“Fifth Circuit Conservatives Snipe Over Handling of En Banc Case; Judges Ho, Oldham criticize each other; Fractured opinions issued in longrunning case”: Jacqueline Thomsen of Bloomberg Law has this report.
And at “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Josh Blackman has a post titled “Making Sense of the 7-1-1-8 Split in Environment Texas Citizen Lobby v. ExxonMobile; Does a judge have an obligation to render a judgment to ensure that the court renders a judgment?”
My earlier coverage of yesterday’s en banc Fifth Circuit ruling can be accessed here.
“Oklahoma man asks 10th Circuit to revive suit over unintended firing of Sig Sauer pistol; Sig Sauer’s P320 was sold to the public without a manual safety feature”: Amanda Pampuro of Courthouse News Service has this report.
“Ryan Park, Biden Court Pick Stalled In The Senate, Withdraws His Nomination; The appeals court nominee says he’s going to keep his current job as the North Carolina solicitor general”: Jennifer Bendery of HuffPost has this report.
“William Hennessy, a veteran sketch artist who brought courtroom scenes to the nation, has died”: John Fritze and Katelyn Polantz of CNN have this report.
“Judges Dismayed at Veto Threat of Bill to Help Strained Courts; Biden says would veto plan passed by Senate, pending in House; Measure was bipartisan, but Trump election changed that”: Suzanne Monyak of Bloomberg Law has this report.
And in commentary, online at The Hill, law professor Robert Luther III has an essay titled “How signing the JUDGES Act into law can help Biden’s judicial legacy.”
“Exxon can’t shake $14.25 mln penalty for air pollution at Texas refinery”: Nate Raymond of Reuters has this report.
And Kayla Guo of The Texas Tribune reports that “Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas; A 2021 ruling found the oil giant committed more than 16,000 violations of the Clean Air Act at its Baytown refinery and plant.”
You can access today’s 9-to-8 en banc ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit at this link. As Raymond explains in his report for Reuters, “The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on a 9-8 vote upheld the penalty after judges on the court failed to reach a consensus on how to dispense with the appeal following more than 18 months of deliberations.”
“Montana Supreme Court Upholds Injunction, Allows Transgender Minors to Access Certain Healthcare Procedures; The state failed to demonstrate that access to hormone therapies and other treatments presents a bona fide risk to minors, the Court wrote in a Wednesday morning decision”: Denali Sagner of Flathead Beacon has this report.
And Monique Merrill of Courthouse News Service reports that “Montana Supreme Court upholds ruling allowing gender-affirming care for minors; The high court agreed that the law likely violates the state’s constitutional right to privacy.”
You can access today’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Montana at this link.
“Appeals court considers next step for emergency abortion care in Idaho; U.S. Department of Justice sued Idaho in 2022 to block it from enforcing its criminal abortion ban for emergency room physicians”: Kelcie Moseley-Morris of Idaho Capital Sun has this report.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has posted on YouTube at this link the video of yesterday’s en banc oral argument.
“Eleventh Circuit Rejects Federal Child Porn/Sex Trafficking Claims Against Video Chat Service Omegle”: Eugene Volokh has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy” about a per curiam decision that the majority on a partially divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued yesterday.
“Alaska Prosecutor Claims Ex-Judge Leveraged Political Ties; Prosecutor said Judge Kindred touted political influence; Alleges judgeship recommendation raised in seeking explicit photos”: Jacqueline Thomsen and Suzanne Monyak of Bloomberg Law have this report, along with a related article from yesterday headlined “Alaska Prosecutor Claims ‘Abusive’ Relationship With Ex-Judge; Prosecutor who sent judge nude photos says she felt ‘trapped’; Joshua Kindred resigned after sexual misconduct findings” (subscription required to access full text of yesterday’s article).
“Ex-Judges Join Push for Biden to Commute Federal Death Sentences; Retired jurists add to pressure on president over death penalty; Trump’s record on executions prompts urgency for some”: John Crawley of Bloomberg News has this report.
“Supreme Court Won’t Decide Nvidia Securities Fraud Case After All; In an unsigned order, the justices dismissed the case against the tech giant as ‘improvidently granted,’ meaning they had concluded that it had been a mistake to take it up”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this report.
“Dan Markel murder: Donna Adelson back in court for first time since trial was derailed.” Jeff Burlew of The Tallahassee Democrat has this report.
“Supreme Court Poised to Curb Scope of Environmental Reviews; Several justices indicated that a federal agency had complied with a federal law by issuing a 3,600-page report on the impact of a proposed railway in Utah”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this report.
And Justin Jouvenal and Maxine Joselow of The Washington Post report that “Supreme Court seems likely to narrow environmental reviews for projects; An 88-mile rail line in Utah has become a proxy battle over federal authority.”
“Kash Patel Doesn’t Belong at the FBI; At the NSC, he was less interested in his assigned duties than in proving his loyalty to Donald Trump”: John Bolton will have this op-ed in Wednesday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.
“A Court Called Out Clarence Thomas’ Gun Extremism. He Didn’t Take It Well.” Mark Joseph Stern has this Jurisprudence essay online at Slate.
“Trump’s Misguided Attack on Birthright Citizenship; He almost certainly lacks the power to end it, and doing so would swell the illegal population”: Columnist Jason L. Riley will have this op-ed in Wednesday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.
“Jones Day adds 10 U.S. Supreme Court clerks from the October 2023 Term”: Jones Day issued this news release today.
