“Shielding journalists: Reporters, and the country, would benefit from a proposed federal law to protect confidential sources.” The Los Angeles Times contains this editorial today.

“More testimony to condemn Gonzales”: This editorial appears today in The St. Petersburg Times.

And today in The Chicago Tribune, columnist Steve Chapman has an op-ed entitled “Justice by a much lower standard.”

“Thomas remains a puzzle”: Today in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, columnist Gregory Stanford has an op-ed that begins, “What if Clarence Thomas had gotten some serious psychotherapy? Would he be less inclined than he is now to vent his pent-up rage on his own race?”

“Cleaning Up the Clean Water Act”: The New York Times today contains an editorial that begins, “A series of murky Supreme Court decisions have left the agencies responsible for enforcing the Clean Water Act in a state of confused paralysis, exposing millions of acres of wetlands and thousands of miles of streams to illegal and destructive development.”

“In Court’s Calculation, What Feeds Lawyers’ Souls Need Not Fatten Their Wallets”: Tomorrow’s installment (TimesSelect temporary pass-through link) of Adam Liptak‘s weekly “Sidebar” column begins, “Last month, the federal appeals court in New York gave the civil rights bar a collective heart attack.” The decision in question can be accessed here, and the web page containing tomorrow’s column contains links to other relevant documents.

“A Devil in the Details, but Not the Constitution”: Linda Greenhouse will have this article Monday in The New York Times.

“Poor have no blanket right to counsel”: Saturday’s edition of The Toronto Globe and Mail contained an article that begins, “The Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not give impoverished litigants a blanket right to obtain legal counsel, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday. By unanimously upholding a B.C. tax on legal services, the court riled critics who had hoped that it would give an important symbolic boost to legal aid programs by removing a bar to those who cannot afford legal services.”

The Toronto Star yesterday contained an article headlined “Mixed signals from courts on openness.”

CBC News reports that “Top court overturns decision to scrap tax on legal fees.”

CanWest News Service reports that “Top court upholds tax on legal services.”

And Bloomberg News reports that “Canadians Don’t Have Entitlement to Legal Services, Court Says.”

You can access Friday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada at this link.

“John G. Roberts Jr., Chief Justice of the United States, Addresses Graduates”: The College of the Holy Cross provides this news release, along with a news release entitled “Chief Justice Roberts Responds to Questions Posed by Holy Cross Seniors.”

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette yesterday contained an article headlined “Roberts cites challenges; Chief justice avoids politics,” while today the newspaper reports that “Chief justice’s wife juggles law, 2 children; Jane Roberts visits for Holy Cross commencement.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Chief Justice Roberts urges Holy Cross graduates to ‘be brave.’” Related photos can be accessed via this link.

The Supreme Court of Arkansas proposes to retroactively abolish non-precedential appellate court rulings: The rulings would remain, but now they’d have precedential value. And, in the course of proposing this rule change, the highest court of Arkansas gives voice to a criticism of Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32.1: “New Rule 32.1 … creates a troublesome gap by forever depriving certain pre-2007 decisions of precedential value. That line may be convenient, but it is unprincipled.”

The discussion of the proposed Arkansas rule amendment begins at page 11 of this PDF file. Thanks to John Wesley Hall, Jr. for drawing this development to my attention.

“Using People’s Summer Reading List Against Them in a Criminal Trial: Not Always a Bad Idea.” Patterico of “Patterico’s Pontifications” has this post about my latest law.com column.

“Pakistani Judge: Courts Must Be Free.” The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “The country’s chief justice returned to the Supreme Court Saturday for the first time since being suspended by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, making his way through jubilant crowds before delivering veiled critiques of the military ruler.”

Some photos of Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. speaking at Friday’s graduation ceremony for Seton Hall University School of Law: In addition to a bunch of photos that The Associated Press has posted online (see here, here, here, here, here, and here), the law school itself has posted online a bunch of photos (see here, here, here, here, here, and here).

Yesterday, I linked here to press coverage of Justice Alito’s remarks.

“Bush’s Monica Problem: Gonzales, the president’s lawyer and Texas buddy, is twisting slowly in the wind, facing a vote of no confidence from the Senate.” Michael Isikoff and Evan Thomas will have this article in the June 4, 2007 issue of Newsweek.