“At Many Top Law Schools, Black Student Enrollment Continues to Drop; The New York Times examined data from 18 of the nation’s top law schools and found that first-year Black enrollment had increased at only four, including at Harvard”: Stephanie Saul of The New York Times has this report.

“‘Wild ride’: Georgia Cappleman discusses Dan Markel case at Tiger Bay.” Jeff Burlew of The Tallahassee Democrat has this report.

“Federal court examines noncitizens’ Second Amendment rights; A Sixth Circuit panel said the fact that the Second Amendment encompasses all U.S. citizens does not mean it automatically excludes those who are not”: Rox Laird of Courthouse News Service has this report.

You can access yesterday’s ruling of a partially divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit at this link.

“Are There Fourth Amendment Rights in Google Search Terms? A noteworthy decision, even if there’s no majority opinion.” Orin S. Kerr has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

Today’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania consists of the opinion announcing the judgment of the court, two concurring opinions (here and here), and a dissenting opinion.

“Plain Meaning: If Trump were right about birthright citizenship, some lawmakers would have been bounced.” Reynolds Holding has this post at his “Better Judgment” Substack site.

“Supreme Court to review Mississippi case on alleged omission of Black jurors; The Supreme Court agreed to review the conviction of a death-row inmate who says prosecutors discriminated by excluding Black jurors during his 2006 trial”: Julian Mark of The Washington Post has this report.

“The Situation: Who is the ‘Responsible United States Attorney’ in Virginia? Such an official must exist, because the Justice Manual says her approval is required to keep indicting Letitia James.” Benjamin Wittes has this post at the “Lawfare” blog.

“Jury orders Johnson & Johnson to pay $40 million to two women in latest talc trial”: Diana Novak Jones of Reuters has this report.

And Amanda Bronstad of The Recorder reports that “Pivotal LA Trial Alleging J&J’s Baby Powder Caused Ovarian Cancer Ends in $40M Verdict; A Los Angeles Superior Court jury deliberated for one day before awarding $40 million, all compensatory damages, to two women.”

“If the Supreme Court Wants to Keep Article II Intact but Save Wiener, Here’s How”: Elias Neibart has this post at the “Notice & Comment” blog of the Yale Journal on Regulation.

“SCOTUS Is About to Turbocharge Presidential Power”: You can access today’s new episode of the “Strict Scrutiny” podcast via this link and on YouTube.

“The Federal Judge at the Trump Rally; Emil Bove violated a basic tenet of judicial ethics, presumably on purpose”: Ruth Marcus has this essay online at The New Yorker.

“Judicial Notice (12.14.25): Not Dead Yet; Alina Habba’s bye-bye, Emil Bove’s boo-boo, Jack Smith’s second act, Becca Slaughter’s day of reckoning, and a 30-person hire by Cooley.” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.

“Man sentenced for setting fire in Colorado Supreme Court building that caused extensive damage; Brandon Olsen pleaded guilty in July to one count of arson; He broke into the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center on Jan. 2, 2024, and started a fire”: Jennifer Campbell-Hicks of 9News in Denver has this report.

“Leon Schools asks Supreme Court to reject parents’ appeal in gender case”: Jim Saunders of News Service of Florida has this report.

You can access the brief in opposition at this link.

“Arkansas Supreme Court dismisses chief justice’s appeal of HR report alleging harassment; Three special justices were appointed to replace three justices who recused themselves, including the chief justice”: Tess Vrbin of Arkansas Advocate has this report.

“This is why you’re wrong about the Supreme Court and Trump; The conservative majority of the Supreme Court is on a mission to put everything back into the right box; The goal is not to grow or shrink the power of any individual branch of government”: Columnist Dace Potas has this essay online at USA Today.

“With Fed independence in crosshairs, will Supreme Court back Trump again?” Jan Wolfe of Reuters has this report.

“Trump administration races to finalize tariff payments — and hamstring possible refunds; In response, companies are now filing lawsuits to make sure they get paid back if the Supreme Court invalidates some of the president’s duties”: Ari Hawkins and Doug Palmer of Politico have this report.

“One Amendment Explains It All: A decades-long conservative project to reject the reconstruction amendments is riding the coattails of Trump’s lawless chaos all the way to SCOTUS.” You can access the new episode of Slate’s “Amicus” podcast via this link.

