States can prohibit puberty blockers and other gender-affirming care for transgender minors, the Supreme Court decided last month, a ruling upholding laws in about half the nation’s states. But a federal appeals court ruled Friday that states can allow transgender youths to seek physical and mental health care without notifying their parents.

A lawsuit filed in November 2021 by a man who had been declared a vexatious litigant in January of that year was properly dismissed based on his failing to obtain a court order allowing hm to pursue the new action, the Sixth District Court of Appeal declared yesterday, rejecting his contention that the pre-filing requirement was stayed because it had been issued in a case that is now on appeal.

(Subscription required) In a speech at the 9th Circuit Judicial Conference following a forceful dissent, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan called for greater transparency in emergency rulings and warned against vilifying judges.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction and death sentence in People v. Dunn for the 2006 crimes described this way by the court: “High on methamphetamine and angry over the breakup of his marriage, defendant Aaron Norman Dunn sped down a busy Elk Grove street one Saturday evening and shot bystanders with a 12-gauge shotgun. He killed two men, injured two others, and engaged in a shootout with the police.”