Ovarian Cancer

* Given the unusually “circus-like atmosphere” surrounding the Supreme Court confirmation process, anyone who is nominated to fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat must “have the backbone to take the risk of being out there in front of the recalcitrant Senate.” Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval apparently didn’t have the testicular fortitude necessary for the challenging endeavor. [WSJ Law Blog]

* President Obama nominated Judge Lucy Koh (N.D. Cal.), the queen of Silicon Valley tech-industry and patent litigation, to the Ninth Circuit. Consider what’s likely to be her difficult confirmation a preview to the politically divisive process of getting Justice Scalia’s replacement a meeting before the Senate. [San Jose Mercury News]

* Of the current justices, Elena Kagan is the only one who has experienced the fallout of an eight-member Supreme Court. She clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall when there was an almost eight-month vacancy on the Court, and may have learned how to avoid 4-4 decisions from Chief Justice William Rehnquist. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

* Apple wants to vacate an order compelling the tech giant to help the FBI unlock one of the San Bernadino shooter’s iPhones, noting “[i]f this order is permitted to stand, it will only be a matter of days before some other prosecutor, in some other important case, before some other judge, seeks a similar order using this case as precedent.” [The Hill]

* Johnson & Johnson may have suffered a $72 million blow in its loss in a case alleging links between talcum powder and ovarian cancer, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that other plaintiffs will come away from their talc-cancer cases with windfalls quite as large. They’ll still have to convince a jury that J&J’s products caused their illness. [Reuters]

Angelina Jolie took action to address her cancer risk. If the Supreme Court gets its act together, more women can follow her example.