“New Jersey marks state courts’ 60th anniversary”: Kate Coscarelli of The Newark Star-Ledger has this news update.

And late last month, she had a preview headlined “Court will decide host of hot topics in new term; Colleagues praise Justice Rabner’s ‘calm presence.’”

“Keeping the window into drug firms’ practices open”: Today in The Boston Globe, Alison Bass has an op-ed that begins, “In November, the Supreme Court will hear a case that could make it much more difficult for public officials to expose drug industry practices that put profits ahead of patients.”

“Libel lawsuit filed against Cape blogger”: The Boston Globe today contains an article which reports that “More than 500 blogger lawsuits have arisen in US courts – often generating more publicity than the posts that spawned them.”

“Palestinians Seek to Overturn Judgment, but There’s a $192.7 Million Catch”: This article appears today in The New York Times.

“Quicksand for Judges”: The Wall Street Journal today contains an editorial that begins, “Congress returns from August vacation this week, but for Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee the summer winddown kicked off closer to April. By the time they left town for recess, they had chalked up one of the slowest rates for judicial confirmations in modern times.”

“Chief Justice Roberts judges mock court case at UF”: This article appears today in The Independent Florida Alligator. Last Friday, the newspaper previewed the Chief Justice’s visit in an article headlined “Chief Justice visits UF.”

The Jacksonville Daily Record reports today that “Chief Justice Roberts comes to UF.”

Saturday’s edition of The Gainesville Sun reported that “Chief justice puts UF students to test.” And on Friday, the newspaper reported that “U.S. Chief Justice presides over UF moot court contest.”

And last Friday’s edition of The Ocala Star-Banner reported that “Law student from Ocala gets supreme opportunity; University of Florida’s Rob Davis will argue mock case before chief justice.”

“Appeals court upholds city zoning challenge”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “Federal appeals judges say zoning restrictions by Islamorada, Fla., to block chains such as Starbuck’s and Walgreen’s run counter to laws protecting interstate commerce.”

You can access here and here today’s rulings of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

“Kansas Supreme Court hears arguments on whether judges should be allowed to express views on issues”: This article appears today in The Kansas City Star.

“Conservatives: McCain anxiety prompts Supreme Court warning?” Alexander Bolton of The Hill has this report.

“State Supreme Court upholds barring proposal to reform government”: The Detroit Free Press has a news update that begins, “The Michigan Supreme Court today upheld a decision to bar the so-called Reform Michigan Government Now proposal from going before voters in November, agreeing with a lower court ruling that the sweeping and multifaceted proposal could not be considered as a constitutional amendment.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Mich. high court upholds ruling to keep constitution rewrite off ballot.”

“Court to explore rehearing in death case”: At “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post that begins, “The Supreme Court on Monday called for new legal briefs on possible rehearing — and, maybe, revision — of its ruling striking down the death penalty for the crime of child rape.”

You can access today’s order of the U.S. Supreme Court at this link.

“Lawyers admonished against discussing Kent case”: Mary Flood of The Houston Chronicle provides a news update that begins, “The Florida judge who will oversee the criminal trial of U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent issued a gag order in the case to prevent public discussion by parties or court personnel that could interfere with the trial. Senior U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson of Pensacola late Friday issued the order that also allows him to hold arguments and hearings in chambers and outside of the presence of the public and forbids courthouse personnel from relating information from those hearings to the public.”

Perhaps it won’t be long before news organizations are filing mandamus petitions asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to allow press access at those arguments and hearings.

Fifth Circuit holds unconstitutional a Texas statute that tolls the statute of limitations against defendants for as long as they are not present in Texas: You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit at this link.

Interestingly, the State of Texas had intervened to defend the constitutionality of the law, but both the district court and now the Fifth Circuit disagreed.

For what it’s worth, today’s opinion also appears to use the phrase “Hobson’s choice” improperly.

“GOP delegates eye Nov. 4 high court effect: Will Republicans be able to mobilize forces to block Obama nominees?” Tom Curry, national affairs writer for MSNBC, had this report last week.

“Indian plaintiffs appeal trust case ruling”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “A half-million American Indian plaintiffs are appealing a federal judge’s recent decision to award them much less than they wanted in a long-running trust case.”

“Justice Breyer Writing Another Book”: Tony Mauro has this post at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.”

“Plaintiffs, defendants find going slow in federal courts”: Michael Doyle of McClatchy Newspapers and John Ellis of The Fresno Bee have this article.

“Equal Before Mammon: The politics of pay discrimination.” James Surowiecki has this “The Financial Page” essay about Lilly Ledbetter in The Talk of the Town section of the September 15, 2008 issue of The New Yorker.