“Special Issue: Commemorating Twenty-five Years of Judge Richard A. Posner.” The University of Chicago Law Review has just published this special issue (via “Concurring Opinions“).

“High Court Accepts Case on Provision Of McCain-Feingold; Millionaires’ Amendment to Be Decided In Time for Congressional Campaigns”: Robert Barnes will have this article Saturday in The Washington Post.

“Genarlow Wilson: College next step for freed offender.” This article appears today in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

And The Associated Press reports that “Wilson Going to Morehouse on Scholarship.”

“Muslim officer appeals ruling”: The Philadelphia Daily News today contains an article that begins, “Kimberlie Webb has been a Philadelphia police officer since 1995 and a follower of the Islamic faith for just as long. But since 2003, the 35th District officer has been embroiled in a legal battle over her right to wear a khimar, a traditional head scarf worn by Muslim women, while in uniform.” According to the article, the police officer has just appealed her case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. (Via “Religion Clause.”)

“Inside Guantanamo”: This photo essay (photos by Louie Palu and text by Andrew Sullivan) appears in the current issue of The Atlantic Monthly. An expanded collection of those photos, plus audio, can be accessed here.

“Anti-torture protesters invade the Court”: Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.” By “invade,” he simply means that the protesters had entered into the building before being arrested in the Great Hall.

“Court Weighs Murder Victim’s Statements”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “The Supreme Court said Friday it will decide whether a murder victim’s prior statements can be used against her killer in a case that tests the limits of a defendant’s constitutional right to confront witnesses.”

“Tenth Circuit rejects CVRA claim in shooting case”: At his “Sentencing Law and Policy” blog, Law Professor Doug Berman has this post linking to an order that a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued today.

Pamela Manson of The Salt Lake Tribune has a news update headlined “Appeals Court: Victim’s parents still can’t speak at Trolley Square massacre gun case sentencing.”

Earlier, today’s edition of The Deseret Morning News reports that “U.S. court to rule in Trolley gun case.” Additional newspaper coverage of this case from earlier this week can be accessed here and here.

“Denied flight, now denied bucks”: The Boston Herald today contains an article that begins, “The $400,000 awarded by a jury to a Portuguese native in a civil suit last year, after he was bounced from an American Airlines flight in Boston because of allegedly alarming behavior, remains in a holding pattern. Three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston late yesterday vacated John Cerqueira’s historic post-9/11 payday and slammed federal Judge William G. Young for not putting a stop to the civil-rights complaint.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Airline Wins Appeal on Passenger Removal.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit at this link.

“Court to Review Millionaire’s Amendment”: The Associated Press provides this report.

“71 Arrests at Supreme Court”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “More than 70 people were arrested at the Supreme Court Friday in a protest calling for the shutdown of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.”

“Court to rule on campaign finance, 3 other cases”: Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

You can access today’s U.S. Supreme Court Order List at this link.

Unanimous three-judge Ninth Circuit reverses federal district court’s denial of a preliminary injunction against NASA’s recently adopted requirement that “low risk” contract employees submit to in-depth background investigations: You can access today’s ruling, issued in typescript format, at this link.

In early coverage, the Los Angeles-based CBS2.com provides a report that begins, “A federal appellate court Friday granted a preliminary injunction barring what 28 scientists at Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory contend are invasive employee background checks by the federal government.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Court Nixes NASA Background Checks.”

“For Veteran Advocates, an Uphill Climb at the Court”: Legal Times has posted online this interview that Tony Mauro recently conducted with Donald Verrilli Jr. and Paul Smith.

“Appeals Court Rules Against Ex-Detainees”: The Associated Press provides this report.

“Detainees barred from challenging torture, abuse”: Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.” My earlier coverage appears several posts below.

Word processing programs that think they know best: Has section 3553 of Title 18, United States Code, been copyrighted, or is the Second Circuit in this opinion issued today attempting to cite to subsection “c” of that provision, and some word processing program has turned the cite into a copyright symbol, “&#169”?

Update: Of course, the Second Circuit has corrected this issue in the copy of the opinion now available from that court’s web site. The opinion as originally posted can instead be accessed here.

“After finding the beginning guideline sentence, it is up to the judge to act like a common law judge of old engaged in the same process that prevailed in the federal system after 1790 but before the failed, 20-year experiment in mandatory guideline sentencing.” Senior Sixth Circuit Judge Gilbert S. Merritt today issued a passionate dissent criticizing federal courts, when imposing criminal sentences, for engaging in “guidelineism, or ‘guidelinitis,’ the inability of most federal courts to break their habit of mechanically relying just on the guidelines alone.” You can access today’s Sixth Circuit ruling at this link.

D.C. Circuit grants Cindy Sheehan a new trial, vacating her conviction for demonstrating without a permit on the White House sidewalk during an antiwar protest: You can access today’s ruling at this link.

D.C. Circuit holds that the Freedom of Information Act does not require the Department of Defense to disclose records containing the opinions and recommendations of non-governmental lawyers about how to establish terrorist trial commissions: You can access today’s ruling, by a divided three-judge panel, at this link.

