How Appealing



Saturday, February 21, 2026

“Divide Among Supreme Court’s Conservatives Could Test Trump’s Agenda; In rejecting President Trump’s tariffs, the court’s six conservative justices displayed subtle differences in their views of executive power”: Ann E. Marimow of The New York Times has this news analysis.

Posted at 1:18 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump’s Power to Sue US Challenged in $10 Billion IRS Case”: Erik Larson and David Voreacos of Bloomberg News have this report.

Posted at 1:09 PM by Howard Bashman



Friday, February 20, 2026

“Tariff Ruling Rips Open Trump’s Relationship With the Roberts Court; The decision was the president’s biggest high-court defeat, and he took it personally”: James Romoser of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

Posted at 10:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“211. Making Sense of the Tariffs Ruling: Friday’s 6-3 ruling reflects an emphatic repudiation of a specific claim of delegated statutory authority by the Trump administration; Folks should be wary about reading it as more — or less — than that.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.

At his “Balls & Strikes” Substack site, Jay Willis has a post titled “The Trump Tariffs Case Is a Preview of Bigger Supreme Court Fights to Come; The conservative justices spent four years using the major questions doctrine to thwart a Democratic president; They are carefully reserving the power to do it again.”

At the “Divided Argument” Substack site, Michael W. McConnell has a guest post titled “Comment on the Major Questions Doctrine Debate in Learning Resources.”

And at the “Executive Functions” Substack site, Jack Goldsmith has a post titled “Quick Thoughts on the Tariff Decision and the President’s Angry Reaction; A massive defeat for the president and an extraordinary affirmation of the Supreme Court’s power.”

Posted at 9:42 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court Tariff Ruling to Spur Chaotic Refund Process; The Trump administration says it could take years and additional litigation for importers to get their money back”: Alan Rappeport and Colby Smith of The New York Times have this report.

Posted at 9:36 PM by Howard Bashman



“Ex-Judge Wolf’s Staff Describe Walking on Eggshells in Chambers”: Suzanne Monyak and Brian Dowling of Bloomberg Law have this report.

Posted at 9:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judges in Virginia name new U.S. attorney, then Justice Dept. fires him; The nearly immediate removal of longtime litigator James W. Hundley continues a clash over control of one of the country’s highest-profile prosecutor’s offices”: Katie Mettler, Salvador Rizzo, and Jeremy Roebuck of The Washington Post have this report.

Posted at 8:56 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump slams justices after Supreme Court strikes down most of his tariffs; The ruling deals a major blow to the president’s signature economic policy and represents a stinging political setback”: Justin Jouvenal, David J. Lynch, and Julian Mark of The Washington Post have this report.

Luke Broadwater of The New York Times reports that “Trump Calls Justices Who Ruled Against Him ‘Fools and Lap Dogs’; ‘I’m ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country,’ the president said.”

Aaron Pellish and Gregory Svirnovskiy of Politico report that “Trump attacks Supreme Court justices after he is handed a major tariff loss; The president excoriated the court hours after its decision to strike down his tariffs.”

And Lawrence Hurley of NBC News reports that “Trump calls Supreme Court justices ‘disloyal to the Constitution’ over tariffs ruling; President Trump launched a vitriolic attack on the justices who ruled against him, including two he himself appointed.”

Posted at 8:25 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Supreme Court blessed Trump’s iron grip on presidential power. Until now. The Supreme Court rejected Trump’s tariffs after handing him an almost unbroken string of victories.” Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney of Politico have this report.

Posted at 8:14 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Supreme Court’s Declaration of Independence; The court’s rejection of President Trump’s tariffs program is the latest in a series of clashes between him and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.” Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this news analysis.

Posted at 8:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“Court Thaws Louisiana Law Requiring Ten Commandments in Schools”: Jacqueline Thomsen of Bloomberg Law has a report that begins, “The full Fifth Circuit cleared the way for Louisiana to enforce a law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.”

You can access today’s en banc per curiam decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit at this link.

Posted at 5:37 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court’s Tariff Ruling Is Secretly a Gift to Trump; Mindful of voters’ concerns about inflation, the administration may not rush to bring back all the duties”: Shawn Donnan of Bloomberg News has this report.

