“Arguments in abortion lawsuit at the center of Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race begin in May”: Molly Beck of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this report.
Patrick Marley of The Washington Post reports that “Expensive court race will decide future of abortion in Wisconsin; Voters will decide Tuesday if conservative or liberal judges control the Wisconsin Supreme Court ahead of decisions on abortion and redistricting.”
And Jess Bidgood of The Boston Globe reports that “Wisconsin court mega-fight crashes to an end, with a Trump coda.”
“Supreme court justices felt tricked by Trump at Kavanaugh swearing-in — book; CNN analyst Joan Biskupic cites unnamed justices saying a White House celebration of Trump’s pick turned overtly political”: Martin Pengelly of The Guardian (UK) has this report.
I was on the road, away from my office, all last week, and while I was away, my advance copy of Biskupic’s new book — “Nine Black Robes: Inside the Supreme Court’s Drive to the Right and Its Historic Consequences” — arrived there. I am very much looking forward to reading it. The book’s official on-sale date is Tuesday, April 4, 2023.
“Court-Hopping: Should More Appellate Judges Visit District Courts? Federal appellate judges Timothy Tymkovich and Jennifer Elrod talk about the reasons they volunteer to visit district courts.” Avalon Zoppo of The National Law Journal has this report.
In the current issue of Judicature magazine, law professor Marin K. Levy has a related article titled “Visiting Judges: Riding Circuit and Beyond.”
“This Law Professor Took on Nixon and Trump. Now He’s Facing Off Against Stanford Law School Students. John Banzhaf says he plans to file a bar complaint against the students who disrupted Fifth Circuit judge Kyle Duncan.” Aaron Sibarium of The Washington Free Beacon has this report.
“Federal judges say they won’t hire clerks from ‘intolerant’ Stanford Law School”: Jesse O’Neill of The New York Post has this report.
And James Gordon of The Daily Mail (UK) has an article headlined “Federal judges announce they will refuse to hire clerks from Stanford Law School after woke students and diversity dean ambushed conservative member of the bench: ‘They terrorize people into submission and self-censorship.’“
“The Dangerous Journey of John Eastman: How a mild-mannered law professor became the architect of a scheme to overturn a presidential election.” Garrett Epps has this article in the upcoming issue of Washington Monthly magazine.
“Federal Judges Say They Won’t Hire Clerks From Stanford Law School; James Ho and Elizabeth Branch, who announced a clerkship boycott of Yale Law last year, are adding Stanford to the list”: Aaron Sibarium of The Washington Free Beacon has this report.
That publication has also posted online an item titled “Judge James Ho’s Remarks Announcing a Hiring Boycott From Stanford Law School.”
Perhaps we will learn tomorrow whether this is or is not an April Fools’ joke.
“Wisconsin Supreme Court control, abortion access at stake”: Scott Bauer of The Associated Press has this report.
“In post-Roe America, weird changes might be coming to abortion law”: Columnist Kathleen Parker has this essay online at The Washington Post.
“This federal judge may be hazardous to your health”: Columnist Ruth Marcus has this essay online at The Washington Post.
“New Mexico Supreme Court blocks ordinances restricting access to abortion”: Elise Kaplan and Dan Boyd of The Albuquerque Journal have this report.
And Susan Montoya Bryan of The Associated Press reports that “New Mexico Supreme Court blocks local abortion ordinances.”
“Female Justices Still Interrupted at Argument, But Barrett Less”: Law professor Tonja Jacobi has this essay online at Bloomberg Law.
“The Liberal Maverick Fighting Race-Based Affirmative Action; For decades, Richard Kahlenberg has pushed for a class-conscious approach to college admissions; He may finally get his wish, but it comes at a personal cost”: Anemona Hartocollis of The New York Times has this report.
“Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s ‘Inexorable Zero’ of Black Employees: ‘What if she says yes?'” Ed Whelan has this post at his “Confirmation Tales” Substack site.
Programming note: On Saturday, I will be traveling back home from Little Rock, Arkansas, where this afternoon I had the pleasure of speaking at the Corbin Symposium. The UA Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law, where the event was occurring, was spared any damage from the huge tornado that passed through town nearby, but other areas sadly were not so fortunate.