“The Truce Over Interstate Abortion Fights Is About to Come to a Bitter End”: Law professor Mary Ziegler has this Jurisprudence essay online at Slate.
“Deep Dive #1: All the Presidents’ Judges.” Adam Feldman has this post at his “Legalytics” Substack site.
“The Skrmetti Opinion the SCOTUS Conservatives Seem to Want ‘Won’t Write’”: Michael C. Dorf has this post at his blog, “Dorf on Law.”
“Missouri, Kansas Republicans want Supreme Court changes to protect ‘conservative values’”: Jonathan Shorman, Kacen Bayless, and Matthew Kelly of The Kansas City Star have this report.
“TikTok hires ex-Trump administration lawyer ahead of Supreme Court appeal”: Mike Scarcella of Reuters has this report.
“Terror victims’ SCOTUS case will test Palestinian groups’ due process rights”: Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Reuters has this post.
“The oil railway that launched a Supreme Court NEPA war: The case could inhibit the federal government’s power to study indirect climate impacts of projects like highways, transmission lines and dams.” Pamela King of Greenwire has this report.
“Leave Trans Kids Alone You Absolute Freaks (with Chase Strangio)”: You can access today’s new episode of the “Strict Scrutiny” podcast via this link and on YouTube.
“After N.R.A.’s Supreme Court Win, a Dispute Over Key Facts; The Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of the N.R.A. in May hinged on a secret meeting involving a New York regulator; The participants say it didn’t happen”: Danny Hakim of The New York Times has this report.
“No do-over for boneless chicken wing case, Ohio Supreme Court says; The Ohio Supreme Court voted 4-3 against reconsidering controversial decision on whether consumers can expect to find bones in their boneless wings”: Laura A. Bischoff of The Cincinnati Enquirer has this report.
Robert Higgs of The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that “Republican majority reaffirms ‘asinine’ logic in ruling on boneless chicken wings.”
Susan Tebben of Ohio Capital Journal reports that “Ohio Supreme Court won’t reconsider boneless chicken wing case.”
And Eric Heisig of Bloomberg Law reports that “Ohio Boneless Wings Case Dissent Warns of Abortion Access Effect; Republican majority says case has no reason to be reheard; Democratic justices dissent, highlighting jokes, problems.”
You can access today’s order of the Supreme Court of Ohio denying reconsideration, and the opinions concurring therein and dissenting therefrom, at this link.
“TikTok asks to pause law requiring it to divest ahead of Supreme Court review”: Alex Swoyer of The Washington Times has this report.
Sabrina Willmer of Bloomberg News reports that “TikTok Seeks to Pause US Ban Pending Supreme Court Review; TikTok also wants time for new Trump administration to assess; DOJ asked that the court quickly deny TikTok’s request.”
And Ryan Knappenberger of Courthouse News Service reports that “TikTok asks to freeze looming ban pending SCOTUS appeal; The emergency motion comes just days after a D.C. Circuit panel ruled the federal statute imposing the January ban was constitutional.”
“Supreme Court Turns Down Cases on Admissions, Gender Identity and Guns; Conservative justices voiced objections and concerns about the court’s failures to take up a series of cases on major social controversies”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this report.
Justin Jouvenal and Ann E. Marimow of The Washington Post report that “Supreme Court turns away cases on hot-button topics; The justices announced Monday they would not take cases on affirmative action, guns and transgender issues, topics that have sharply divided the nation.”
Maureen Groppe of USA Today has articles headlined “Supreme Court rejects Wisconsin parents’ challenge to schools’ gender identity support plans“; “Supreme Court won’t review admissions policy challenged as unfair to whites, Asian Americans“: and “Supreme Court rejects case pitting the ‘spirit of Aloha’ against gun owners’ rights; The case included a swipe by a Hawaii judge at the Supreme Court’s embrace of gun rights.”
And Alex Swoyer of The Washington Times reports that “Supreme Court rejects challenge to school gender transition policy, leaves parents in the dark; Three justices would have granted the case for review.”
You can access today’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court at this link.
“Judicial Notice (12.08.24): Naughty Or Nice; ‘Unretirements’ by federal judges, a new White House counsel pick, a Trump nominee with an enemies list, and time running out for TikTok.” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.
“Bipartisanship collapses for bill expanding federal judgeships; Though experts have said the JUDGES Act is crucial to alleviating crushing workloads in some federal judicial districts, House Democrats accused Republicans of politicizing the measure”: Benjamin S. Weiss of Courthouse News Service has this report.
“Why the Naval Academy Gets to Keep Affirmative Action; The US Supreme Court ruling striking down the practice at private and public universities specifically exempted military academies”: Law professor Noah Feldman has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.
“Idaho Abortion Ban Again in Spotlight Over Clash With US Policy; State abortion ban potentially conflicts with federal care law; US Supreme Court likely to be asked to review issue again”: Mary Anne Pazanowski of Bloomberg Law has this report.
“A Century-Old Law’s Aftershocks Are Still Felt at the Supreme Court; In 1925, Congress let the justices choose the cases they would decide; That change ‘continues to prompt political contention and crisis,’ a scholar argues”: Adam Liptak has this new installment of his “Sidebar” column online at The New York Times.
You can access online a draft of law professor Robert Post‘s article titled “The Supreme Court’s Crisis of Authority: Law, Politics, and the Judiciary Act of 1925.”