Posted at 1:27 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Moment Trump Found Out the Supreme Court Killed His Tariffs; The high court ruled on Friday that Trump’s global tariffs were illegal”: Ken Thomas and Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal have this report.

Posted at 11:56 AM by Howard Bashman



“A Brisk Note on the Tariffs Case; Simpler than Meets the Eye”: At his Substack site, Cass Sunstein has a post that begins, “The Supreme’ Court’s decision in the tariffs case is a lot simpler than it looks.”

Posted at 11:34 AM by Howard Bashman



“Justices Strike Down Trump’s Tariffs; President Trump was the first to invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to set tariffs on imported goods from more than 100 countries”: Ann E. Marimow of The New York Times has this report.

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times reports that “Supreme Court rejects Trump’s tariffs as illegal import taxes.”

James Romoser and Gavin Bade of The Wall Street Journal report that “Supreme Court Strikes Down Trump’s Global Tariffs; Ruling finds president exceeded his powers by imposing duties without clear authorization from Congress.”

Maureen Groppe, Bart Jansen, and Medora Lee of USA Today report that “Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s tariffs in major setback for president.”

And Alex Swoyer and Tom Howell Jr. of The Washington Times report that “Supreme Court rules Trump’s tariffs illegal.”

You can access today’s essentially 6-to-3 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court at this link.

Posted at 11:32 AM by Howard Bashman



Thursday, February 19, 2026

“A Press Freedom Case in Peril, From a Lawyer Who Helped Write It; Alan Dershowitz was present at the creation of New York Times v. Sullivan; Now he is asking the Supreme Court to revise or destroy it”: You can access today’s installment of the “The Docket” newsletter from Adam Liptak of The New York Times at this link.

Posted at 10:55 PM by Howard Bashman



“Top Lawyers’ Fees Have Skyrocketed. Be Prepared to Pay $3,400 an Hour. Expertise and ego are pushing up hourly rates to once-unthinkable levels in an escalating race among firms.” Erin Mulvaney of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

Posted at 1:13 PM by Howard Bashman



“David Souter Gives Barack Obama a Supreme Court Vacancy; George H.W. Bush’s biggest mistake”: Ed Whelan has this post at his “Confirmation Tales” Substack site.

Posted at 10:05 AM by Howard Bashman



“Bonus 210: Federal Judges Speaking Out; A new advisory opinion from the Judicial Conference’s Codes of Conduct Committee reinforces the appropriateness of federal judges speaking publicly in defense of their colleagues—and the rule of law.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.

Posted at 10:04 AM by Howard Bashman



“Originalism’s Remarkable Triumph; On Justice Alito’s Coming Book”: Cass Sunstein has this post at his Substack site.

Posted at 10:02 AM by Howard Bashman



The “How Appealing” blog is back online! With thanks to this blog’s tech support people, the “How Appealing” blog is now back online. Thanks to the readers who let me know they could not access the site last night.

Posted at 9:04 AM by Howard Bashman



Wednesday, February 18, 2026

“A Case Against 6 Democrats Lacked Urgency. Then Came a Swift Bid for an Indictment. Prosecutors have been repeatedly caught between the president’s insistence that they undertake weak or baseless cases and the necessity of having to go to court.” Alan Feuer, Glenn Thrush, and Michael S. Schmidt of The New York Times have this report.

Posted at 4:28 PM by Howard Bashman



“Alexander Zhao Elected As 140th President of Harvard Law Review”: Sierra R. Pape and Uy B. Pham of The Harvard Crimson have this report.

Posted at 4:25 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court brings recusal checks into 21st century; The implementation of the new automated system follows Justice Alito’s last-minute recusal from an environmental case after discovering financial conflicts days before oral arguments”: Kelsey Reichmann of Courthouse News Service has this report.

Posted at 1:35 PM by Howard Bashman



Tuesday, February 17, 2026

“Bayer Eyes Deal to Pay More Than $7 Billion in Roundup Cases”: Jef Feeley and Sonja Wind of Bloomberg News have this report.

Posted at 9:44 PM by Howard Bashman