Additional posts will appear here on Saturday evening.
“Activist group led by Ginni Thomas received nearly $600,000 in anonymous donations; Funding for group that battled ‘cultural Marxism’ was channeled through right-wing think tank, Post investigation finds”: Shawn Boburg and Emma Brown of The Washington Post have this report.
“How Two Supreme Court Cases Made ‘Cruel and Unusual Punishment’ Meaningless: Two decades ago, the Supreme Court had the chance to stop lawmakers from sentencing people to life in prison for petty theft; It decided to look the other way.” Jay Willis has this post at Balls and Strikes.
“Health Plans No Longer Have to Cover All Preventive Care at No Cost. Here’s What to Know. A ruling by a federal judge this week could set up yet another Supreme Court challenge to the Obamacare health law.” Sarah Kliff of The New York Times has this report.
“‘Mom’s still there.’ Sandra Day O’Connor just turned 93. Here’s how she’s doing.” Nicole Carroll of USA Today has this report, along with a report headlined “Women of the Year honoree Sandra Day O’Connor’s mark on Supreme Court still prominent today.”
And online at USA Today, Scott O’Connor has an op-ed titled “My mom was the most powerful woman in US government. Here’s what she taught me. My mother, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, has an uncanny sense of what it is to be American, full of optimism and possibilities, yet with a yearning to be of service to others in meaningful ways.”
“Johnson & Johnson unit loses bid to stay in bankruptcy during Supreme Court appeal”: Dietrich Knauth of Reuters has this report.
“The $37m question: why do US states elect judges in expensive, partisan elections? The Wisconsin state supreme court election urges the question: why are partisan groups able to be involved?” Kira Lerner of The Guardian (UK) has this report.
“Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: Time For Reform? And a new culture-war controversy at Columbia Law — over an Instagram post.” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.
“Equity’s Constitutional Source”: Owen W. Gallogly has this article in the March 2023 issue of The Yale Law Journal.
“Supreme Preparation: What attorneys go through before facing the nine.” Matt Reynolds has this cover story in the April 2023 issue of ABA Journal.
“How the LAPD abortion squad went after women and doctors in pre-Roe L.A.” Brittny Mejia of The Los Angeles Times has this report.
“Even as mass shootings multiply, federal judges are erasing gun safety laws”: Law professor Adam Winkler has this essay online at The Los Angeles Times.
“Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Mourns Passing of Judge Edward Leavy”: The Public Information Office of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has posted this obituary online.
“Judge orders end to many ACA preventative care coverage requirements, including PrEP and cancer screenings; Judge Reed O’Connor, a conservative Texas federal judge, earlier suggested this ruling was coming; Although many coverage requirements were struck down, he upheld the contraceptive care requirements”: Chris Geidner has this post at his “Law Dork” Substack site.
You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas at this link.
“Diplomats in Robes? The Supreme Court’s Unwelcome Forays Into Foreign Policy.” Aziz Huq and Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar have this essay online at Foreign Affairs.
“Penn plans for expected overturn of affirmative action as Supreme Court ruling looms”: Sara Forastieri and Elea Castiglione of The Daily Pennsylvanian have this report.
“A secret deal between Justices John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy on gay rights and what it means today”: Joan Biskupic of CNN has this report.
“Time for Supreme Court to adopt ethics rules? Retired federal judge Nancy Gertner says lack of transparency, recent incidents involving justices, spouses, activists have tarnished public standing.” Liz Mineo of The Harvard Gazette has this report.
“Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race could be the beginning of the end for GOP dominance; The stakes of this down ballot race could have a domino effect on abortion rights, the House majority — and maybe the 2024 presidential election”: Zach Montellaro and Megan Messerly of Politico have this report.
“Justices Must Disclose Travel and Gifts Under New Rules; The change comes as members of Congress have called for the justices to be held to ethics standards similar to those for the executive and legislative branches”: Abbie VanSickle of The New York Times has this report.
“Dueling court cases in Washington state and Texas could determine legality of abortion pill”: Spencer Kimball of CNBC has this report.
