“Sotomayor Leaves Passion Behind in Her Testimony”: This article will appear Wednesday in The New York Times.

“Grasping at Nunchucks in the Hearing Room”: Dana Milbank will have this installment of his “Washington Sketch” column Wednesday in The Washington Post.

“Honesty at Last! At Sotomayor’s hearing, the abortion protestors are the only ones telling the truth.” Dahlia Lithwick has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

Slate is also hosting a dialogue about the Sotomayor confirmation hearing that features Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and Dahlia Lithwick.

“Sotomayor backs off ‘wise Latina’ comments; The Supreme Court nominee walks a fine line, acknowledging that her gender and ethnicity influence her personally but maintaining that her record shows they don’t influence her court decisions”: David G. Savage will have this article Wednesday in The Los Angeles Times.

“Holder Faces Avalanche Of Work, and Scrutiny; Attorney General Blasted From Left, Right”: This article appears today in The Washington Post.

And this week’s issue of Newsweek contains an article headlined “Independent’s Day: Obama doesn’t want to look back, but Attorney General Eric Holder may probe Bush-era torture anyway.”

“Sotomayor Faces Questions on Day Two of Hearings”: Robert Barnes, Paul Kane, and Amy Goldstein of The Washington Post have this news update.

The Post also has a news update headlined “On Second Day of Hearings, Sotomayor Displays Personality, Mannerisms.”

“Respecting Settled Law, Unless It’s Not Settled”: Charlie Savage will have this article Wednesday in The New York Times.

The Associated Press is reporting: Now available online are articles headlined “Gibbs: Sotomayor doing well as ‘the drill’ unfolds“;

“Sotomayor hearings: not exactly must-see TV“;

“Sotomayor on Sotomayor: Revises, extends her words“; and

“Sotomayor cautious on stating property rights view.”

“Lawsuit seeks to block ‘In God We Trust’ engraving”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “The nation’s largest group of atheists and agnostics filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block an architect from engraving ‘In God We Trust’ and the Pledge of Allegiance at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington.”

And the Freedom From Religion Foundation has today issued a news release headlined “FFRF Sues to Stop Religious Engravings at Capitol Visitor Center.” You can access the complaint initiating suit by clicking here.

“New arguments ordered in 9/11 conspirator’s case”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “A federal appeals court in Richmond has ordered new arguments in the case of Sept. 11 conspirator Zacharias Moussaoui.”

The article goes on to say that the retirement of former Fourth Circuit Chief Judge Karen J. Williams last week necessitated the reargument.

You can access today’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit at this link.

The reargument order suggests that the remaining two judges on the panel may be divided over how to resolve one or more of the issues presented in the appeal. The two other judges on the panel are Circuit Judge William B. Traxler, Jr. — who became the Fourth Circuit’s Chief Judge when Chief Judge Williams retired — and Circuit Judge Roger L. Gregory. If the remaining two judges on the panel were not divided, they could issue an opinion without reargument or having another judge assigned to the panel, as evidenced by this two-judge panel ruling that the Fourth Circuit issued yesterday in another case in which former Chief Judge Williams had originally been on the panel.

You can access the redacted transcript of the original appellate oral argument, which occurred in January 2009, at this link.

“Appeals Court Upholds Parental-Notice Abortion Law”: Bloomberg News has a report that begins, “An Illinois law requiring doctors to give a parent or adult family member at least 48 hours’ advance notice of when a girl under age 18 will abort a pregnancy is constitutional, a U.S. Appeals Court ruled.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Court revives Ill. abortion notification law.”

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

“Wisconsin Supreme Court nixes ‘defective design’ claim in lead paint lawsuit”: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this news update.

And The Associated Press reports that “Wis. high court gives victory to lead paint makers.”

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

The Associated Press is reporting: Now available online are articles headlined “Sotomayor clarifies ‘wise Latina’ comment“;

“Sotomayor calls abortion rights ‘settled law’“;

“Sotomayor: Bush-Gore case brought needed change“;

“Sotomayor passes on chance to rate justices“;

“Sotomayor vows to keep open mind in gun cases“;

“Sotomayor: Ruling in firefighter case was narrow“; and

“Sotomayor: ‘Open mind’ key to effective judging.”

“Report Card From the U.S. High Court: How the 3rd Circuit Fared in the 2008-2009 Term.” Today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer — Philadelphia’s daily newspaper for lawyers — contains this month’s installment of my “Upon Further Review” column.

“Governor signs bills on guns, abortion; Measure on fireworks among 9 that are vetoed”: Today’s edition of The Arizona Republic contains an article that begins, “Gov. Jan Brewer on Monday signed into law tight new restrictions on access to abortion in Arizona, imposing a 24-hour waiting period on women seeking the procedure and requiring that minors first receive written, notarized consent from a parent or guardian.”

“Is a Lawn Mower a Motor Vehicle? Man’s Felony Theft Sentence Could Ride on the Answer.” The Associated Press has a report that begins, “It has four wheels, a powerful engine and can hit speeds up to 40 mph. But is a riding lawn mower technically a motor vehicle? That odd question confronted the Georgia Supreme Court Monday after a man appealed a 10-year sentence for swiping a riding mower from a Home Depot store.”

“UC law professor to appeal prisoner suit ruling”: Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “Former Bush administration lawyer John Yoo will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that allowed a prisoner to sue him for devising the legal theories that led to his alleged torture, Yoo’s attorneys said Monday.”

“She’s Come Redone: Senators at today’s hearing were determined to cast Sotomayor as over-the-top; Why didn’t she fight back harder?” Dahlia Lithwick has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

Day two of the confirmation hearing is now underway, with the nominee answering questions from the U.S. Senators serving on the Judiciary Committee, and via C-SPAN you can view the hearing live, online by clicking here.

Previewing today’s session, Mark Sherman of The Associated Press reports that “Sotomayor to face senators’ questions Tuesday.”