More than two dozen constitutional law experts on Friday voiced support for legislation that would establish 18-year term limits for U.S. Supreme Court justices, The Hill reports. The move comes a day after Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said he would form a bipartisan group to study and recommend court reform options if he wins. The specific legislation endorsed by the group of 30 has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Democrats Ro Khanna of California, Don Beyer of Virginia and Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts. In an attempt to not clash with the Constitution’s grant of life tenure to federal judges, the bill would allow justices to serve on lower courts after their high court term expired. The group of scholars was organized by the advocacy group Fix the Court.

The U.S. Supreme Court last week decided it would not consider Tennessee’s lawsuit against the federal government over refugee resettlement funds, the Tennessean reports. The SCOTUS decision ends a years long legal battle over the matter, which was originally dismissed by a federal judge in March 2018 and again by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in July 2019. Attorneys for the state have argued that the federal government was forcing states to pay for refugee resettlement, violating the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit made Tennessee the first in the nation to sue the federal government over refugee resettlement under the 10th Amendment, which guides the split of powers between states and the federal government

The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to review two Trump administration immigration policies: the diversion of military funds to build a wall along the southern border and requiring asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases proceed through the courts. Lower courts rejected the wall funding saying the move violated the Appropriations Clause of the Constitution, while the asylum policy was determined to violate immigration law and contravene international human rights norms. The Hill has more on the story.

The U.S. Supreme Court today granted the Trump administration’s request to halt the census count while an appeal is pending, The Hill reports. The emergency order comes after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the administration’s request to overturn a district court ruling that the count must continue through the end of October. The administration has been seeking to end the count early, arguing that maintaining the original date of Oct. 31 would prevent the Secretary of Commerce from reporting data by the Dec. 31 statutory deadline, Jurist.org reports.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee today began four days of hearings on the nomination of U.S. Supreme Court Justice nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Today’s session focused on opening statements from committee members, introduction of the nominee and opening comments from Judge Barrett. The Washington Post has her statement. Committee Chair Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, also announced today that Barrett has received a "well qualified" rating from a majority of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, while a minority of the committee rated her as “qualified.” The ABA Journal has more on that development. Hearings continue tomorrow and Wednesday with questions from committee members. On Thursday, interest groups in support of and opposed to Barrett’s nomination will testify.

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis in 1994. The child of a French teacher and lawyer, Barrett knew she would choose one of those careers but it was her time at the college that “put her on the path that would later qualify her for a lifetime appointment to the highest court,” the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports. Though she first leaned towards teaching, it was a pro-con list created her senior year that finally cemented her decision to pursue a career in the law. And though Rhodes has recognized her achievements over the years, more than 1,500 alumni have signed a letter expressing concerns about her nomination, The Hill reports.

The death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has renewed interest in her life and career, and an article in the ABA Journal reports that two films based on her life will be re-released to theaters. Focus Features will re-release “On the Basis of Sex,” which begins in 1956 with Ginsburg starting her first year as a student at Harvard Law School and then proceeds to capture the difficulties and discrimination faced by women attempting to enter the legal profession at that time. Magnolia Pictures will re-release the documentary “RBG,” which chronicles the life of Ginsburg as a justice, weaving together interviews with her children and former clerks to tell her story. Both films originally were released in 2018.

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday heard the case of Google v. Oracle, which is testing the copyrightability of computer command structures such as Java. The justices seemed all over the map on software copyrightability, but three of them clearly questioned the appellate court's failure to respect a 2016 jury verdict in favor of Google on fair use, the National Law Journal reports. The justices could uphold the jury verdict or send the case back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for reconsideration. The case, dubbed the “World Series of IP” back in 2012 by a federal judge, has long been seen as having the potential to reshape the law of copyright and fair use.

“No other first Monday in October, the traditional start of a new U.S. Supreme Court term, ever has been like this one,” writes constitutional scholar Erwin Chemerinsky in a recent issue of the ABA Journal. The country is in the midst of a pandemic, the justices and the country are still reeling from the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the upcoming confirmation battle of Judge Amy Coney Barrett all contribute to an unprecedented opening day. Chemerinsky looks at five “blockbuster” cases the court has already agreed to hear during this term. They are: California v. Texas, which involves the Affordable Care Act; Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, which involves the free exercise of religion; Google v. Oracle, which raises intellectual property issues; Jones v. Mississippi, which involves juvenile sentences; and Ford Motor Company v. Bandemer and Ford Motor Company v. Montana Eighth Judicial District Court, which involve jurisdiction questions.

President Donald Trump announced Saturday he will nominate federal appeals court Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Washington Post reports. Barrett, 48, would fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said yesterday that confirmation hearings will start Oct. 12 with opening statements by committee members, followed by two days of questioning on Oct. 13 and 14. The committee would then begin its deliberations on Oct. 15 with a vote on the nominee coming as early as Oct. 22. Barrett, who clerked for former justice Antonin Scalia, has already been through one confirmation hearing. President Trump nominated her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in 2017. She won Senate confirmation to that seat by a vote of 55 to 43, with three Democrats supporting her appointment.