How Appealing



Friday, April 3, 2026

“Trump’s new attorney general pick could have a Tillis problem; The North Carolina Republican is a crucial swing vote on the Senate Judiciary Committee — and he’s already sunk past nominees over their views about Jan. 6”: Benjamin S. Weiss of Courthouse News Service has this report.

Posted at 9:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“Justice Samuel Alito was taken to a hospital last month in previously undisclosed incident”: Joan Biskupic of CNN has this report.

Posted at 12:03 PM by Howard Bashman



“Pam Bondi’s Legacy of Flattery and Destruction; No Attorney General has done more damage to the Justice Department; Her successor could be even more dangerous”: Ruth Marcus has this essay online at The New Yorker.

Posted at 11:58 AM by Howard Bashman



Thursday, April 2, 2026

“Trump’s grip on the Supreme Court seems to be slipping; The administration’s early winning streak at the high court may be fizzling”: Josh Gerstein of Politico has this report.

Posted at 11:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“‘I Think It’s Time’: The Inside Story of Pam Bondi’s Ouster; The attorney general was always on the ropes but thought she was finally on safer footing; She wasn’t.” Josh Dawsey, Alex Leary, C. Ryan Barber, and Sadie Gurman of The Wall Street Journal have this report.

Posted at 10:50 PM by Howard Bashman



“Justice Dept. says the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional; The DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel said the law exceeds Congress’s powers and impedes on the autonomy of the executive branch”: Maegan Vazquez and Jeremy Roebuck of The Washington Post have this report.

You can view the Office of Legal Counsel’s memo at this link.

Posted at 9:28 PM by Howard Bashman



“A President, the Supreme Court and a Landmark Citizenship Order Collide; The justices seems poised to rule against the president’s birthright citizenship plan; He is already furious over their decision rejecting his tariffs program”: Adam Liptak has this new installment of his “The Docket” newsletter online today at The New York Times.

Posted at 8:58 PM by Howard Bashman



“The One Thing Trump Wanted That Pam Bondi Failed to Deliver”: Jeffrey Toobin has this guest essay online at The New York Times.

Friday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal will contain an editorial titled “Pam Bondi Gets Trumped as Attorney General; Trump needs more than a lawfare yes-woman at the Justice Department.”

And at his “Balls & Strikes” Substack site, Jay Willis has a post titled “Pam Bondi Was Bad. Trump’s Next Attorney General Will Be Worse. Trump gets rid of Cabinet members for one reason: He’s decided that his interests would be better served by an even more obedient loyalist.”

Posted at 8:56 PM by Howard Bashman



“In Birthright Case, Trump’s Likely Loss May Not End the Fight; The justices gave respectful consideration to what was once a fringe theory and could rule against it on grounds that would allow Congress to return to the question”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this news analysis.

And Amy Qin of The New York Times has an article headlined “In the Birthright Citizenship Hearing, a Story of Asians Fighting for Rights; In the Supreme Court’s oral arguments, lawyers and justices cited a litany of cases reflecting how long it took for Asians to win the right to be American.”

Posted at 8:40 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump Fires Pam Bondi as Attorney General; In a social media post, President Trump said he was replacing Ms. Bondi with Todd Blanche, her deputy, on an interim basis”: Tyler Pager and Glenn Thrush of The New York Times have this report.

Alan Feuer of The New York Times reports that “Blanche, Trump’s Former Defense Lawyer, Steps In as Acting Attorney General; While it remains unclear how long Todd Blanche will stay in the job, whoever ends up taking over permanently will lead a department that he has shaped in his own image.”

And Jeremy Roebuck, Natalie Allison, Emily Davies, and Perry Stein of The Washington Post report that “Trump ousts Pam Bondi as attorney general; The president had repeatedly expressed frustration with Bondi’s pace — and limited success — in overseeing efforts to target his rivals.”

Posted at 8:37 PM by Howard Bashman



“What Is Trump’s ‘Election Integrity’ Order Even Trying to Achieve? It isn’t easy for the executive to impose election requirements, because the Constitution makes it impossible. But that hasn’t stopped the president from trying.” Molly Roberts and Loren Voss have this post at the “Lawfare” blog.

Posted at 8:27 PM by Howard Bashman



“At the Supreme Court, Trump Courts Defeat; Why would he show up and antagonize the justices? He has an able team of lawyers.” Columnist Kimberley A. Strassel will have this op-ed in Friday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Posted at 8:20 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump Ousts Attorney General Pam Bondi; At Justice Department, Bondi tried to deliver on president’s priorities but ultimately failed to appease him”: Josh Dawsey, Sadie Gurman, and C. Ryan Barber of The Wall Street Journal have this report.

