“Stone Appeals Denial of Prison Delay Over Coronavirus Fears”: Erik Larson of Bloomberg News has a report that begins, “Republican operative Roger Stone asked a federal appeals court to delay the start of his prison term until Sept. 3 from July 14 because of the coronavirus pandemic, after the trial judge denied his earlier request.”

“Supreme Court keeps ban on robocalls to cellphones, tosses exception for government debt collection”: Robert Barnes of The Washington Post has this report.

Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Supreme Court Expands Robocall Ban; Court strikes down exception for government-debt collectors.”

And Richard Wolf of USA Today reports that “Supreme Court upholds law banning cellphone robocalls.”

“Precedent: Which Justices Practice What They Preach.” Adam Feldman has this post at his “Empirical SCOTUS” blog.

“‘Strategic considerations’: John Roberts’ swing votes all about politics, court watchers say; Despite key swing-vote wins, liberals wary of chief justice.” Alex Swoyer has this front page article in today’s edition of The Washington Times.

“‘All he saw to me was my skin color’: Clerk faces backlash from judge’s comment.” Matt Hamilton of The Los Angeles Times has an article that begins, “After two weeks of national protests over the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, the top federal judge in Southern California sat for a webinar to discuss the reopening of courthouses.”

“States May Curb ‘Faithless Electors,’ Supreme Court Rules; The court said states may require members of the Electoral College to vote for the presidential candidates they had promised to support”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this report.

Robert Barnes of The Washington Post reports that “Supreme Court says a state may require presidential electors to support its popular-vote winner.”

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times reports that “Supreme Court rules electoral college representatives must honor choice of state’s voters.”

Brent Kendall and Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal report that “Supreme Court Rules States Can Prohibit Presidential Electors From Breaking Rank; Justices rule that states can bar ‘faithless’ electors from supporting someone other than the candidate chosen by voters in their state.”

Richard Wolf of USA Today reports that “Supreme Court rules presidential electors can be forced to uphold popular vote.”

Alex Swoyer of The Washington Times reports that “Supreme Court rules states can penalize ‘faithless electors.’”

Saja Hindi of The Denver Post reports that “Supreme Court unanimously sides with Colorado in faithless electors case; States can require electors to vote for winner of popular vote for president.”

And David Gutman of The Seattle Times reports that “U.S. Supreme Court rules against Washington’s ‘faithless electors,’ says states can require electors to back vote winners.”

“Chief Justice John Roberts’ institutionalist approach to the judiciary”: Law professor Tom Campbell has this essay online at The Orange County Register.

Access online today’s rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court in argued cases: The Court issued three rulings.

1. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion in which Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. joined in full and Justice Clarence Thomas joined in part in Barr v. American Assn. of Political Consultants, Inc., No. 19-631. Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued an opinion concurring in the judgment. Justice Stephen G. Breyer issued an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part, in which Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan joined. And Justice Neil M. Gorsuch issued an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part, in which Justice Thomas joined. You can access the oral argument via this link.

2. Justice Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court in Chiafalo v. Washington, No. 19-465. And Justice Thomas issued an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which Justice Gorsuch joined in part. You can access the oral argument via this link.

3. And the Court issued a per curiam ruling in Colorado Dept. of State v. Baca, No. 19-518. You can access the oral argument via this link.

“US supreme court gives conservatives the blues but what’s really going on? Donald Trump’s nomination of two justices seemed to have tilted the balance decisively but recent rulings have raised eyebrows.” Tom McCarthy of The Guardian (UK) has this report.

“Progressives target Dianne Feinstein as head of Senate Judiciary Committee”: Tal Kopan has this front page article in today’s edition of The San Francisco Chronicle.

“Legal dividing line hardens on the Minnesota Supreme Court; A string of politically charged 5-2 rulings suggest a state court separating into ideological blocs, a bit like a certain court in Washington”: D.J. Tice has this essay online at The Minneapolis Star Tribune.

“The Supreme Court Still Refuses to Acknowledge Systemic Racism; Ending qualified immunity is important, but a much more obscure yet monumental Supreme Court decision needs to be overturned”: Law professor Mark Kende and Dahlia Lithwick have this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Why Isn’t the Supreme Court on Twitter? The high court’s low profile on social media is a mistake — and a missed opportunity”: Matt Ford recently had this post online at The New Republic.

