DOJ Watchdog Accused of Abdicating Oversight of Trump Leaders The Justice Department’s internal oversight offices have refused to pursue their traditional roles investigating senior officials at a time of unprecedented Trump-era misconduct, whistleblower attorne...

NEW: DOJ Inspector General refused to investigate whistleblower Erez Reuveni's misconduct complaint against Emil Bove & other top officials, as watchdog accused of failing to probe political scandals under Trump news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Amicus Disclosure Requirements Pulled Over Privacy Worries A measure to require more disclosure on amicus briefs was withdrawn by the federal judiciary, months before it would have gone into effect.

New: The federal judiciary pulled disclosure requirements for amicus briefs, months before they were set to go into effect. The long-debated measures were sidelined after top members of the courts' policymaking body raised privacy concerns news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Judiciary Office Buyouts Lead to ‘Critical’ Staffing Shortages The federal judiciary’s administrative arm offered buyouts to all of its staff this past fall, resulting in “critical staffing shortfalls” after nearly 100 employees accepted the packages.

News: The federal judiciary's administrative arm offered buyouts after a budget shortfall and ~100 staffers took them. The Administrative Office of the US Courts said it filled some jobs, but needs more $$ from Congress to backfill 48 "critical" positions news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Texas Judge Pittman Wants Proof Lawsuits Belong in His Courtroom A Texas federal judge is now asking parties to prove that their cases belong in his courtroom after a high-profile back-and-forth with the Fifth Circuit over whether a national lawsuit should be heard...

Pittman, a Trump appointee, isn't a fan of out-of-state parties trying to file in his courthouse, where he and Chief Judge Reed O'Connor--a W Bush appointee--hear most cases. He battled with the Fifth Circuit on venue issues a couple years ago news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Judge Moves FDA Case From Texas Court, Deepening Venue Showdown A nicotine pouch manufacturer’s lawsuit against the FDA should be immediately sent to a North Carolina court, a Texas federal judge ruled, despite a new local rule that pauses case transfers.

Judge shopping in Texas isn't dead: Judge Pittman in Fort Worth got a FDA lawsuit from a North Carolina-based nicotine pouch manufacturer. He quickly transferred the case to a NC court in rejection of a new local rule that would've given the Fifth Circuit a chance to review his order.

VanDyke Unapologetic Over Colorful Dissents That Irk Colleagues Judge Lawrence VanDyke offered a full-throated defense of his controversial and colorful dissents he’s issued on the Ninth Circuit, saying they’re meant to call out what he characterized as misbehavio...

Judge Lawrence VanDyke unapologetically stood by his controversial dissents in a speech one day after his "swinging dicks" opinion went viral, saying he's writing them to call out "misbehavior" by his judicial colleagues

Trump Tactics in Minnesota Irk Longtime Conservative Chief Judge The chief judge of the Minnesota federal trial court rebuked the Trump administration’s approach to its sweeping immigration operation in court filings this week, adopting a sharp tone seen as out-of-...

Judge Schiltz rebuked the Trump administration’s approach to its immigration operation in court filings in a tone seen as out-of-character for a judge known to be even-tempered and conservative, @jacqthomsen.bsky.social and @suzannemonyak.bsky.social report
news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Trump Reigns Supreme in High Court Emergency Docket Decisions The Supreme Court is siding overwhelmingly with President Donald Trump when challenges arrive via the emergency docket, a Bloomberg Law analysis found.

The Supreme Court is siding with President Donald Trump 75% of the time when challenges arrive via the emergency docket, a Bloomberg Law analysis found by @jacqthomsen.bsky.social and @suzannemonyak.bsky.social found

news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Trump Announces More Nominees for Texas Federal Judgeships President Donald Trump nominated a former chief counsel to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to serve as a federal judge in Austin, setting up a second one of his appointees to sit in a court that’s teed up to ...

Trump is kicking off 2026 with some judicial nominees -- Andrew Davis is his pick for Austin and Chris Wolfe to sit in Waco, after Texas's senators recommended them for those seats. Judges also announced in Louisiana and Arkansas, w/ @tianaheadley.bsky.social news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

sounds like the 5th circuit’s attorney toolbox! which is pretty popular within that bar as far as I can tell. I think their clerks office is good at granting extensions too if it means you’ll be in compliance with issues the program has flagged to avoid a brief getting tossed, so that’s part of it.