Circuit Judge David S. Tatel‘s dissenting opinion begins with this background:

In November 2001, President Bush issued a military order authorizing the Department of Defense to create military commissions to try suspected terrorists. DoD then sought advice about how to implement the order from legal luminaries outside the agency, including Bernard Meltzer, Lloyd Cutler, Ruth Wedgwood, Newton Minow, Terrence O’Donnell, William Coleman, Geoffrey Hazard, William Webster, Martin Hoffman, Jack Goldsmith, and Joseph Tompkins. In response, these outside experts sent letters, faxes, or emails to DoD. All were unpaid volunteers and none were appointed by DoD to any type of committee, task force, or other position, or made a part of DoD in any other way. Nonetheless, the district court held–and now this court agrees–that these documents are “intraagency memorandums or letters” protected from public disclosure under Exemption 5 of the Freedom of Information Act.

Circuit Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson wrote the majority opinion.

D.C. Circuit rejects claims seeking damages for alleged illegal detention and torture at the United States Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba: You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Rasul v. Myers at this link.

“Sparks fly in Padilla sentencing hearing; Five months after terror-conspiracy convictions, prosecutors and the defense still battle over the evidence”: Warren Richey has this article today in The Christian Science Monitor.

And The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports today that “Attorneys debate whether Padilla should get tough terrorism penalties.”

“Cruel and unusual punishment: Execution by lethal injection is on trial in the US; Jeff Sparrow talks to a man who has killed 65 people about life on death row.” This article appears in Saturday’s edition of The Sydney Morning Herald.

And Bloomberg News columnist Ann Woolner has an essay entitled “Putting Inmates Down Like Dogs and Making It Hurt.”

“What cost justice?” Today in The Boston Globe, columnist Steve Bailey has an op-ed that begins, “The state’s Supreme Judicial Court, the oldest appellate court in the Western Hemisphere, was in session yesterday in the magnificently restored John Adams Courthouse at Government Center. Chief Justice Margaret Marshall and the six other justices peppered attorneys with questions about yet another insurance company that – no surprise here – didn’t want to pay yet another claim. But that is not our story today. Instead, our story is about the 104-year-old courthouse itself, and about the increasingly contentious – and expensive – legal battle that could add tens of millions of dollars in cost to Margie Marshall’s fabulous but already pricey monument to justice.”

“Legal experts weigh death penalty reform; State’s chief justice wants appellate judges to handle most of the review process; But others are not so certain that is the best solution”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.

The Sacramento Bee reports today that “Death penalty cases piling up; Chief justice says it’s time to open review process to lower courts.”

And in The San Jose Mercury News, Howard Mintz reports that “Death penalty system is a mess, legal experts tell Calif. panel; Experts confer on failings in state system.”

“O’Malley wants to expand DNA testing; Governor to seek bill for sampling of arrestees”: The Baltimore Sun today contains an article that begins, “Taking aim at Maryland’s high violent crime rate, Gov. Martin O’Malley announced yesterday that he would seek legislation to expand DNA sampling to people arrested for violent crimes and burglaries.”

And The Washington Post reports today that “O’Malley Wants DNA Database Expanded; Samples Would Be Taken From Those Arrested for, Not Just Convicted of, Crimes.”

“Wiretaps Are Cut Over Unpaid Bills”: Today in The Washington Post, Dan Eggen has an article that begins, “Telecommunications companies have repeatedly cut off FBI access to wiretaps of alleged terrorists and criminal suspects because the bureau did not pay its phone bills, according to the results of an audit released yesterday.”

And USA Today contains a front page article headlined “Audit: FBI’s lapse in paying phone bill snips wiretaps.”

Somewhat relatedly, The Wall Street Journal contains an editorial entitled “Wiretap Politics.”

“Failed bar exam-taker apologizes to gays”: This article appeared yesterday in The Boston Herald.

The Associated Press reports that “Suit over bar exam query dropped; Man alters view on same-sex marriage.”

The original report of this news, including a letter to the editor from the bar exam-taker and an interview with him, appeared last week in Bay Windows.

“Jurors testify about claims of racism”: Today’s edition of The Boston Globe contains an article that begins, “Jurors who convicted a black trash collector in 2006 of raping and murdering a white fashion writer on Cape Cod hurled allegations yesterday of racism and inappropriate behavior in an extraordinary court hearing held to determine whether bias tainted the verdict.”

The Boston Herald reports today that “Jurors deny bias fueled verdict; Truro murder trial scrutinized.”

The Cape Cod Times reports that “Jurors in McCowen trial grilled.”

And The New York Times reports that “Jurors in a Cape Cod Murder Case Testify About Racial Remarks.”

“A Different ‘Right to Life'”: Today in The Wall Street Journal, Steven Walker, co-founder of the Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs, has an op-ed that begins, “Today the Supreme Court will consider a petition to hear a case raising profound issues regarding the right of individuals to make their own health-care decisions.”

“Judge Kent all smiles back at Galveston court”: The Galveston County Daily News today contains an article that begins, “U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent was upbeat and unfailingly polite Thursday when he returned to the Galveston bench. Kent had served a four-month suspension starting in September after his case manager filed a sexual-harassment complaint in May, accusing Kent of touching her in ways she didn’t want.”

“Pay Hikes for U.S. Judges Challenged; New research questions flight from bench and efficacy of pay increases”: The National Law Journal provides this report, which suggests that Law Professor Eric Posner opposes a pay hike for his dad.