How Appealing



Tuesday, May 5, 2026

“Gilead Fights ‘Limitless’ Liability at California High Court”: Quinn Wilson of Bloomberg Law has a report that begins, “Gilead Sciences Inc. is seeking to knock down a groundbreaking theory of product liability advanced by thousands of patients who argue the drugmaker had a legal obligation to keep developing an alternative HIV drug with fewer side effects.”

And at the “Drug & Device Law” blog, Steven Boranian has a post titled “The ‘Duty to Innovate’ Arrives at the California Supreme Court: Oral Argument Set for May 6, 2026.”

Posted at 12:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“A Probe of Trump Foes Upends Justice Department Hub in Miami”: Chris Strohm and Michael Smith of Bloomberg News have this report.

Posted at 12:04 PM by Howard Bashman



“How the Wrong Supreme Court Reforms Could Expand Presidential Power; A problem that should guide the reform debate”: Bob Bauer has this post at the “Executive Functions” Substack site.

Posted at 11:56 AM by Howard Bashman



“Colorado’s Secularist Hostility Strikes Again; The Court’s decision to take St. Mary confirms what has become increasingly apparent — that its trilogy of religious liberty decisions in Trinity Lutheran, Espinoza, and Carson has caused militant state secularism to settle into its crevices and trapdoors”: Tal Fortgang has this post at Civitas Outlook.

Posted at 11:07 AM by Howard Bashman



“The Supreme Court’s indefensible evisceration of the Voting Rights Act”: Edward Foley has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

Posted at 11:04 AM by Howard Bashman



“Justice Alito Stays Ruling on Abortion Pill by Mail”: You can access today’s new episode of the “Advisory Opinions” podcast via this link.

Posted at 11:02 AM by Howard Bashman



Monday, May 4, 2026

“Justice Neil Gorsuch: ‘Aspirations for power need to be checked.’” The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie has posted this video on YouTube.

Posted at 9:56 PM by Howard Bashman



“226. Two More Data Points for the Inconsistent Court: Two procedural moves by the justices on Monday reinforce criticisms that the Court behaves differently in otherwise similar cases based solely on the ideological/partisan valence of the dispute.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.

Posted at 9:34 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court Over the Dissent of At Least Justice Jackson, Breaks Its Usual Procedural Rules to Allow Louisiana to Minimize Black Voting Rights in the Middle of an Ongoing Election”: Rick Hasen has this post at his “Election Law Blog.”

You can access today’s order of the U.S. Supreme Court at this link.

Posted at 9:15 PM by Howard Bashman



“Samuel Alito Gutted More Than Just the Voting Rights Act. He Rewrote the Constitution, Too. The Court’s decision in Callais will make it more challenging for Congress to pass laws designed to protect multiracial democracy.” Madiba K. Dennie has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.

Posted at 9:12 PM by Howard Bashman



“DOJ asks Second Circuit to back end-run installation of Trump’s disqualified New York US attorney pick; John Sarcone III was one of several federal prosecutors around the country determined by judges to lack authority after the Republican administration employed personnel maneuvers to keep them in their posts without U.S. Senate confirmation”: Josh Russell of Courthouse News Service has this report.

You can access the audio of today’s oral argument via this link.

Posted at 7:52 PM by Howard Bashman



“Pirro will not appeal judge’s quashing of Fed subpoenas; The move is the latest sign of retreat by the Justice Department in what became a politically fraught investigation”: Salvador Rizzo and Andrew Ackerman of The Washington Post have this report.

Posted at 7:48 PM by Howard Bashman



“Federal Judge Has ‘Grave Concerns’ About Missouri Roundup Deal”: Jef Feeley of Bloomberg News has a report that begins, “A federal judge overseeing thousands of cancer lawsuits against Bayer AG and its Roundup weedkiller said he had ‘grave concerns’ about whether a proposed $7.25 billion class-action settlement in Missouri could properly address future claims outside the state.”

Posted at 7:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“First Circuit scrutinizes denial of bond hearings for ICE detainees; The government faced resistance from judges who questioned why the Laken Riley Act would need to exist if ICE truly had broad discretion to detain immigrants”: Erik Uebelacker of Courthouse News Service has this report.

