“How Georgia Just Spared The Life of Man It Desperately Wants To Kill; Warren Lee Hill was scheduled to die this evening”: Andrew Cohen has this essay online at The Atlantic.

“Supreme Court’s College Race Ruling Continues to Spur Debate”: Mark Walsh has this post today at the “School Law” blog of Education Week.

A look back at last week’s Ninth Circuit-related trip to Seattle: On Thursday through Saturday of last week, I received a welcome respite from the sweltering east coast when I traveled to Seattle to present an oral argument at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The oral argument audio is available via this link. The opposing parties in the case filed a total of four appellate briefs, which can be accessed (in the order that they were filed in this particular appeal and cross-appeal) here, here, here, and here.

But the purpose of this post is not to inflict the details of the appeal that brought me to Seattle on the readers of my blog. Rather, the goal of this post is to thank all those many readers who shared recommendations and suggestions when I had previously sought reader input on things to do and places to eat in Seattle. By and large, everything my son and I did while visiting Seattle that wasn’t work-related was something that a reader of this blog had suggested. And that’s true even though we avoided one reader’s suggestion that we should drop-in on the law librarians’ convention that was then taking place in Seattle.

Here are some photos from my recent Seattle visit. On day one, we visited the top of the Space Needle, which offers great views of the entire surroundings. Here’s a photo of downtown Seattle that I took from the observation deck. On Friday, it was off to court to present oral argument. Ninth Circuit Judge N. Randy Smith took time to greet everyone in the courtroom when he visited approximately five to ten minutes before the oral argument session got underway. He was a bit less friendly to some of the advocates once court was in session, but it is always better to hear and address the judges’ concerns than to be surprised to learn them only after the opinion has issued. Senior Ninth Circuit Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld, who once participated in this blog’s “20 questions for the appellate judge” feature, struck me as very well-prepared and focused in his questioning. And Circuit Judge Milan D. Smith, Jr. did a great job presiding over the argument session and was kind enough to extend a special welcome at the beginning of my first-ever Ninth Circuit argument. Here is a photo of the Ninth Circuit’s Seattle courthouse that I took on my way in to present oral argument.

On Friday afternoon, we headed back to the vicinity of the Space Needle to visit an art exhibition titled “Chihuly Garden and Glass.” Here’s a photo of one of the really interesting art displays. Before leaving the vicinity, I also took a photo of the Space Needle from the ground up.

Friday night, it was time to be welcomed to Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners. The cool weather meant it was necessary to bring jackets or sweatshirts to the ballpark. We had great seats — 11th row by first base. Due to Seattle’s location, it stays quite light outside until late into the evening. By 9:05 p.m. local time, the sun was certainly beginning to set, but it was still very bright out. The Mariners trounced the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by a score of 8-to-3. Former Phillie Raul Ibanez hit two home runs for the Mariners and drove in three.

Our final non-airport meal in Seattle was dinner on Saturday night at a restaurant on the outskirts of Seattle that offered a fine view both of downtown and of Mount Ranier off in the distance (which can be seen just to the right of the middle of this photo if you look very carefully).

Again, this was my very first visit to Seattle, and I remain especially thankful for all of the excellent Seattle-related recommendations that so many readers of this blog sent along before my trip. July is certainly the prime season for tourism in Seattle. You can spend at least two or three days visiting Seattle and still not see everything. I definitely recommend a visit, whether or not in conjunction with a Ninth Circuit oral argument.

“In Major Ruling, Court Orders Times Reporter to Testify”: Charlie Savage will have this article in Saturday’s edition of The New York Times.

Lawrence Hurley of Reuters reports that “U.S. court says reporter must testify in leak case.”

And at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Mike Scarcella has a post titled “Fourth Circuit Voids Protection of Reporter in Leak Case.”

My earlier coverage of today’s Fourth Circuit ruling appears at this link.

A conversation on judicial efficiency at the appellate level: Last month’s installment of my “Upon Further Review” column published in The Legal Intelligencer — Philadelphia’s daily newspaper for lawyers — was titled “Adding Judicial Efficiency to the Appellate Conversation.”

In today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer, Pennsylvania’s Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille — for whom I have great admiration and respect — had a response to my column titled “Explaining the High Court’s Work Product and Efficiency.”

“Hobby Lobby wins stay against federal health care mandate; U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton grants company’s request for injunction against the Affordable Care Act”: The Oklahoman has a news update that begins, “Ruling from the bench Friday morning, U.S. District Court Judge Joe Heaton granted Hobby Lobby’s request for a preliminary injunction against part of the Affordable Care Act.”

“New Jersey Supreme Court Restricts Police Searches of Phone Data”: This front page article appears in today’s edition of The New York Times.

The Star-Ledger of Newark, New Jersey has articles headlined “Police need warrants to track cell-phone data, N.J. Supreme Court rules” and “Privacy rights a key issue for N.J. Supreme Court.”

The Record of Hackensack, New Jersey reports that “N.J. Supreme Court says police need warrants to track suspects’ cellphones.”

And The Associated Press has a report headlined “NJ court: Warrants needed for cellphone tracking.”

You can access yesterday’s unanimous ruling of the Supreme Court of New Jersey at this link.

Tough address for an appellate attorney: Just heard from an appellate attorney reader of the blog whose office address is One Page Avenue. It may be time to relocate to 14000 Word Boulevard.

Update: If Google Maps is any indication, 14000 Word Road exists in Dillwyn, Virginia; 14000 Word Terrace exists in Suffolk, Virginia; and 14000 Word Street can be found in Dallas, Texas.

“Louisiana funeral directors want ruling that allows St. Joseph Abbey monks to sell caskets overturned”: The Times-Picayune of New Orleans has this report.

Update: The petition for writ of certiorari can be accessed here.

“N.Y. Times Reporter Must Testify on Source, Court Says”: Tom Schoenberg of Bloomberg News has a report that begins, “New York Times reporter James Risen must say at a trial whether former CIA official Jeffrey Sterling, accused of leaking classified information, was a source for his book, a federal appeals court ruled.”

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

Update: In other coverage, Josh Gerstein of Politico.com reports that “Court reignites reporters’ privilege controversy.”

“Judicial Picks Loom as Next Battle”: In today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, Brent Kendall and Rebecca Ballhaus of The Wall Street Journal have an article that begins, “This week’s bipartisan Senate deal ended a dispute over some of President Barack Obama’s stalled executive-branch nominees, but a coming fight over judicial nominees may prove even trickier to resolve.”

You can freely access the full text of the article via Google News.