Posted at 1:25 PM by Howard Bashman



“Bonus 218: Birthright Citizenship and the Cassandra Problem; President Trump’s attempt to limit birthright citizenship may well be doomed; But that doesn’t come *close* to disproving the concerns the Democratic appointees expressed in their dissents last June.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.

Posted at 1:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump frustrated with Pam Bondi and considering ousting her; Since the Jeffrey Epstein files saga, Bondi has struggled to return to a firm footing with the president and deliver wins — including securing indictments against his political foes”: Katherine Doyle, Matt Dixon, Monica Alba, and Gabe Gutierrez of NBC News have this report.

Posted at 11:08 AM by Howard Bashman



Wednesday, April 1, 2026

“Mahmoud Khalil Asks Emil Bove to Recuse Himself From Immigration Case; Mr. Khalil, who is fighting his deportation, and Judge Bove were on opposite sides of President Trump’s crackdown on campus protesters when the judge was a Justice Department official”: Jonah E. Bromwich of The New York Times has this report.

Posted at 9:53 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump Has Discussed Firing Attorney General Pam Bondi; President Trump has not made a final decision, but he has floated the idea of replacing Ms. Bondi with Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A. administrator”: Tyler Pager of The New York Times has this report.

And Glenn Thrush and Michael Gold of The New York Times report that “How Pam Bondi’s Missteps on the Epstein Files Jeopardized Her Job; Ms. Bondi’s critics inside and outside the administration say she has made unforced errors that have turned the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files into a political crisis.”

Posted at 9:42 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Long Odds of Undoing Birthright Citizenship; In arguments at the Supreme Court, a clear majority of the Justices seemed inclined to uphold the right”: Ruth Marcus has this essay online at The New Yorker.

Posted at 8:17 PM by Howard Bashman



“For Once, the Supreme Court Seems to Think the Fourteenth Amendment Means What It Says; Several members of the Court’s six-justice conservative supermajority sounded skeptical of Trump’s attempt to unilaterally end birthright citizenship”: Madiba K. Dennie has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.

Also online at Balls and Strikes, Jay Willis has an essay titled “The Right’s Crusade Against Birthright Citizenship Is Just Getting Started; The Supreme Court appears poised to rule against Trump this time; But any votes in his favor will help lay the groundwork for the conservative movement’s next attack on the Fourteenth Amendment.”

Posted at 8:15 PM by Howard Bashman



“Inside the Supreme Court as Trump faced the justices he’s criticized; The first sitting president known to have attended a Supreme Court argument sat silently in the courtroom for more than an hour as his birthright citizenship plan was debated”: Lawrence Hurley of NBC News has this report.

Posted at 8:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“5 Observations On The Supreme Court Argument In The Birthright Citizenship Case: The Trump v. Barbara oral argument went better for the administration than I expected — but Trump will probably still lose.” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.

Posted at 5:26 PM by Howard Bashman



“Could the Girls of Camp Mystic Have Been Saved? Dozens died in a Texas flood, dividing families over whether it was an act of God or adult failure.” Kerry Howley has this cover story in the March 23, 2026 issue of New York magazine.

Posted at 5:20 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court likely to reject Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship; As Trump sat on watching, Solicitor General John Sauer faced skeptical questions from almost all of the justices — including all three justices Trump appointed to the high court”: Chris Geidner has this post at his Substack site.

Posted at 5:16 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump Got a Front-Row Seat to Supreme Court Skepticism. His attendance made history. His attempt to upend birthright citizenship probably won’t.” Irin Carmon has this post at the “Intelligencer” blog of New York magazine.

Posted at 5:09 PM by Howard Bashman



“How the Guillotine Got Axed: In the U.S., capital punishment is resurgent; What lessons can we glean from France’s successful campaign to abolish it?” Lauren Collins has this article online at The New Yorker.

Posted at 5:02 PM by Howard Bashman



“Go Ahead and Use AI. It Will Only Help Me Dominate You. A message of support for my fellow writers.” Hamilton Nolan has this post at his “How Things Work” Substack site (via Rusty Foster’s post “Who Goes AI?” at “Today in Tabs”).

Posted at 4:58 PM by Howard Bashman



“A Fireside Chat Between Chief Judge Elrod and Judge Bumatay on America 250 — STCLH FedSoc”: Josh Blackman has posted this video on YouTube.

Posted at 4:34 PM by Howard Bashman