“Cosby citing systemic racism as he fights assault conviction”: Maryclaire Dale of The Associated Press has this report.

“Trump’s Taxes, Birth Control Top Supreme Court’s Closing Agenda”: Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News has this report.

Devan Cole of CNN has a report headlined “Here are the 8 Supreme Court cases the justices have yet to rule on.”

And Harper Neidig and John Kruzel of The Hill have a report headlined “The five biggest cases awaiting Supreme Court decisions.”

“Rare R.I. Supreme Court vacancy raises questions of race, power; Contenders include a powerful state senator and a trial court judge who would be the first person of color on the high court”: Edward Fitzpatrick of The Boston Globe has this report.

“How the Supreme Court could overturn Roe — while claiming to respect precedent; Conservatives could build on abortion restrictions that point to ‘scientific uncertainty'”: Law professor Mary Ziegler has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“Trump Says He Will Create a Statuary Park Honoring ‘American Heroes’; The executive order includes John Adams, Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King Jr. among those who would be honored; So would Billy Graham, Antonin Scalia and Ronald Reagan”: Michael Crowley of The New York Times has this report.

“UW College of Law Postpones Visit by U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch”: The University of Wyoming on Thursday issued a news release that begins, “The University of Wyoming College of Law has postponed the campus visit of United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch amid the public health situation concerning the novel coronavirus COVID-19.”

“A New Direction For The Hawaii Supreme Court? Gov. David Ige will get a chance to name a new member to the state’s highest court with the retirement of Richard Pollack.” Chad Blair of Honolulu Civil Beat has this report.

“Meet the Supreme Court’s current most unpredictable member; Inconsistency has been all too consistent a pattern when it comes to judges nominated by Republicans”: Columnist Cal Thomas has this essay online at Fox News.

“Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana case sets back abortion foes’ hopes of overturning Roe v. Wade”: Tala Hadavi of CNBC has this report.

“The GOP traded its principles for conservative judges. It was a bad deal. If Republicans lose the White House in 2020, they’ll have to ask whether they paid too high a price.” Bill Scher has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“Don’t upset yourselves, conservatives. John Roberts hasn’t gone dangerously rogue.” Columnist Ruth Marcus has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“Trump’s trying to end Obamacare but there’s emerging evidence it could undo him; A win for the ACA in Oklahoma points to growing tension between the president and his base on health care”: Sahil Kapur of NBC News has this report.

“Supreme Court of Texas Divides Over July and September Administrations of the Texas Bar”: Josh Blackman has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy” about an order that the Supreme Court of Texas issued today.

“Why the CFPB’s loss at the Supreme Court is really a win”: Richard Cordray, who served as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has this op-ed in today’s edition of The Washington Post.

“John Roberts has gone full Anthony Kennedy”: Curt Levey has this essay online at The Washington Post.

“US Supreme Court’s rulings on gays, immigrants benefit environmental cases”: Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle has this report.

“Wave Of Young Judges Pushed By McConnell Will Be ‘Ruling For Decades To Come'”: Carrie Johnson of NPR has this report.

“The Supreme Court just handed down some truly awful news for voting rights; Voting rights during the pandemic are in deep trouble thanks to this Supreme Court”: Ian Millhiser has this essay online at Vox.

“Cory T. Wilson was sworn in as a judge of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals the morning of July 3, 2020.” So advises a reliable source who also happens to be a longtime reader of “How Appealing.”

“Women Are Being Written Out of Abortion Jurisprudence; This week’s decision shows how much this has turned into a process debate”: Dahlia Lithwick has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“The Trump Administration Is Set To Resume Executions In Two Weeks. There’s A Last-Ditch Effort To Stop It. Federal death row inmates are asking a judge to intervene on new legal grounds after the US Supreme Court refused to get involved. The ACLU is also suing.” Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News has this report.

And online at Slate, Jeremy Stahl has a jurisprudence essay titled “The Fight to Stop Federal Executions Isn’t Over.”

“Going After Qualified-Immunity Appeals; If qualified immunity sticks around in its present or an altered form, the rules governing qualified-immunity appeals rules will need to change”: Bryan Lammon has this post at his “final decisions” blog.