“Obamacare lawsuit questions — ‘kerfuffle’ or threat?” Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico.com has this report.

“Alabama Supreme Court to consider petition seeking halt to same-sex marriage licenses”: Kent Faulk of The Birmingham News has this report.

And Cheryl Wetzstein of The Washington Times reports that “Ala. gay marriage fight moves to state supreme court; Judges, 6-2, order probate judges to respond.”

You can view yesterday’s order of the Supreme Court of Alabama at this link.

“Himonas unanimously confirmed to the Utah Supreme Court”: The Salt Lake Tribune has this report.

And The Deseret News reports that “Senate confirms new Utah Supreme Court justice.”

“Supreme Court has issued conflicting rulings on special prosecutors”: Borys Krawczeniuk has this front page article in today’s edition of The Times-Tribune of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

“Supreme Court on the loose”: Conrad Black has this essay online today at National Post.

“TN Supreme Court agrees to hear electric chair case”: The Tennessean has this report.

“A New Fix for Obamacare”: In today’s edition of The New York Times, Grace-Marie Turner and Diana Furchtgott-Roth have an op-ed that begins, “Early next month the Supreme Court will hear arguments in King v. Burwell, the latest significant legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act.”

“Justice Ginsburg asked to recuse herself in Supreme Court gay marriage case; Group says it will ask for congressional investigation if she doesn’t ‘step aside'”: Cheryl Wetzstein of The Washington Times has this report.

“Court icons Scalia and Ginsburg: Together at the peak.” Richard Wolf of USA Today has this report.

Wolf writes, “What looms ahead for these two legal icons is a political reckoning. They must balance their roles as leaders of the court’s conservative and liberal wings against the risks involved in sticking around too long — or leaving too soon.”

“Appeals court to hear case of Mississippi death row inmate who pleaded guilty to rape, murder”: So reported The Associated Press back in September 2014. Yesterday, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a decision affirming the district court’s denial of a writ of habeas corpus.

The Fifth Circuit’s decision contains this unusual account of what, presumably according to the habeas petitioner’s own description, triggered his murderous conduct:

Thomas Loden worked as a recruiter for the United States Marine Corps in Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he lived with his wife and daughter. He had travelled to Itawamba County, Mississippi, on June 21, 2000 to visit his ailing grandmother, Rena Loden, at her farm. On June 22, Loden claims he spoke to his wife on the phone, and she told him that she had just had “phone sex” with a partner at the law firm at which she worked as a paralegal and that she planned on having sexual intercourse with that partner while Loden was away.

“Allstate cleared of EEOC retaliation charges”: Business Insurance has this report on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued yesterday.

First you leave the U.S. Supreme Court, next you misstate what Title of the U.S. Code a civil rights claim under section 1983 arises: Retired Justice David H. Souter yesterday issued this unanimous opinion on behalf of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

The opinion’s second sentence begins:

This action brought by Caesars under 28 U.S.C. sec. 1983 includes counts [seeking the following relief].

The section 1983 in question appears in Title 42; Title 28, by contrast, doesn’t even contain a section 1983.

Of course, the statute now codified at 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983 traces its history back to 1871. Apparently it was once codified in Title 8 of the U.S. Code.

In Justice Souter’s defense, Westlaw’s CTA database reveals 10 other federal appellate court decisions that cite to 28 U.S.C. sec. 1983, the most recent of which is from 1996. Notably, six of those ten decisions originated from the Tenth Circuit during 1995 and 1996. All but one of those 10 decisions are unpublished, and the published one contains the error in a block quote. Presumably Westlaw will correct this apparently de minibus citation error when it appears in opinions designated for publication.

“Religion in the Public Service: A Conversation with Clarence Thomas and John Danforth.” Yale Law School has posted online at this link the video of this recent event.

Update: The video is also available on YouTube.

“Justices Ginsburg And Scalia: A Perfect Match Except For Their Views On The Law.” This audio segment featuring Nina Totenberg appeared on yesterday evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

And Richard Wolf of USA Today has a report headlined “Scalia and Ginsburg are buddies beyond the bench.”