How Appealing



Thursday, December 11, 2025

“‘Brazenly Partisan’ Judges Scrutinize Trump’s Mind, But Refuse To Explain Themselves”: Josh Blackman has this post at Civitas Outlook.

Posted at 1:09 PM by Howard Bashman



“We’re Trying to Find a Line the Supreme Court Won’t Cross”: Emily Bazelon and David French have this Conversation online at The New York Times Opinion.

Posted at 1:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“Federal judge orders Kilmar Abrego García’s ‘immediate release’; U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said the government could not indefinitely detain Abrego, a 30-year-old immigrant from El Salvador who is fighting his deportation”: Maria Sacchetti and Jeremy Roebuck of The Washington Post have this report.

Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times reports that “Court orders DHS to release illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia.”

Priscilla Alvarez of CNN reports that “Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia be released from ICE custody ‘immediately.’

And Zoe Tillman of Bloomberg News reports that “Abrego Garcia Wins Latest Bid to Be Released From US Custody.”

You can access today’s decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland at this link.

Posted at 10:52 AM by Howard Bashman



Wednesday, December 10, 2025

“Supreme Court wrestles with death penalty in cases of intellectual disabilities; The justices wrestled with whether to allow Alabama to execute a man with low cognitive function, a ruling that could set new rules for states’ death rows”: Justin Jouvenal of The Washington Post has this report.

Posted at 9:50 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judge Emil Bove Faces Ethics Complaint for Attending Trump Rally; One of the president’s appeals-court nominees, a former lawyer for the president, was in the crowd at a raucous event in Mt. Pocono, Pa.” Mattathias Schwartz of The New York Times has this report.

Nick Moyle of NJ Advance Media has a report headlined “A federal judge attended Trump’s latest rally. Here’s why that’s ‘highly unusual.’

Mike Scarcella of Reuters reports that “Trump-allied judge draws scrutiny for rally appearance.”

Benjamin S. Weiss of Courthouse News Service has a report headlined “Did Emil Bove violate judicial ethics code with appearance at Trump rally? Experts and lawmakers are questioning the decision by the controversial Third Circuit judge and former Trump lawyer, who has long been accused of political loyalty to the White House.”

And in commentary, online at Balls and Strikes, Jay Willis has a post titled “Emil Bove Will Always Be a Trump Rallygoer First; Trump demands loyalty from his judicial nominees; As Emil Bove demonstrated on Tuesday, his nominees are very comfortable with displaying that loyalty in public.”

Posted at 9:20 PM by Howard Bashman



“Emil Bove, thumbing his nose at America, is making a mockery of the rule of law; Attending Trump’s rally on Tuesday, Judge Emil Bove let it be known that his DOJ actions were just the beginning; Bove must face accountability, and ultimately impeachment”: Chris Geidner has this post at his Substack site.

Posted at 4:57 PM by Howard Bashman



“Campaign Finance in a Polarized Republic: The party spending case before the Court is about an old quarrel, but the stakes are very different now.” Bob Bauer has this post at the “Executive Functions” Substack site.

Posted at 3:57 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump wants Supreme Court’s oldest justices, Thomas and Alito, to stay; ‘I hope they stay ’cause I think they’re fantastic, OK? Both of those men are fantastic,’ Trump said of conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, the two oldest members of the court”: Zac Anderson of USA Today has this report.

Posted at 1:42 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Liberal Justices Aren’t as United as You Might Think; Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson are split over the best approach: investing in diplomacy inside the court or sounding the alarm outside.” You can access today’s episode of “The Daily” podcast from The New York Times via this link.

Posted at 1:40 PM by Howard Bashman



“Llano County library book removals allowed after U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear challenge; Seven residents launched a challenge in 2022 to the removal of 17 books, which included topics on race and gender; They won a reinstatement of the titles, but lost on appeal”: Alex Nguyen of The Texas Tribune has this report.

Posted at 1:36 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Costs: A condensed version of our series on the ‘obscene’ spending on Wisconsin justices; In a three-part series, Wisconsin Watch examines why our state set back-to-back national records in Supreme Court election spending and what can be done about it.” Larry Sandler of Wisconsin Watch has this report.

