Erwin Chemerinsky, the constitutional law scholar, may have more published opinions than any justice of the Supreme Court.

That's because media outlets often quote him, and judges generally do not talk to the press. So when Chemerinsky speaks, people usually listen.

Now that he has landed in the dean's chair at Berkeley Law, Chemerinksy also has a bully pulpit for his latest opinion: recent Supreme Court decisions are "very troubling."

You say 'tomato,' I say 'tomato.'

Wait, that doesn't work. You say 'Internet,' I say 'internet.'

Hold on. This only works if you're writing, not talking. And it only seems to matter here if the U.S. Supreme Court has anything to say, er, write about it.

While the U.S. Supreme Court eases into the summer recess, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be working overtime on one issue: whether she should recuse herself from the Trump travel ban case.

In a letter to "Madam Justice Ginsburg," three score Republicans have bellowed, "Yes!" Other politicians and pundits say, "No!"

The debate will likely continue through the season, but everyone seems to agree on one point: Ginsburg, by law, will make the decision herself.

Remember when you were a kid, waking up before sunrise to see if Santa Claus had done his job yet?

You probably checked several times throughout the night before the moment finally came. And it did, of course, because Santa Claus was real -- at least until you got older.

So it is with the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy. Every kid in the press corps has been checking like clockwork to see if he's there yet, and the rumors keep coming.

In a tacit affirmation of another U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision this week, the U.S. Supreme Court left intact the appeals court's ruling that Nevada's lien law violated due process rights of mortgage lenders.

The Ninth Circuit said in Bourne Valley Court Trust v. Wells Fargo Bank last year that homeowners' associations should have to give notice to lenders before foreclosing on a property for delinquent dues. The Nevada law allowed the HOA to strip the bank's title without notice, unless the lender "opted-in" beforehand.

"How the mortgage lender, which likely had no relationship with the homeowners' association, should have known to ask is anybody's guess..." the appeals court said. "But this system was not just strange; in our view, it was also unconstitutional."

Continuing a guarded approach to the Second Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court turned away a case that said people need "good cause" for a permit to carry a concealed weapon in public.

The Court left intact Peruta v. County of San Diego, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that said "there is no Second Amendment right for members of the general public to carry concealed firearms in public." As a result, most Californians will have a hard time getting concealed weapons permits.

Gun advocates promptly decried the High Court's action, just as they did when the Ninth Circuit ruled on the case. Justice Clarence Thomas, joined in dissent by Justice Neil Gorsuch, said the Supreme Court should have taken up the appeal.

Heralded as a major church-state decision, the U.S. Supreme Court said a church-owned school is entitled to state funds available for playgrounds open to the public.

The decision in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer marked a turning point in the church-state debate and an ending point for the Court session. The justices have taken a recess for the summer.

Observers called the case a "major" decision under the Free Exercise clause. The decision prompted separate opinions from five justices, who voted 7-2 for the church.

Reversing two appellate courts, the U.S. Supreme Court approved part of the President's travel ban against nationals from six Muslim nations and refugees.

The court said the President's executive order may be enforced against those people who have no bode fide connections in the United States. Those who already have families, work, or school in the county may continue to enter pending a hearing next session in Trump v. International Refugee Assistance Project.

A Serbian refugee who lied to immigration officials cannot be stripped of her American citizenship because her lie was immaterial, the U.S. Supreme Court said.

"We have never read a statute to strip citizenship from someone who met the legal criteria for acquiring it," Justice Elena Kagan wrote in Maslenjak v. United States. "We will not start now."

The case involved one naturalized citizen, but it marks another setback to the Trump administration's policies against immigrants. It also marks a turning point in the Court, as the newest member of the panel said the decision goes too far.

The U.S. Supreme Court said illegal aliens who were jailed after the Sept. 11 attacks cannot sue top government officials, but they may proceed against the jailer.

In Ziglar v. Abassi, the court acknowledged that the six named plaintiffs -- including five Muslims -- suffered for months in a Brooklyn jail before they were deported. The court said what happened to them was "tragic," but the principal defendants were not liable for damages.

"There is ... a balance to be struck, in situations like this one, between deterring constitutional violations and freeing high officials to make the lawful decisions necessary to protect the nation in times of great peril," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court. "The proper balance is one for the Congress, not the Judiciary, to undertake."