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By Sara Merken

What's going on today?

REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

The prosecution of prominent D.C. lawyer Tom Goldstein has veered into an unusual appellate showdown involving pricey D.C. real estate, the constitutional right to counsel and a high-powered litigation funding firm that is set to be a witness in the case.

Goldstein, formerly a leading member of the U.S. Supreme Court bar and a founder of SCOTUSblog, is facing trial next month in Greenbelt, Maryland on 22 counts of tax evasion and other financial criminal charges allegedly connected to his side career as a big-money poker player.

Since August, he has been seeking court permission to sell his nearly 5,000 square-foot home in D.C.'s tony Wesley Heights neighborhood to help fund his defense. That request is now before the 4th Circuit, after a judge in Maryland agreed with the government that the house is wrapped up in the allegations against Goldstein and cannot be sold.

Goldstein, who has pleaded not guilty, has had a string of defense lawyers at the trial court but is representing himself in his appeal. The government opposes Goldstein's bid to sell the house, now valued at more than $3 million by real estate listing platforms Redfin and Zillow.

Read more about that case, Google’s effort to slash a $128.3 million fee request and other law firm news in the latest Billable Hours by David Thomas and Mike Scarcella.

REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo

The U.S. Supreme Court for decades has chipped away at campaign finance laws, deciding they suppress political speech in violation of constitutional protections. A case involving U.S. Vice President JD Vance being argued next Tuesday gives the court and its conservative majority a chance to amplify this trend. Read more about the case from Jan Wolfe, and check back next week for our coverage of the arguments. 

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As the holiday season picks up, and Amazon boxes pile up outside America’s front doors, the company is facing a multi-front litigation war over what happens once they’re opened. The unsettled question: How much responsibility does the Seattle-based e-commerce giant bear when a defective product sold on its online marketplace injures someone? Jenna Greene looks at product liability lawsuits involving goods sold by third-party companies on Amazon – and who could be on the hook for damages. Read more in On the Case.

Ukraine is staring down the barrel of population collapse … Amazon is in discussions with the U.S. Postal Service about its future relationship … Vaccine advisers to U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr delayed a vote by a day on whether to scrap a broad recommendation for the hepatitis B vaccine for children … Billionaire Mark Cuban has urged the Trump administration to waive the hundreds of thousands of dollars in regulatory fees required for generic drug approvals, he told Reuters. Plus, a look at how an oil pipeline battle shows the U.S. gaining sway in Iraq.