Posted at 1:34 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judge Suggests Prosecutor on Comey and James Cases Should Resign as U.S. Attorney; Lindsey Halligan’s indictments against James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, and Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, were dismissed last month over Ms. Halligan’s appointment”: Devlin Barrett of The New York Times has this report.

And Alan Feuer of The New York Times reports that “Justice Dept. Fights Roadblock to Pursuing Comey Case; The battle preceded the department’s looming decision over whether — and how — to bring new charges against James B. Comey.”

Posted at 12:07 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court Hears Death Penalty Case on Intellectual Disability; The case involves an Alabama man who challenged his death sentence after a murder conviction because of his varying results in a series of I.Q. tests”: Ann E. Marimow of The New York Times has this report.

Posted at 12:02 PM by Howard Bashman



“Three Years After Dobbs, ‘the Reality Is People Are Getting Abortions’; The state divide over abortions has only deepened since the Supreme Court decision; But research shows the number of abortions has climbed”: Soumya Karlamangla of The New York Times has this report.

Posted at 11:52 AM by Howard Bashman



“DOJ’s slow-walking of the law firm cases continues, pushing appeals well into 2026; The Trump admin has often rushed to the Supreme Court this year; In the law firm cases, though, DOJ — even though it lost below — is moving the appeals as slowly as possible”: Chris Geidner has this post at his Substack site.

Posted at 9:06 AM by Howard Bashman



Tuesday, December 9, 2025

“Five Takeaways From Luigi Mangione’s Evidence Hearing; The suspected gunman in the killing of UnitedHealth executive goes to court”: Alyssa Lukpat of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

Posted at 10:14 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court weighs further loosening campaign finance limits; Republican leaders are asking the high court to remove limits on how much parties can spend in coordination with federal candidates on items like advertisements”: Julian Mark of The Washington Post has this report.

And Andrew Howard and Josh Gerstein of Politico have a report headlined “Is JD Vance already running for president? The Supreme Court wants to know. The vice president’s future ambitions were a top topic during oral arguments Tuesday in a highly watched campaign finance case.”

Posted at 10:07 PM by Howard Bashman



“Is the Supreme Court Unsure About Birthright Citizenship? Maybe the Justices simply want to reiterate what the Court has already said — or maybe not.” Amy Davidson Sorkin has this essay online at The New Yorker.

Posted at 9:03 PM by Howard Bashman



“Split DC Circuit sides with Pentagon on transgender military ban; The majority, both Donald Trump appointees, determined Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s policy was likely constitutional because a classification based on transgender status does not trigger heightened scrutiny”: Ryan Knappenberger of Courthouse News Service has this report.

You can access today’s order of a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and the opinions concurring therein and dissenting therefrom, at this link.

Posted at 8:58 PM by Howard Bashman



“Videos Played at Mangione Hearings Reveal New Details About His Arrest; Prosecutors showed body camera footage as they argued that some evidence collected when Luigi Mangione was arrested should be admitted at trial”: Hurubie Meko and Anusha Bayya of The New York Times have this report.

Posted at 5:45 PM by Howard Bashman



“A Key Question for the Supreme Court: What About the Fed? The president seemed poised for a big Supreme Court win letting him remove officials without cause; But the justices appeared to struggle with how to insulate the Federal Reserve from politics.” Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this report.

Posted at 8:09 AM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court Is Asked to Take Another Ax to Campaign Finance Limits; The case centers on efforts by Republican officials to lift limits on how much money political parties can spend in coordination with candidates”: Abbie VanSickle and Shane Goldmacher of The New York Times have this report.

Posted at 8:08 AM by Howard Bashman



Monday, December 8, 2025

“Judge calls for Justice Dept. whistleblower to testify in migrant planes case; Judge James E. Boasberg said he wants to hear from former Justice Dept. attorney Erez Reuveni in an inquiry that could lead to a criminal contempt referral involving Trump administration officials”: Steve Thompson of The Washington Post has this report.

Kyle Cheney of Politico reports that “Boasberg escalates contempt inquiry over Alien Enemies Act deportations; The judge ordered testimony from two of the top DOJ lawyers involved in the March deportation operation.”

And Jacqueline Thomsen of Bloomberg News reports that “Judge Summons DOJ Lawyers for Testimony in Contempt Probe.”

Third Circuit Judge Emil Bove filed this declaration in the district court proceeding today.

Posted at 9:24 PM by Howard Bashman