“FBI posts fake hyperlinks to snare child porn suspects”: Declan McCullagh has this post today at his blog “The Iconoclast” at c|net News.com.

And at “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Orin Kerr offers these thoughts.

“Justice plans hearing on Massey appeal”: The Associated Press provides a report from West Virginia that begins, “State Supreme Court Justice Larry Starcher plans to hold an unprecedented open hearing on a request that he remove himself from another Massey Energy Co. case.”

“The Second Amendment and Personal Preference”: This week’s installment of my “On Appeal” column for law.com begins, “What role, if any, should a judge’s personal preference concerning the outcome of a case play in deciding a dispute? That controversial question resurfaced this week as the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a closely watched case that presents the question of whether the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution confers an individual right to own guns.”

“Blunt weighs in on case that could impact ‘Devlin’s Law'”: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch provides a news update that begins, “Gov. Matt Blunt has entered the debate in a U.S. Supreme Court case that could decide whether the next Michael Devlin gets the death penalty. Blunt’s office announced today it has filed an amicus brief in Kennedy v. Louisiana, the case of a man sentenced to death for raping his eight-year-old stepdaughter at their home near New Orleans. The case would have broad implications around the U.S., and particularly in Missouri.”

“Dozens of children in U.S. face life in prison”: Reuters provides this report.

“Marijuana possession argued before Alaska’s high court”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “The latest effort to recriminalize marijuana is now in the hands of the Alaska Supreme Court. The high court heard oral arguments Thursday on a legal challenge to a two-year-old state law that would make personal at-home use of small amounts of marijuana illegal.”

“Sandra Day O’Connor Hears Fredericksburg Prayer Case”: The Washington Post provides a news update that begins, “Retired Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor joined a federal appeals court panel that heard the case of a Fredericksburg City Council member who sued the city after he was barred from invoking the name of Jesus in a council prayer.”

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports today that “Prayer led by Fredericksburg council reviewed; Appeals court debates dispute over member’s pre-meeting invocation.”

And The Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg, Virginia reports today that “Justice O’Connor hears appeal; O’Connor sits on three-judge panel hearing prayer case.”

“Judging Guns: The Supreme Court should not deprive governments of their ability to protect public safety.” This editorial appears today in The Washington Post.

“High court agrees to consider Khadr’s unfair treatment claim”: The Canadian Press provides a report that begins, “The federal government has failed to block the country’s top court from considering whether U.S. authorities are violating international law in their treatment of accused Canadian terrorist Omar Khadr. In a ruling released Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada gave the go-ahead for Khadr’s lawyers to raise the legality of his detention and forthcoming trial at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo, Cuba.”

CBC News reports that “Canada’s top court agrees to hear Khadr’s unfair treatment claim; Ottawa tried to block defence from presenting fresh evidence.”

The Toronto Globe and Mail reports today that “Khadr came within seconds of death in firefight; ‘Someone had a conscience,’ lawyer remarks after U.S. soldier’s diary describes having Canadian teen in the crosshairs.”

The Toronto Star reports today that “Officer’s diary says Khadr not only survivor; Guantanamo court documents state second fighter was alive when U.S. forces arrested Toronto teen.”

The Canadian Press reports that “U.S. officer says he nearly ordered execution of Khadr in Afghanistan.”

Canwest News Service reports that “Court documents show Khadr faced execution on Afghan battlefield.”

Earlier this week, Carol Rosenberg of The Miami Herald had an article headlined “Gitmo captive: I was threatened with rape.”

And Reuters reports that “Canadian says U.S. interrogators threatened rape.”

Double jeopardy prevents a criminal defendant from being convicted for the federal offenses of receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography when the conduct underlying both offenses is the same, divided three-judge Ninth Circuit panel holds: You can access today’s ruling at this link.

“Scooter Libby Loses Law License”: The Associated Press provides this report.

You can access today’s order of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals (and not the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, as The AP’s report initially and erroneously stated) at this link.

“Lawyers for the National Education Association are urging a federal appeals court not to reconsider a ruling by a three-judge panel of the court that revived the union’s legal challenge to the No Child Left Behind Act.” So begins a post today by Mark Walsh at “The School Law Blog” of Education Week.

The federal government’s petition for rehearing en banc, filed in February, can be accessed here. And the NEA’s response, filed yesterday, can be accessed here.

My earlier coverage of the Sixth Circuit’s ruling from January can be accessed here.

Embattled former principal of Arabic-themed NYC public school loses Second Circuit appeal seeking a preliminary injunction: You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit at this link.

In earlier coverage, The Associated Press reported in December 2007 that “In First Round, Judge Rules Against Arabic School’s Ex-Principal.”

The New York Times reported in October 2007 that “Arabic School Ex-Principal Fights to Get Job Back.” According to that article, “In her first detailed public account of what led her to step down after defending the word ‘intifada’ on a T-shirt, the principal, Debbie Almontaser, presented herself as the victim of an anti-Arab ‘smear campaign’ from conservative newspapers and blogs and of pressure from city officials.”

And in August 2007, The New York Times published an “On Education” essay by Samuel G. Freedman entitled “Critics Ignored Record of a Muslim Principal.”

Ninth Circuit overturns criminal convictions for securities fraud, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and failure to file an income tax return due to U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real‘s “excessive and biased interventions” at trial: According to yesterday’s non-precedential ruling, “The catalog of inappropriate behavior by the trial court is long, so we merely summarize it here.” The decision remands the case for a new trial before a different federal district judge.

“Grisham’s Judicial Appeal: Why the novelist is the ambulance chaser’s best friend.” Collin Levy has this op-ed today in The Wall Street Journal.

“Supreme Court overturns death sentence; The justices rule that racial bias played an improper role in the 1996 Louisiana murder case; Prosecutors may retry the case”: David G. Savage has this article today in The Los Angeles Times.

Today in USA Today, Joan Biskupic reports that “Court tosses verdict, death sentence in race-tinged case; Blacks were cut from jury in La. murder trial.”

In The Christian Science Monitor, Warren Richey reports that “Supreme Court bars use of race in picking juries; Its 7-to-2 ruling Wednesday reverses a Louisiana death-penalty conviction.”

In The Chicago Tribune, James Oliphant reports that “Supreme Court overturns death penalty in Louisiana case.”

And The Times-Picayune of New Orleans reports that “Supreme Court casts out murder conviction; Race used in picking jury in St. Rose man’s death.”