tom Goldstein fights the feds, a ‘Trump judge’ rules against Trump, and Pam Bondi gets down to business.” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.

“The Nuns Trying to Save the Women on Texas’s Death Row; Sisters from a convent outside Waco have repeatedly visited the prisoners — and even made them affiliates of their order; The story of a powerful spiritual alliance”: Lawrence Wright has this A Reporter at Large article in the February 17, 2025 issue of The New Yorker.

“Gambling With the Law: How SCOTUSblog’s Goldstein Risked It All; Goldstein reports negative net worth of $3.3 million; Investigation started in 2020, court filings say.” Alexia Fernández Campbell and Holly Barker of Bloomberg Law have this report.

At Air Mail, George Pendle has an article headlined “Tommy Supreme and the Blitz: Tom Goldstein was a star in arguing cases before the Supreme Court; He was also one of the world’s highest-rolling — and most reckless—poker players; Then his worlds collided.”

Holly Barker of Bloomberg Law also reports that “Tom Goldstein Poses ‘Significant’ Flight Risk, Prosecutors Claim; Goldstein has resources and skills to flee, prosecutors say; Government claims he has interfered with potential witnesses.”

And John Woolley of Bloomberg Law reports that “Goldstein Accused of Breaking Court Rules With Pro Se Motion; Government asked federal judge to strike Goldstein’s motion; Goldstein seeks to remove home as collateral securing bond.”

“Trying To Undo A Coup, In The Courts; This week saw an unbroken string of legal losses for Trump and Musk; But will losing in court slow their roll?” You can access the new installment of Slate’s “Amicus” podcast via this link.

“Advocate of Jan. 6 Rioters Now Runs Office That Investigated Them; Ed Martin, a loyal Trump soldier, oversees the U.S. attorney’s office, which is likely to help turn the investigative powers of the government on several of the president’s perceived enemies”: Eileen Sullivan, Alan Feuer, and Alexandra Berzon of The New York Times have this report.

“At Justice Dept., Trump’s Former Criminal Defender Emerges as His Enforcer; As the acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove has overseen the forced transfers of senior officials and an effort to collect the names of F.B.I. agents who worked on Jan. 6 cases”: Glenn Thrush, Adam Goldman, Jonah E. Bromwich, and Maggie Haberman of The New York Times have this report.

“Judge Halts Access to Treasury Payment Systems by Elon Musk’s Team; The order came in response to a lawsuit filed by 19 attorneys general accusing the president of failing to faithfully execute the nation’s laws when he let DOGE comb through federal computer systems”: Hurubie Meko and Qasim Nauman of The New York Times have this report on an order that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued yesterday.

“‘A dreamer, a builder, a tech bro’: Aaron Swartz gets immortalized in marble; Hundreds gathered at the Internet Archive for the unveiling of a statue honoring the late programmer, who’s been embraced as an open-access hero.” Zara Stone of The San Francisco Standard has this report.

“Why Federal Courts May Be the Last Bulwark Against Trump: With a compliant Congress and mostly quiet streets, the president’s opponents are turning to the judicial branch with a flurry of legal actions; But can the courts keep up?” Mattathias Schwartz of The New York Times has this report.

“DOGE Emails Went Out to Federal Judges by Mistake”: Gabe Whisnant and Sonam Sheth of Newsweek have this report.

“The Courts Must Stop This Judge From Stealing an Election”: Eric H. Holder Jr. has this guest essay online at The New York Times.

“Anti-Abortion States Are Trying to Enforce a Modern Fugitive Slave Act; A Louisiana prosecutor’s decision to indict a New York doctor for mailing abortion pills calls to mind one of the ugliest chapters in this country’s history”: Madiba K. Dennie has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.

“Ohio Northern sues professor for having the audacity to defend his rights in court; After terminating Scott Gerber without telling him why, Ohio Northern University filed a lawsuit to shut him up”: Zach Greenberg has this post online at the website of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

“There May Be Enough Supreme Court Votes to Save the Government; Trump’s executive order stripping federal workers of legal protections is the most dangerous of his unlawful power grabs; But there is a way to win them back”: Simon Lazarus has this essay online at The New Republic.

“Bruen Was Right”: Law professor J. Joel Alicea has posted this article at SSRN.

“Steve Wynn asks U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider historic press freedom ruling”: Richard N. Velotta of The Las Vegas Review-Journal has this report.

You can access the petition for writ of certiorari at this link.

“As the US Supreme Court girds for Trump cases, can it be an ‘effective firewall’?” John Kruzel of Reuters has this report.

“Legal battle continues over North Carolina Supreme Court election; More than three months after Election Day, the race for North Carolina Supreme Court associate justice still isn’t over as a heated legal battle continues in state court”: Sydney Haulenbeek of Courthouse News Service has this report.

“Trump administration withdraws from gender-affirming care dispute at the Supreme Court”: John Fritze of CNN has this report.

You can access the letter from the Solicitor General’s Office at this link.

“You Will Never Guess Which Supreme Court Justice Trump Loves Most (It’s Clarence Thomas); At last, Ginni Thomas makes her triumphant return to the White House”: Jay Willis has this post at his “Balls & Strikes” Substack site.

“Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor honored with UofL School of Law’s Brandeis Medal”: Killian Baarlaer of The Louisville Courier Journal has this report.

And Bruce Schreiner of The Associated Press has reports headlined “Sotomayor is asked about lower trust in Supreme Court. She points to pace of overturned precedents” and “Justice Sotomayor renews her opposition to the court’s ruling that ex-presidents have broad immunity.”

“Why the courts may be the last constraint on Trump but may not contain his power grabs”: Stephen Collinson of CNN has this news analysis.

“As Trump pushes the limits of presidential power, the courts push back”: Chris Megerian and Lindsay Whitehurst of The Associated Press have this report.