“Court watchers give SCOTUS poor marks as Trump bulldozes judiciary in 2025; Trump’s return to office served as a stress test for high court’s beleaguered shadow docket, highlighting the careful balance of power between the judiciary and the executive”: Kelsey Reichmann of Courthouse News Service has this report.

“Mentions of Justice Scalia Surge at Conservative-Dominated Court”: Jordan Fischer and Justin Wise of Bloomberg Law have this report.

“A paralyzed New Hope man’s $1 billion verdict against Mitsubishi was erased by an appeals court; The Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled that Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Sierra Thomas-Street did not instruct jurors correctly in a car-crash case brought by Francis Amagasu against Mitsubishi”: Abraham Gutman of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this report.

You can access today’s unanimous, unpublished, non-precedential decision of a three-judge panel of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania at this link.

“Is the Dictionary Done For? The print edition of Merriam-Webster was once a touchstone of authority and stability. Then the internet brought about a revolution.” Louis Menand has this “A Critic at Large” essay in the December 29, 2025 issue of The New Yorker.

“198. Progressive Judicial Institutionalism: There’s important daylight between those who are critical of the present degree of judicial power in the United States in general and those who are critical of the current Supreme Court, specifically.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.

“My Resignation From The Heritage Foundation; I sent this letter this evening to Dr. Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation”: Josh Blackman has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

“States Are Now the Check on America’s Executive”: Mary Ellen Klas has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.

“Reagan’s DOJ Prepares for Another Supreme Court Vacancy; Opposing Anthony Kennedy”: Ed Whelan has this post at his “Confirmation Tales” Substack site.

“Personal Jurisdiction (Yes, again . . .): Market segmentation, consent by registration, and the unpredictability of personal jurisdiction.” Adam Shniderman has this post at his “14th & Colorado” Substack site.

“MAGA’s Book Bans Are Coming Back With a Vengeance; The Trump administration’s executive orders are fueling a wave of book bans, and South Carolina is leading the pack”: Francis Wilkinson has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.

“The Alarmingly Racist History of the Supreme Court’s Canceled 1947 Christmas Party; The Court held its first-ever office Christmas party in 1946; The following year, the clerks suggested inviting Black employees; It did not go over well”: Jay Willis has this post at his “Balls & Strikes” Substack site.

“How the Supreme Court’s Mail-In Ballot Ruling Could Affect Voters; Hundreds of thousands of Americans in rural and urban areas alike could see their votes rejected if the court decides that ballots must arrive by Election Day”: Nick Corasaniti and Christine Zhang of The New York Times have this report.

“Trump Takes America’s ‘Imperial Presidency’ to a New Level; In his first year back in the White House, President Trump has greatly expanded executive power while embracing the trappings of royalty in ways not seen in the modern era”: Peter Baker of The New York Times has this news analysis.

“How Trump changed my mind on the filibuster: The Senate’s 60-vote requirement is an excuse for aggrandizing executive power.” Columnist Jason Willick has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“When Courts of Appeals Decide Issues Pending Before the Supreme Court; The practice is not consistent”: Josh Blackman has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

“Supreme Court Refuses to Halt Free Speech Lawsuit From Immigration Judges; The case, brought by the union representing immigration judges, could have implications for other workplace claims brought by government officials”: Ann E. Marimow of The New York Times has this report.

You can access yesterday’s order of the U.S. Supreme Court at this link.

“Waco judge who refused to marry same-sex couples asks federal courts to overturn right to gay marriage; Judge Dianne Hensley, who has been fighting the state judicial oversight body since 2019, is hoping to tee up a new challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges ruling”: Eleanor Klibanoff of The Texas Tribune has this report.

“Former Obama Solicitor General Keeps Faith in the Supreme Court”: Tali Hayes of The Greyhound of Loyola University Maryland has this report.

In related commentary, online at The Guardian, law professors Ryan Doerfler and Samuel Moyn have an essay titled “It’s time to accept that the US supreme court is illegitimate and must be replaced; We need to remake the US high court so Americans don’t suffer future decades of oligarchy-facilitating rule.”