You can access the audio of today’s oral argument via this link.

Posted at 7:33 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump’s Interpretation of the War Powers Resolution Is Wrong But Not Crazy; It builds on past presidential opportunism on the WPR”: Jack Goldsmith has this post at the “Executive Functions” Substack site.

Posted at 2:35 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Triumph of Clarence Thomas; As he becomes the second-longest-serving Justice, the Supreme Court has shifted his way”: This editorial appears in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Posted at 1:07 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court Temporarily Restores Access to Abortion Pill by Mail; A lower-court ruling had reinstated a Food and Drug Administration requirement that patients visit a health care provider in person to obtain mifepristone”: Ann E. Marimow of The New York Times has this report.

Praveena Somasundaram, Justin Jouvenal, and Julian Mark of The Washington Post report that “Supreme Court restores access to abortion pill by mail for now; The order reinstates mail access to the drug for one week while the justices consider emergency applications by drugmakers.”

James Romoser of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Justice Alito Temporarily Restores Access to Abortion Pills by Mail; The order, which isn’t a final ruling on the dispute, allows time for the high court to consider the issue more fully.”

Maureen Groppe of USA Today reports that “Mail-order access to abortion drug reinstated by Supreme Court.”

And Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times reports that “Supreme Court allows abortion pill by mail to continue — for now.”

You can access here and here today’s orders of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Posted at 1:05 PM by Howard Bashman



“225. How Congress Used to Leverage the Court: History is replete with examples of Congress using its powers to leverage, nudge, and even threaten the Supreme Court; A big part of how we got to where we are is that Congress has stopped doing so.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.

Posted at 10:35 AM by Howard Bashman



“Mifepristone Returns to the Shadow Docket; Drug makers seek interim relief after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit blocks FDA rule allowing mifepristone prescriptions via telemedicine”: Jonathan H. Adler has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

Posted at 10:33 AM by Howard Bashman



In the May 11, 2026 issue of The New Yorker: Diego Lasarte has a Talk of the Town item titled “Is the Twenty-fifth Amendment Really an Option? After J.F.K.’s assassination, a neophyte lawyer named John Feerick was summoned to Washington to draft the provision; Now everyone wants him to weigh in on booting Trump from office.”

And Jill Lepore has an article headlined “Was the Declaration of Independence Better Before the Edits? Amid contention, criticism, and compromise, a divided nation had to present a unified front; It came at a cost.”

Posted at 10:28 AM by Howard Bashman



Sunday, May 3, 2026

“Scalia Clerks Argued in Half the Supreme Court Cases This Term”: Justin Wise and Jordan Fischer of Bloomberg Law have this report.

Posted at 8:42 PM by Howard Bashman



“US Department of Justice loses a quarter of its lawyers; Thousands have quit or been fired since Trump returned to office with an agenda focused on immigrants and enemies”: Kaye Wiggins of Financial Times has this report.

Posted at 8:40 PM by Howard Bashman



“How the Supreme Court Demolished the Voting Rights Act: For two decades, the conservative Justices worked to eliminate a bulwark of the civil-rights era.” Law professor Jeannie Suk Gersen has this essay online at The New Yorker.

Posted at 8:32 PM by Howard Bashman



“Behind Voting Rights Case, a Clash Over the Reality of Racism; The Supreme Court ruling said there must be proof that a racial group was ‘intentionally’ disadvantaged; The dissent called it ‘well-nigh impossible’”: Richard Fausset of The New York Times has this report.

Posted at 8:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Former Paul Weiss Chair Brad Karp Defends Settlement With Trump During Harvard Law School Class”: Sierra R. Pape and Uy B. Pham of The Harvard Crimson have this report.

Posted at 8:28 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judicial Notice (05.03.26): Spirited Away; The (possibly) vanishing Voting Rights Act, Elon Musk v. Sam Altman (and Wachtell), an unsuccessful rescue for Spirit Airlines, and a big group move out of Perkins Coie.” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.

Posted at 8:12 PM by Howard Bashman