“Abrogation Magic: The Rules Enabling Act, Civil Rule 84, and the Forms.” Law professor Brooke D. Coleman posted this essay online yesterday at SSRN (via “Civil Procedure & Federal Courts Blog“).

The essay’s abstract begins, “The Committee on the Federal Rules of Practice and Procedure seeks to abrogate Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 84 and its attendant Official Forms.”

“City’s gun ordinance ruled unconstitutional by federal judge”: The Chicago Tribune has this news update.

The Chicago Sun-Times has a news update headlined “Federal judge rules city ban on handgun sales unconstitutional.”

Bloomberg News reports that “Chicago Ban on Gun Sales Within City Struck Down by Judge.”

The Associated Press has a report headlined “Judge: Chicago’s ban on gun sales unconstitutional.”

And Reuters reports that “Judge rules Chicago ban on gun sales is unconstitutional.”

You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois at this link.

“Pennsylvania Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Cozen Campaign Finance Case from Philadelphia”: Rick Hasen has this post today at his “Election Law Blog.”

Access the audio of today’s Fifth Circuit oral argument in Planned Parenthood v. Gregory Abbott: You can access the audio via this link (23 MB Windows Media audio file).

Earlier today, I had posts previewing the oral argument and collecting early news coverage of the argument.

“Paul Clement Takes on Health Care Law Again”: Todd Ruger has this post at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.”

“Court asked to force Scott to pick lt. governor”: The Associated Press has this report on a petition for writ of mandamus filed today in the Supreme Court of Florida challenging Gov. Rick Scott’s decision to leave the post of lieutenant governor vacant for nearly nine months.

“Supreme Court bobbleheads a mini history lesson”: Jan Crawford had this video segment on today’s broadcast of “CBS This Morning.”

“U.S. Supreme Court puts same-sex marriage in Utah on hold; unclear how stay affects marriages already performed”: The Deseret News has this update.

The Salt Lake Tribune has a news update headlined “Supreme Court halts gay marriage in Utah.”

And Agence France-Presse reports that “US Supreme Court temporarily blocks gay marriage in Utah.”

“Appeals judges grill both sides over Texas abortion law”: The Dallas Morning News has this blog post.

The Associated Press reports that “Federal appeals court reviews Texas abortion law.”

And Bloomberg News has an updated report headlined “Texas Seeks to Revive Abortion Law as Clinics Cut Service.”

“Life and death of electing judges: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent rekindles debate on justice in America.” Bert Brandenburg has this op-ed today in USA Today.

“Substantial Confusion on RFRA’s ‘Substantial Burden’ Requirement?” Ed Whelan has this post today at National Review Online’s “Bench Memos” blog.

“Court stops Utah gay marriages”: At “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post that begins, “The Supreme Court on Monday morning put on hold a federal judge’s decision striking down Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage, thus putting a stop to wave of such marriages across the state.”

You can view this morning’s order of the U.S. Supreme Court granting the stay at this link. No dissents from the issuance of a stay are noted.

In other coverage, The Associated Press reports that “Supreme Court puts Utah same-sex marriage on hold.”

Adam Liptak of The New York Times has a news update headlined “Justices Halt Gay Marriage in Utah Pending Appeal.”

Robert Barnes of The Washington Post has a news update headlined “Supreme Court halts same-sex marriages in Utah pending appeal.”

Richard Wolf of USA Today reports that “Supreme Court puts Utah same-sex marriage on hold.”

Lawrence Hurley of Reuters reports that “Supreme Court halts gay marriage in Utah.”

Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Gay Marriage in Utah Halted by Supreme Court Pending Appeal.”

At WSJ.com’s “Law Blog,” Brent Kendall has a post titled “Supreme Court Halts Same-Sex Marriages in Utah.”

At “The Note” blog of ABC News, Ariane de Vogue has a post titled “Supreme Court Orders Halt to Utah Gay Marriages.”

And Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed reports that “Supreme Court Halts Utah Same-Sex Couples’ Marriages While Case Is Appealed; The case is on appeal before the 10th Circuit, but, for now, same-sex couples will wait.”

Access online Utah’s reply filed this morning in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of that state’s request for a stay of a federal district judge’s order allowing same-sex marriages: You can access the reply at this link (via BNA).

“Appeals court taking up Texas law that’s shuttered abortion clinics”: This front page article appears today in The Dallas Morning News.

The Associated Press reports that “Federal appeals court to review Texas abortion law.”

And Bloomberg News reports that “Texas Seeks to Revive Abortion Law as Clinics Cut Service.”

The appeal is scheduled to be argued this morning in New Orleans before an all-female, all-Texan, three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit consisting of Circuit Judges Edith H. Jones, Jennifer Walker Elrod, and Catharina Haynes.

Later today, when the Fifth Circuit posts online the recording of the oral argument audio, I will link to it.

“The Al Qaeda Switchboard: Could phone surveillance have prevented 9/11?” Lawrence Wright has this Comment in the Talk of the Town section of the January 13, 2014 issue of The New Yorker.

“Employers Beat Back Big Lawsuits In 2013, But This Year Might Be Tougher”: Daniel Fisher has this post online today at Forbes.com.

“State Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on gas drilling sets constitutional precedent; Mistake by Gov. Tom Corbett’s legal team helped court render its decision, court record shows”: This front page article appears today in The Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania.

“Crack Cocaine Limbo”: Linda Greenhouse has this op-ed in today’s edition of The New York Times.