“For Better or for Worse: California’s gay-marriage trial is an all-star, high-stakes affair.” Emily Bazelon has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“A Risky Proposal: Is it too soon to petition the Supreme Court on gay marriage?” Margaret Talbot will have this lengthy article in the January 18, 2010 issue of The New Yorker.

Majority on divided three-judge First Circuit panel upholds the constitutionality of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which allows for the civil commitment of a sexually dangerous person already in federal custody after expiration of his criminal sentence: You can access today’s ruling at this link.

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted review in one new case today: You can access the order granting review at this link.

Additional information about the case is available in this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

“Court Revives Suit Against Reno Police Over Detainee Suicide”: In late July 2009, the Metropolitan News-Enterprise had this report on a ruling that a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had issued.

Today, the Ninth Circuit issued an order from which seven judges dissented denying rehearing en banc in the case. Chief Judge Alex Kozinski‘s dissent from the denial of rehearing en banc begins:

Until this opinion came along, police officers weren’t required to serve as babysitters, psychiatrists or social workers, and judges didn’t run suicide-prevention programs. Responsibility for preventing suicide rested with the individual and the family, not the state. But the panel has discovered that the Constitution demands a change in job description: Judges will henceforth micromanage the police, who in turn will serve as mental health professionals. The panel’s reasoning has no stopping point, and our decision to let it stand threatens unprecedented judicial intervention in our local institutions.

Chief Judge Kozinski’s real-life good friend Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt was the author of the original three-judge panel opinion. Any further review of the case will now have to come, if at all, from the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Ten years as top judge and she’s still losing sleep; Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, talks with The Globe and Mail about her work so far, the toll it takes on her conscience and the makeup of Canada’s highest bench”: Kirk Makin had this article yesterday in The Toronto Globe and Mail.

“Comcast, FCC take net neutrality dispute to court”: The Associated Press has this report on a case argued today before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

And at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Mike Scarcella has a post titled “Appeals Court Warm to Comcast in Fight Against FCC.”

Update: At Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog, David Kravets has a post titled “Court to FCC: You Don’t Have Power to Enforce Net Neutrality.”

Today’s appellate math lesson — A three-judge Second Circuit panel reports that it is “evenly divided” on whether federal magistrate judges have authority to impose Rule 11 sanctions: Apparently the vote was one judge says “yes,” a second judge says “no,” while the third judge says “I don’t know” and “I respectfully suggest that this knot needs to be untied by Congress or by the Supreme Court.”

You can access today’s ruling, which leaves that question unresolved, at this link. Each of the three judges on the panel writes separately on this issue following a short majority opinion that resolves the appeal on an alternate ground.

“President Is Said to Decide to Renominate Six Choices”: In today’s edition of The New York Times, Charlie Savage has an article that begins, “President Obama will renominate Dawn Johnsen to lead the Justice Department’s powerful Office of Legal Counsel, along with his choices for five other jobs that the Senate did not act on last year, a White House official said Thursday.”

“Judith Colenback Savage 1 of 5 nominees for R.I. Supreme Court”: The Providence Journal contains this article today.

“Deadly gunbattle: Court security to be studied; Parraguirre orders reviews statewide.” This article appears today in The Las Vegas Review-Journal. In addition, columnist John L. Smith has an essay headlined “Victim of courthouse shooting remembered: ‘He will be missed.’”

The Las Vegas Sun reports today that “Nevada to study courthouse safety in wake of shooting.”

And The Reno Gazette-Journal reports that “Review ordered for Nevada court security.”

“Saints’ quarterback Drew Brees weighs in on NFL’s Supreme Court case”: Drew Brees will have this op-ed in Sunday’s edition of The Washington Post.

“Relationship Getting Serious? You Can Keep It to Yourself, Appeals Court Tells Defendant.” law.com has this report.

My earlier coverage of yesterday’s Second Circuit ruling appears at this link.

“Koke’e cabin case appealed to U.S. Supreme Court”: This article appears today in The Garden Island of Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii.

“No more room at the bench: The American Bar Assn. allows unneeded new law schools to open and refuses to regulate them; The government should consider taking steps to stop the flow of attorneys into a saturated marketplace.” Mark Greenbaum has this op-ed today in The Los Angeles Times.