“How do you frame the case in a way that any old Joe can understand what in the world is going on?” 11th Circuit Judge Kevin Newsom told @jacqthomsen.bsky.social

Litigator Erin Hawley Said to Be Interested in Circuit Judgeship A Trump-appointed trial judge and a senior Justice Department official are included on a White House list of candidates interviewing for a federal appeals court seat in Missouri, a person familiar wit...

NEW: US District Judge Sarah Pitlyk and Jesus Osete of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division are on a White House list of candidates interviewing for an 8th Circuit seat, per source familiar

Litigator Erin Hawley, Sen. Hawley's spouse, also expressed interest
news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

A Prosecutor Pick, His Influencer Wife, and Ex-Marshals’ Worries Brooke Raybould would like to sell you her life. The social media influencer posts daily about her life on Instagram—a recent move to Texas, taking care of five sons, and her and her husband’s workout...

Social media gigs are colliding with federal noms as the wife of Trump’s pick to be the top prosecutor in Dallas is an influencer w/ 1.2 million instagram followers. Brooke Raybould posts a lot about her life and family, and ex-marshals say it’s a concern news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Miami US Attorney Instills Fear as Trump Enemy Probes Ramp Up Miami’s US attorney is alarming staff with unconventional interrogation tactics to oust prosecutors, while warning the office about dishonesty and disobedience as he staffs up investigations of the pr...

NEWS: Miami US Attorney prompted prosecutor resignations by demanding they sign statements under penalty of perjury naming those with whom they discussed an assignment expected to target Trump's foes, prompting office-wide fear of witch hunt news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

coin marking the Supreme Court ruling on Students for Fair Admissions

‪and here’s the fifth coin, for those looking for the complete set‬

Our legal movement has much to celebrate. This decade, the Supreme Court has delivered a series of generational wins on questions that have long galvanized and motivated our movement. There is no better place to commemorate our generational wins at the Supreme Court than here, at the Federalist Society's National Lawyer's Convention. The Federalist Society has, since its founding, fostered our legal movement, laying the ideological foundations for our efforts from its earliest days through to the present moment. It is thanks to the Federalist Society and its key leaders that we have the current Supreme Court and these generational wins. And so it is only appropriate to use this setting-the marquee event of the marquee organization within our movement-as our moment to celebrate. To that end, please find with this note one of five different commemorative coins, our gift to you in this great moment. We hope these coins help us all reflect on what we have accomplished together as a legal movement and what lies on the horizon as a result of all our successes. Your Friend In Common Cause, O.H. Skinner President & CEO, American Juris Link

Coins marking the Supreme Court rulings in Dobbs, Skrmetti and Bruen

Coin marking Loper Bright

Hi from the Federalist Society’s national convention, which is kicking off here in DC. Each seat in the ballroom has a commemorative coin of a significant Supreme Court ruling, I’ve found 4 of the 5 so far

Texas Senators’ Picks for Federal Judgeships Sent to White House A Kirkland & Ellis partner and a former chief counsel to Sen. Ted Cruz (R) are among recommended judicial nominees Texas’ two Republican senators have sent to the White House, according to multiple pe...

News: The Texas senators have sent recommended picks for federal judgeships to the White House. Among the new names: Erin Nealy Cox is up for a seat in Dallas, local judge Chris Wolfe is tapped for Waco, fed prosecutor Rob Jones for McAllen news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

I was at Judge Bove and Mascott's debut argument this morning, where they sat on opposite ends of the dais. Bove didn't ask any questions but Mascott dove right in and pressed lawyers about conducting a history and tradition analysis over New Jersey gun/magazine restrictions.

Reagan Judges Are Unrestrained Critics of Trump’s Legal Moves Judges appointed by President Ronald Reagan are emerging as vocal critics of the Trump administration’s efforts to circumvent court orders or challenge the law in unprecedented ways, backed by decades...

Reagan appointed judges are emerging as vocal critics of the Trump administration’s efforts to circumvent court orders or challenge the law in unprecedented ways, @jacqthomsen.bsky.social and Brian Dowling report

news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Judge Faces Backlash in Sentence of Would-Be Kavanaugh Assassin A federal judge’s sentence of just over eight years for the would-be killer of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is teed up to be scrutinized by a federal appeals court as critics contend the puni...

