“Majority of Hill Stands Against D.C. Gun Ban; Members to File Friend-of-the-Court Brief in 2nd Amendment Case Before Justices”: Robert Barnes has this article today in The Washington Post.

“E911 rules aid police in tracking cell phones”: Declan McCullagh of c|net News.com provides this report. You can access the recent ruling of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota at this link.

“Homeland Security sued for not divulging info”: Bob Egelko has this article today in The San Francisco Chronicle.

Yesterday, the organization Electronic Frontier Foundation issued a press release entitled “Civil Liberties Groups Sue Homeland Security for Records on Intrusive Questioning and Searches of U.S. Travelers; Information Sought in Response to Growing Complaints of Harassment at U.S. Borders.” You can access a copy of the complaint initiating suit at this link.

“Military Prosecutors Set to Open Major 9/11 Case”: The New York Times provides a news update that begins, “Military prosecutors are in the final phases of preparing the first sweeping case against suspected conspirators for the 9/11 plot that led to the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans on a clear September day and drew the United States into war, people who have been briefed on the case said. The charges, to be filed in the military commission system at Guantanamo, would involve as many as six detainees held at the detention camp in Cuba, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the former senior aide to Osama bin Laden, who has said he was the principal planner of the plot.”

“Nebraska Supreme Court Outlaws Electric Chair”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this news update.

My earlier coverage of today’s ruling appears at this link.

“Nev. Man Gets Life Term for Killing Wife”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “A former pawn shop owner was sentenced to life in prison on Friday for the killing of his estranged wife and shooting of the judge who handled their bitter divorce. Darren Mack, 46, will be eligible for parole after 36 years. Mack pleaded guilty in November to first-degree murder in the June 2006 stabbing death of his wife, Charla, and entered an Alford plea to a charge of attempted murder of Washoe Family Court Judge Chuck Weller.”

In jurisprudence essays available online from Slate: Dahlia Lithwick has an essay entitled “Alito Is Neato: John McCain gets taken to school on judicial picks.”

And Emily Bazelon has an essay entitled “Obama the Lawyer President: How would he choose judges?”

“Court Rejects EPA’s Approach on Mercury Emissions Standards”: The Washington Post provides a news update that begins, “A federal appeals court today threw out the Environmental Protection Agency’s approach to limiting mercury emitted from power-plant smokestacks, saying the agency ignored laws and twisted logic when it imposed new standards that were favorable to plant owners.”

The Los Angeles Times provides a news update headlined “EPA’s move to regulate mercury emissions rejected; An appeals court, ruling that the agency violated the Clean Air Act, strikes down the policy that would have allowed some power plants to exceed levels of the powerful toxin.”

The Associated Press reports that “EPA’s Relaxed Emissions Rule Struck Down.”

And Reuters provides a report headlined “US EPA must rewrite utility mercury rule – US court.”

You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at this link.

First Circuit rejects argument that the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 violates Article III, the separation of powers, and the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution: Today’s ruling, by a unanimous three-judge panel, rejects a habeas petitioner’s challenges that AEDPA is unconstitutional because that federal statute restricts the capacity of federal judges to reach independent decisions and limits the sources of law on which they may rely.

Three-judge Ninth Circuit panel breathes new life into litigation arising from C. Delores Tucker’s crusade against “gangsta rap”: Tucker herself may now be dead, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today issued a decision that revives one claim alleging malicious prosecution against an attorney for Death Row Records. And one of the judges on the Ninth Circuit panel would have overturned the federal district court’s grant of summary judgment against Tucker on additional claims.

Both the majority opinion and the opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part cannot resist quoting the following lyrics from Tupac Shakur’s song “How Do U Want It?”: “Delores Tucker, yous a muthaf*cka.” See slip op. at pages 23 & 41.

This blog’s coverage of a different aspect of this dispute, from April 2004, can be accessed here.

Recognizing a blind person’s right under the Americans with Disabilities Act to receive effective communication of the menu choices at fast food restaurants: A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit today issued this per curiam opinion, which overturns the dismissal of the plaintiff’s lawsuit.

“Court: Neb. Electric Chair Not Legal.” The Associated Press provides this report.

The Lincoln Journal Star provides news updates headlined “High court: Electrocution ‘cruel and unusual’” and “Lawmakers look to next steps in death-penalty debate.”

The Omaha World-Herald provides a news update headlined “Nebraska Supreme Court says electrocution unconstitutional.” In addition, yesterday’s newspaper reported that “Stage set for fight on death penalty in Nebraska.”

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Last state’s electric chair-only execution ended.”

You can access today’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Nebraska at this link.

“Judges Press IRS on Church Tax Break”: Today in The New York Sun, Josh Gerstein has an article that begins, “A Jewish couple’s bid to take a tax deduction they say the Internal Revenue Service reserves only for members of the Church of Scientology is getting a friendly reception from a federal appeals court, increasing the possibility of a ruling that could create a tax break for taxpayers of many religions who pay tuition to religious schools.” The newspaper also contains an editorial entitled “A School Case To Watch.”

You can download the audio of Monday’s oral argument before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Sklar v. Commissioner via this link (7.06MB Windows Media audio file).

“Pro Bono Case Triggers a Fee Fight; Two recent instances of large firms collecting large fees in pro bono cases point to an increasingly controversial issue”: The National Law Journal contains an article that begins, “A Seattle school district that lost a case before the U.S. Supreme Court is arguing that its opposing counsel, Davis Wright Tremaine, should not be entitled to nearly $1.8 million in attorney fees because it took the case pro bono.”

“Breyer treads around admissions case”: The Honolulu Star-Bulletin today contains an article that begins, “Affirmative action cases are so difficult for the U.S. Supreme Court because of two opposing views on how to fairly treat the country’s wide diversity of people, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer said here yesterday.”

And in related news, The Honolulu Advertiser reports today that “Kamehameha Schools settled lawsuit for $7M.”