“Dueling lawyers in California Prop. 8 case are a study in opposites”: The Sacramento Bee today contains a front page article that begins, “Kenneth Starr and Shannon Minter, lead attorneys in the California Supreme Court case that will decide the fate of same-sex marriage in the state, are as different as the competing sides they represent.”

“S.F. grapples with 1st death trials in years”: Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “For the first time since 1948, lives are at stake in a San Francisco federal courtroom. Two alleged gang members went on trial before separate juries last week, each accused of three murders as part of a racketeering enterprise to control local drug trafficking. The Justice Department is seeking the death penalty for both defendants, in one case over the objections of the U.S. attorney’s office, which had agreed on a 40-year prison sentence.”

“Case May Define When a Judge Must Recuse Self; W.Va. Justice Ruled for a Man Who Spent Millions to Elect Him”: Robert Barnes will have this front page article Monday in The Washington Post.

And Monday’s edition of The Dallas Morning News will contain an article headlined “Cases with Texas justices’ big campaign donors raises question: Does money rule the courts?”

“Facing numerous Seroquel lawsuits, drugmaker AstraZeneca releases documents”: Yesterday’s edition of The St. Petersburg Times contained an article that begins, “The public got a glimpse into the inner workings of a global pharmaceutical company Friday when AstraZeneca released more than 100 sealed documents in a tsunami of lawsuits claiming its powerful antipsychotic Seroquel caused diabetes, weight gain and other health problems.”

“Legal status of poker: Is it a game of skill or chance? Arguments for poker as more a game of skill than luck are surfacing in court cases as close as Westmoreland County.” This article appears today in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“Scotus to eye W.Va. case focusing on campaign cash”: The Associated Press provides this report.

Today’s edition of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that “Top court to hear W.Va. judicial bias case Tuesday; Should W. Va. justice have heard case against coal firm?”

And the current issue of The Economist contains an article headlined “Only in America: The trouble with electing judges.”

“Supreme Court will consider convicts’ rights to DNA tests; Lawyers for William Osborne, convicted in an Alaska rape, hope to broaden prisoners’ rights to prove their innocence with new tests on old evidence”: David G. Savage has this article today in The Los Angeles Times.

“W.Va. mining case could shape U.S. judicial races; Supreme Court to hear arguments in Caperton, Massey dispute Tuesday”: Paul J. Nyden has this article today in The Sunday Gazette-Mail of Charleston, West Virginia.

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Preview: Judges, Politics and the Constitution.”