And at the “Divided Argument” Substack site, Richard M Re has a post titled “On Polls and Supreme Court Legitimacy: Did the Supreme Court Lose or Gain Legitimacy in 2025?“

“Mangione’s Lawyers Take Issue With Bondi’s Ties to UnitedHealthcare; Lawyers for Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive, say Attorney General Pam Bondi should have recused herself from the case”: Hurubie Meko of The New York Times has this report.

“The Forgotten Lawsuits Targeting Trump’s Worst Abuses: The Alien Enemies Act litigation may have fallen off the front pages, but it’s about to make headlines again.” You can access today’s new episode of Slate’s “Amicus” podcast via this link.

“Trump administration appeals ruling in Harvard research funding case; A district judge’s ruling had restored funding to the university”: Susan Svrluga of The Washington Post has this report.

“Justice Dept. Will Appeal Dismissal of Comey and James Indictments; The Trump administration had vowed to fight a judge’s decision to dismiss unrelated criminal charges against James Comey, the former F.B.I. director, and Letitia James, the attorney general of New York”: Devlin Barrett and Jonah E. Bromwich of The New York Times have this report.

Kyle Cheney of Politico reports that “DOJ appeals ruling that tanked Comey, James criminal cases; The Justice Department is challenging the dismissal of prosecutor Lindsey Halligan.”

And Chris Strohm of Bloomberg News reports that “Justice Department Appeals Dismissal of James, Comey Indictments.”

“Ho, Oldham Battle Over ‘Gymnastics’ in Fifth Circuit Opinions”: Jacqueline Thomsen of Courthouse News Service have this report.

You can access here and here the recent orders of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denying rehearing en banc and the opinions accompanying those orders.

“DC Circuit likely to reject Peter Navarro’s contempt appeal on broad executive privilege theory; The Justice Department declined to defend the conviction on Thursday, simply stating its position had changed from the Biden administration”: Ryan Knappenberger of Courthouse News Service has this report.

You can access the audio of yesterday’s oral argument before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at this link.

“SCOTUSblog Falls Into the MAGA Orbit”: Jonathan Zasloff recently had this post at the “LegalPlanet” blog.

“Amul Thapar Desperately Wants to Be a Trump Supreme Court Justice; How do ambitious appeals court judges get the White House to notice them? Invent a new legal theory that just so happens to align with Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda.” Madiba K. Dennie has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.

“Non-Cake Physical Object”: You can access today’s new episode of the “Divided Argument” podcast via this link.

“Man Late on Child Support Wrongly Convicted on Firearm Charge”: Quinn Wilson of Bloomberg Law has this report (subscription required for full access) on a decision that a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued Wednesday.

“New Judges Take Charge of Sept. 11 Case at Guantánamo; The long-running case had been on hold for nearly a year because of higher court appeals and the retirement of the military judge”: Carol Rosenberg of The New York Times has this report.

“Luigi Mangione faces uphill battle after marathon evidence hearing; ‘I think the evidence comes in from the backpack,’ a former Brooklyn prosecutor said; ‘In a murder case like this, if there is any legal basis to allow that evidence in, a judge is going to find it’”: Erik Uebelacker of Courthouse News Service has this report.

“TikTok Signs Agreements With Investors in Step Toward Avoiding a U.S. Ban; The Chinese-owned video app formalized commitments from the software giant Oracle and two investment firms as part of a deal to keep operating in the United States”: Emmett Lindner of The New York Times has this report.

“Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Mourns Passing of Judge Sandra Segal Ikuta”: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued this news release today.

“Milwaukee County judge Hannah Dugan found guilty of felony obstruction”: John Diedrich, Mary Spicuzza, and Hope Karnopp of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel have this report.

And Patrick Marley of The Washington Post reports that “Judge in Wisconsin convicted of helping immigrant avoid arrest by ICE; The jury found Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan guilty of a felony, obstructing an official proceeding, but acquitted her of a misdemeanor.”

“The Judges Being Pizza Doxxed in My Dead Son’s Name”: U.S. District Judge Esther Salas (D.N.J.) has this Opinion Video online at The New York Times.

“Frustration mounts at Justice Department as it races to redact some Epstein files, sources say”: Katelyn Polantz and Evan Perez of CNN have this report.