“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.”

“Meet Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s New Roy Cohn; Why Trump’s pick for the non-vacant position to lead the FBI is a seriously scary proposition”: You can access the new episode of Slate’s “Amicus” podcast via this link.

“D.C. court nominees languish as Senate prioritizes federal judges; D.C. Superior Court Chief Judge Milton C. Lee called on the Senate to act, saying high caseloads are forcing judges to triage”: Tobi Raji and Keith L. Alexander of The Washington Post have this report.

“Prosecutors seek 14-year prison term in Tom Girardi fraud case”: David Thomas of Reuters has this report.

“Biden urged to empty federal death row before Trump takes office; Joe Biden ran for president opposing the death penalty; He faces calls to commute federal death sentences before President-elect Donald Trump assumes office”: Mark Berman, Ann E. Marimow, and Yasmeen Abutaleb of The Washington Post have this report.

“More lawsuits are barreling toward Trump over Jan. 6; The criminal cases against the president-elect have crumbled, but he remains enmeshed in civil litigation over Jan. 6 and a barrage of cases he filed against the media”: Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney of Politico have this report.

“The Case Against Joe Biden Pardoning Everyone on Trump’s Enemies List”: Law professor Frank Bowman has this Jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

And online at Vox, Ian Millhiser has an essay titled “Biden can’t save Trump’s enemies with preemptive pardons; The Biden White House is considering pardons for some of Trump’s perceived enemies; But a presidential pardon would only give limited protection.”

“Attacks on Abortion and Trans Rights Are Eerily Similar. This Supreme Court Case Is a Prime Example. Wednesday’s hearing was Dobbs déjà vu.” Susan Rinkunas has this Jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Trump Prepares for Legal Fight Over His ‘Birthright Citizenship’ Curbs; Many constitutional scholars and civil-rights groups have said a change can’t be done through executive action”: Tarini Parti and Michelle Hackman of The Wall Street Journal have this report.

“How billionaire Charles Koch’s network won a 40-year war to curb regulation; A seismic Supreme Court ruling has ushered in a new era of diminished federal power; The next Trump administration hopes to capitalize on it”: Justin Jouvenal, Jon Swaine, and Ann E. Marimow of The Washington Post have this report.

“Jenifer Branning defeats Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens after lengthy runoff count”: Taylor Vance of Mississippi Today has this report.

“AR-15 Rifles and the Constitution: Does the Second Amendment include a right to own one? The Supreme Court might soon decide.” The Wall Street Journal has published this editorial.

“Incoming Alaska Supreme Court chief justice applauds first female majority”: Casey Grove of Alaska Public Media has this report.

“Supreme Court term-limits amendment proposed by Sens. Manchin, Welch; The long-shot proposal by Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vermont) and outgoing Sen. Joe Manchin III (I-West Virginia) would impose 18-year term limits on new justices”: Tobi Raji of The Washington Post has this report.

“Stockard in the Swamp: Can we get a decent sound system in America’s highest court?” Sam Stockard has this essay online at Tennessee Lookout.

“Second recount in NC state Supreme Court race expected to be completed by Tuesday”: Korie Dean of The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina has this report.

And Kyle Ingram of The News & Observer reports that “NC Democrats sue over GOP’s challenge of 60,000 ballots in Supreme Court race.”

“Supreme Court to hear cases on terrorism lawsuits, inmate appeals; One case examines whether Palestinian groups can be sued in U.S. courts over terrorist attacks against U.S. citizens abroad”: Justin Jouvenal of The Washington Post has this report.

You can access Friday’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court at this link.

“Texas Tries a New Tactic to Kill ESG: The problem with attacks on ESG is that investors seem happy with the returns — and it’s their money.” Law professor Stephen L. Carter has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.