A federal judge’s sentence of just over eight years for the would-be killer of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is teed up to be scrutinized by a federal appeals court as critics contend the punishment was too light, @jacqthomsen.bsky.social reports

news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Supreme Court Emergency Orders For Trump Sow Cracks in Judiciary The Supreme Court’s repeated grants of emergency relief to the Trump administration is creating fissures in the judiciary, while empowering the president to fight any lower court judge’s intervention.

The Supreme Court’s repeated grants of emergency relief to the Trump administration is creating fissures in the judiciary, while empowering the president to fight any lower court judge’s intervention, @jacqthomsen.bsky.social and @justinfwise.bsky.social report

news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Conservative Judge O’Connor is New Chief in North Texas US District Judge Reed O’Connor, a conservative known for overseeing national policy cases, is now the chief judge for the Northern District of Texas, the court announced.

Reed O'Connor, a conservative who's handled major national cases, is the new chief judge for the Northern District of Texas. The court's faced scrutiny for judge shopping by conservative litigants and O'Connor has defended the court's assignment rules. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Judge Doubtful of Justice Department Case Against Maryland Court A federal judge told a Justice Department attorney that he is skeptical of the department’s arguments in suing all federal district judges in Maryland over a standing order blocking immediate deportat...

A Virginia federal judge is hearing arguments now in Baltimore on the Justice Department's suit against all fed judges in Maryland. "I think you’ve probably picked up on the fact that I have some skepticism," the presiding judge told a DOJ lawyer news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Foreign Hackers Said to Access Sealed National Security Cases A foreign adversary targeted sealed documents in espionage and other sensitive cases in a breach of the federal judiciary’s case management system, according to three people familiar with the matter.

A foreign adversary targeted sealed documents in espionage and other sensitive cases in a breach of the federal judiciary’s case management system, according to three people familiar with the matter. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Israel kills Al Jazeera journalists in targeted Gaza City airstrike - Committee to Protect Journalists New York, August 10, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is appalled to learn of the killing today of Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, camera operators Ibrahim Zaher and M...

An entire news crew working for Al Jazeera was killed by Israel as they sought to bring the world firsthand reporting from #Gaza.

Among them was prominent journalist Anas Al-Sharif, who had been previously smeared and threatened by the IDF.

#NotATarget

Full statement: cpj.org/2025/08/isra...

Bondi Overrode Weaponization Team in Dismissing Vaccine Case Attorney General Pam Bondi’s abrupt order to drop charges against the Utah plastic surgeon accused of selling false Covid vaccination cards came months after Bondi’s weaponization working group cleare...

News: AG Pam Bondi's order to dismiss charges against Utah plastic surgeon accused of selling fake Covid vaccine cards ran counter to an earlier decision from her weaponization working group. In April, the group rebuffed an appeal from doctor's lawyer: news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Paul Clement to Defend Maryland Judges From DOJ Lawsuit US district judges in Maryland have hired top conservative litigator Paul Clement to defend them from a Justice Department lawsuit, according to court filings.

New: Star conservative lawyer Paul Clement has moved to defend Maryland's federal trial judges from a Justice Department lawsuit, the latest instance of him facing off with the Trump administration in court news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Hundreds of US Judges Received Over 400 Threats Since October There have been more than 400 threats to federal judges since October, surpassing the number of threats to judges in all of fiscal 2022 with over three months still left in this fiscal year.

There have been more than 400 threats to federal judges since October, surpassing the number of threats to judges in all of fiscal 2022 with over three months still left in this fiscal year.

Judd Stone Departs Texas Judicial Vetting Panel After Lawsuit Former Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone is off a committee of prominent lawyers charged with screening candidates for federal judgeships following a lawsuit that accuses him of sexual harassment, ac...

News: Former Texas solicitor general Judd Stone resigned from the committee that vets candidates for federal judgeships and US attorney roles in Texas after a lawsuit this week accused him of sexual harassment. with Ryan Autullo for @bloomberglaw.com news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Chief Judge Questions Judicial Boycotts in Tossing Complaint A federal appeals court chief judge dismissed a misconduct complaint against a district judge who will no longer hire law clerks from Columbia University, but said “widespread judicial boycotting” cou...

Another complaint rejected over federal judges not hiring clerks from Columbia -- but a circuit judge said there might an issue when judges "begin using their power as government officials to pressure private institutions to conform to the judges’ preferences" news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...