“Court throws out NCAA Final Four ‘lottery’ ruling”: Reuters has a report that begins, “A federal appeals court halted a lawsuit accusing the National Collegiate Athletic Association of running an illegal lottery in allocating seats to basketball’s Final Four and other popular sports tournaments. Citing potential ‘far-reaching effects’ from a ruling on the distribution of coveted tickets, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago threw out Monday its July ruling that revived a proposed nationwide class-action lawsuit by fans. The Seventh Circuit asked the Indiana Supreme Court to assess whether NCAA ticketing constituted an unlawful lottery under that state’s law. The NCAA is based in Indianapolis.”

You can access today’s per curiam decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on panel rehearing at this link.

My earlier coverage of the panel’s now-vacated original ruling can be accessed here.

Update: In other coverage, Bloomberg News reports that “Appeals Court Voids Earlier NCAA Lottery Ruling, Seeks Help on Indiana Law.”

“En banc Second Circuit rejects Apprendi challenge to NY persistent felony statute”: Law professor Doug Berman has this post at his “Sentencing Law and Policy” blog about an en banc ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued today.

Of note in today’s Second Circuit ruling, the majority uses “en banc,” while the dissent uses “in banc.”

“Supreme Court to decide whether Ashcroft can be sued by detained citizen”: Robert Barnes of The Washington Post has this news update.

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has a news update headlined “Supreme Court to decide civil liberties suit against John Ashcroft; The former attorney general is accused of misusing the law to arrest terrorism suspects under false pretenses; The Obama administration is appealing, saying that allowing such a case to go to trial would ‘severely damage law enforcement.’”

Joan Biskupic of USA Today has a news update headlined “Supreme Court to hear former AG’s appeal on 9/11 policy.”

Warren Richey of The Christian Science Monitor reports that “Supreme Court to hear Ashcroft appeal of US Muslim’s detention; A lower court has allowed a suit by an American Muslim, detained without charge in 2003 as a suspected material witness, to proceed against former Attorney General John Ashcroft; The Supreme Court says it will consider Ashcroft’s appeal.”

And Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Ashcroft to Get High Court Review of Lawsuit by Man Held as Terror Witness.”

In tomorrow’s issue of Pennsylvania Law Weekly: Tomorrow’s issue of Pennsylvania Law Weeky, a publication of The Legal Intelligencer, will contain articles about two appeals on which I have worked.

Gina Passarella will have an article headlined “Court Upholds $27 Mil. Verdict in Lackawanna Birth Defect Case.” My earlier coverage of the ruling appears at this link.

And Amaris Elliott-Engel will have an article headlined “Public Must Benefit From Use of Private Roads, Justices Rule.” My earlier coverage of the ruling appears at this link.

“A 10th Amendment Drama Fit for Daytime TV”: Adam Liptak will have this new installment of his “Sidebar” column in Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times.

“Hayes jury to decide: Life or Death.” This article appears today in The New Haven Register, along with an article headlined “Criminal minds: It took both Hayes and Komisarjevsky to raise danger quotient in triple homicide, experts say.”

The New York Times has a news update headlined “Triple-Murder Case Penalty Phase Starts.”

The Hartford Courant has a news update headlined “Defense: 2nd Defendant Will Loom Large In Penalty Phase Of Hayes’ Trial.” In addition, yesterday’s newspaper contained an article headlined “Steven Hayes: A Life In And Out Of Prison.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Jury weighs death in fatal Conn. home invasion.”

“Justices to Hear Suit of Ashcroft Over Detention”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this news update.

Access online today’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court: It is available at this link. The Court today granted review in one case.

In Pitre v. Cain, No. 09-9515, Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a dissent from the denial of certiorari.

In early news coverage, The Associated Press reports that “Court will hear appeal of ex-AG to stop lawsuit“; “High court turns down Mass. felons’ appeal“; “Court refuses request for open filings“; and “Court won’t review claim of mental impairment.”

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Ashcroft case granted.”

Access the transcript of Brian Lamb’s interview of Justice Stephen G. Breyer on last night’s broadcast of C-SPAN’s “Q & A“: The transcript is available at this link.

“Death, DNA and the Supreme Court”: This editorial appears today in The New York Times.

“Justices to weigh all cards in poker case”: The Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier today contains an article that begins, “The running battle over whether poker is a game of luck or skill heads to the S.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday, and the state’s top judges will determine if the public should be allowed to shuffle up and deal in the privacy of their own homes.”

“The Movie That Made a Supreme Court Justice”: Today’s edition of The New York Times contains this article.