“As Jan. 6 Criminal Cases Against Trump Fizzle, Civil Cases Plod Ahead; Donald J. Trump has successfully defeated or impeded many legal challenges against him over the storming of the Capitol, but eight lawsuits on the matter remain in the courts”: Alan Feuer of The New York Times has this report.

And online at The New Yorker, law professor Jeannie Suk Gersen has an essay titled “The Demise and Afterlife of Donald Trump’s Criminal Cases: The President-elect is on the verge of beating most, if not all, of the criminal charges against him; What will be the consequences of having brought them in the first place?“

“The Tennessee Trans Treatment Case Is About Age, Not Sex”: Columnist David French has this essay online at The New York Times.

And online at The Washington Post, columnist Megan McArdle has an essay titled “Civil rights isn’t the right framework for assessing many trans issues; A Supreme Court case on trans teens shows how this type of law struggles with biology.”

“The TikTok Sale and the First Amendment: The D.C. Circuit says the feds can force a sale to protect national security from Chinese control.” This editorial appeared in Saturday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

“Federal Judge Upholds Racial Preferences in Naval Academy Admissions; A group that won a Supreme Court case challenging affirmative action at Harvard and the University of North Carolina had also sued the military academies”: Anemona Hartocollis of The New York Times has this report.

Susan Svrluga of The Washington Post reports that “Naval Academy can consider race in admissions, federal judge rules; The decision comes after the Supreme Court rejected the use of affirmative action in college admissions.”

And Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times reports that “Judge upholds Naval Academy’s affirmative action.”

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

“The Supreme Court Just Showed Us What Contempt for Expertise Looks Like”: Columnist M. Gessen has this essay online at The New York Times.

“TikTok Faces U.S. Ban After Losing Bid to Overturn New Law; The law will ban the video app in the United States by Jan. 19 if its owner, ByteDance, does not sell it to a non-Chinese company”: Sapna Maheshwari of The New York Times has this report.

Eva Dou, Drew Harwell, and Cristiano Lima-Strong of The Washington Post report that “Appeals court upholds nationwide TikTok ban-or-sale law; The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit made the expedited decision ahead of the TikTok ban’s looming Jan. 19 deadline, in a high-profile case pitting national security concerns against free speech.”

Jacob Gershman of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Appeals Court Upholds U.S. Ban of TikTok; Panel rules Congress has the power to shut down Chinese-backed app in the U.S. because of national security concerns.”

And Alex Swoyer of The Washington Times has an article headlined “Clock is ticking: TikTok could go dark in U.S. on Jan. 19 as federal court upholds ban.”

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

“Biden Team Considers Blanket Pardons Before Trump’s Promised ‘Retribution’; White House officials believe President-elect Donald J. Trump’s selection of partisan warriors for top law enforcement jobs indicates that he will pursue revenge against his perceived enemies”: Peter Baker and Erica L. Green of The New York Times have this report.

Earlier, online at Politico Magazine, columnist Jonathan Martin had an essay titled “Biden White House Is Discussing Preemptive Pardons for Those in Trump’s Crosshairs; The nomination of Kash Patel, who has vowed to pursue Trump’s critics, as FBI director has heightened concerns within the president’s inner circle.”

“Don’t Mistake Neil Gorsuch’s Abrupt Recusal for Actual Ethics”: Mark Joseph Stern has this Jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Boeing Plea Deal Rejected by Judge O’Connor; Judge O’Connor agrees with the 737 MAX crashes victims’ families that the deal’s proposed corporate monitor provision ‘marginalizes’ the court and raises other concerns”: Paul Cassell has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

“Act 10 could take center stage in upcoming state Supreme Court election”: Laura Schulte of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this report.

“The Left Picks Fight Against Charles Pickering; A nomination suddenly gets targeted”: Ed Whelan has this post at his “Confirmation Tales” Substack site.

“SCOTUS Clerk Hiring Watch: Retirement Clues? Here’s more reason to think that Justices Thomas and Alito aren’t stepping down, at least for the time being.” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.