“The Restoration Narrative in Constitutional Law; As Opposed to the Redemption Narrative”: Cass Sunstein has this post at his “Cass’s Substack” site.

And at his “Shapiro’s Gavel” Substack site, Ilya Shapiro has a post titled “The End of the Beginning: The conservative legal movement is in the fourth inning, not the bottom of the ninth.”

“In this Supreme Court case, a sledgehammer is better than a scalpel; On Trump’s ability to fire the heads of agencies, the Supreme Court should take the harder route”: Columnist Jason Willick has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“Appeals Court Says Trump Must End Los Angeles Deployment by Monday; While the decision did not remove the National Guard troops from the president’s control, it blocked him from using them in the nation’s second-largest city”: Shawn Hubler of The New York Times has this report.

You can access yesterday’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.

“The View from Here: There’s a clear line from Bush v. Gore, 25 years ago, to the January 6 insurrection.” Jeffrey Toobin has this essay online at Air Mail.

“D.C. Circuit’s Trump appointees again block Judge Boasberg’s contempt inquiry; DOJ keeps going to the D.C. Circuit, where Trump appointees on the court have repeatedly stopped the district court’s effort to hold the Trump admin accountable”: Chris Geidner has this post at his Substack site.

You can access yesterday’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at this link.

“First Circuit reverses block on Trump’s Planned Parenthood funding cuts; The appeals panel said that a provision of the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ that stripped Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood didn’t violate the reproductive health care giant’s rights”: Christina van Waasbergen of Courthouse News Service has this report on a decision that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued yesterday.

“Judge’s Order Complicates Justice Dept. Plans to Again Charge Comey; Justice Department officials have been considering whether to bring new charges against James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, after a different judge dismissed the original case against him”: Alan Feuer of The New York Times has this report.

Jeremy Roebuck of The Washington Post reports that “Judge’s ruling could doom Trump’s bid to prosecute Comey; The ruling delivered another setback to the Justice Department’s rapidly foundering effort to prosecute one of Trump’s chief foes.”

And Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein of Politico report that “Court orders DOJ to return data seized from Comey friend; U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled the material obtained from law professor Daniel Richman was handled with ‘callous disregard’ for his rights.”

You can access yesterday’s redacted opinion of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia at this link.

“North Carolina man asks Fourth Circuit to nix child porn flagged by Google algorithm; A Fourth Circuit panel appeared at odds on the role of automated searches in criminal investigations, reflecting a larger divide among the appellate courts on the issue”: Steve Garrison of Courthouse News Service has this report.

“Appeals court weighs fate of US whistleblower law”: Mike Scarcella of Reuters has this report.

You can access the audio of yesterday’s oral argument before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit at this link.

“Feds ask Ninth Circuit to lift block on excessive force against journalists; The appellate panel expressed some concern that a Joe Biden appointee’s preliminary injunction might run afoul of the Supreme Court’s condemnation of sweeping orders”: Edvard Pettersson of Courthouse News Service has this report.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has posted the video of yesterday’s oral argument on YouTube at this link.

“In Trump’s Justice Dept., Failing in Court Might Be Better Than Bucking the Boss; This week demonstrated an emerging reality for President Trump: Commanding the Justice Department is not the same as controlling the justice system.” Glenn Thrush and Alan Feuer of The New York Times have this news analysis.

“San Diego judge sentences GirlsDoPorn bookkeeper who offered ‘false assurances’ to victims; Valorie Moser transported about 100 women from the San Diego airport to local hotels, often helping calm their nerves despite knowing they were being deceived”: Alex Riggins of The San Diego Union-Tribune has this report.

And Quinn Welsch of Courthouse News Service reports that “Woman who recruited victims for GirlsDoPorn sentenced to prison; Employed to manage the books at GirlsDoPorn, Valorie Moser provided a friendly face to young women who were later coerced into acting in pornography videos.”

“Goldstein Wins Bid to Toss Sordid Sham Employment Allegations”: Holly Barker of Bloomberg Law has this report.

“Ninth Circuit Senior Judge Sandra S. Ikuta Dies”: Metropolitan News-Enterprise has this report.

“Importers Await Tariff Relief as Supreme Court Adjourns for Year”: Laura Curtis and Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News have this report.

“The fate of Trump’s birthright citizenship order will hinge on five words; The Supreme Court has just agreed to hear a case challenging Trump and the meaning of those words”: Columnist Ramesh Ponnuru has this essay online at The Washington Post.