The Los Angeles Times is reporting: Today’s newspaper contains articles headlined “Flurry of Court Rulings, with More Ahead, on Gay Unions“; “Specter Sees Pluses in His Spying Bill“; and “Unsettling Days for King of Class Actions; Prosecutors may want to indict William Lerach, but his career and the shareholder suits he pioneered are booming.”

In newz from New Zealand: The Wairarapa Times-Age reported last Thursday that “Woman cop moonlighted as prostitute.”

And last Friday’s edition of The New Zealand Herald reported that “Policewoman prostitute earned $500-a-night.”

The Providence (R.I.) Journal is reporting: An article in today’s newspaper headlined “GOP fights for control of Congress; The midterm congressional elections tend to receive less attention than presidential elections, but they sometimes bring equally important shifts in the nation’s political direction” states as follows:

As he approaches the final election cycle of his administration, the biggest question to be settled this fall may be Mr. Bush’s ability to complete his transformation of the federal judiciary — and perhaps the Supreme Court.

From Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., to the dozens of judges he has placed in federal district and appeals courts, Mr. Bush has accomplished a substantial rightward shift in the courts that will probably endure well beyond his presidency.

But if age or ill health opens a seat now held by the Supreme Court’s liberal bloc, Mr. Bush might put a truly historic imprint on the judicial branch, said Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution in Washington. A Senate controlled by the Democrats could frustrate that ambition.

A Democratic takeover would make Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, an outspoken liberal from Vermont, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, with the power to bottle up any judicial nomination. Mann said Mr. Bush could be forced to negotiate with the Democrats to win confirmation of any nominee to the high court.

And in other news, “State’s high court sees fewer dissents; Court observers also note that the Rhode Island Supreme Court issues fewer anonymous opinions than in previous years.”

Images from Brainerd, Minnesota and the surrounding region: Thanks to the Eighth Circuit Judicial Conference, my wife and I had the pleasure of spending much of last week in and around Brainerd, Minnesota.

On Wednesday, we decided to drive through much of the Paul Bunyan Scenic Byway. Here’s a photo we took at the outset of that trip. Farmhouses in the shape of hats were popular in the area. And if you were searching for bales of hay, you’ve come to the right place.

On the way back to the resort, we stopped in the town of Nisswa, where we walked around a bit. Because it was a Wednesday afternoon, turtle races were on the agenda. Word is that the newest U.S. District Judge for the District of Minnesota, as a youth, once raced turtles there. The Paul Bunyan State Trail also crosses through Nisswa, as shown in this photo.

On Thursday morning, I delivered my remarks. After lunch, my wife and I headed to the “beach,” which in that area of Minnesota is the term used to refer to a man-made patch of sand near a lake. I brought reading material apropos of the setting, Linda Greenhouse’s book “Becoming Justice Blackmun.” At lunch earlier that day, my wife and I dined with Senior Eighth Circuit Judge Gerald W. Heaney and his lovely wife, and Judge Heaney (who served together with then-Judge Blackmun on the Eighth Circuit for nearly four years) was kind enough to share some of his first-hand Justice Blackmun stories. As a non-judge, the least I could do was wear a Major League Baseball umpire’s cap, given the “calling balls and strikes” rhetoric that was so big during the recent U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings.

Thursday evening consisted of dinner outside at a Minnesota lakes event. Here’s a photo of my wife and me at dinner; Judge Heaney and his wife appear just behind my wife’s shoulder in that photo. After dinner, the guests were invited to take a tour of Gull Lake on pontoon boats. With nearly every Article III, bankruptcy, and magistrate judge from within the Eighth Circuit in attendance, not to mention a U.S. Supreme Court Justice and judges’ families, there was lots of security on hand at all times. During the pontoon boat rides, security boats trailed behind to ensure that the event on the water remained as peaceful as the events on the land had been. The shoreline of Gull Lake featured many lovely homes, and this particularly large one is for sale.

After the pontoon boat rides, it was almost time for s’mores and a campfire sing-along. Here’s a pre-ignition photo of the bonfire ring, and the print at the very bottom of the sign states that “Destruction of this sign will result in a $25 charge.” I do not know whether that sign survived the night. Once afire, the ring gave off a tremendous amount of heat. If my marshmallows were as well-cooked as my hand that was holding the stick, the s’mores I made would have been all the more tasty.

On Friday, after the Judicial Conference drew to a close, it was time to head back to the airport in Minneapolis. On our way out of town, my wife and I stopped at the Brainerd Welcome Center, where a large Paul Bunyan statue wished us farewell.

“Candid phone calls cast doubt on Cantu review; Investigators are heard mocking the claim of wrongful execution, but DA denies any bias”: This article appears today in The Houston Chronicle.

“The Judiciary Strikes Back: The government fails to kill off a court challenge to NSA snooping.” Patrick Radden Keefe has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“GOP lawmakers take aim at U.S. judiciary; Upset over rulings, some in House pursue ‘jurisdiction stripping'”: This article appears today in The Baltimore Sun.

And on Friday, The St. Petersburg Times published an editorial entitled “Meddling moves against the courts.”

“Civil rights hiring shifted in Bush era; Conservative leanings stressed”: Charlie Savage has this article today in The Boston Globe.

“San Diego cross may provide national legal test”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “Six of the current Supreme Court justices had other jobs when an atheist sued this city for permitting a giant cross in a public park. Ronald Reagan was president, the Christian Coalition was new and ‘values’ had yet to become a buzzword of American politics.”