“White House denies Cheney endorsed water boarding”: McClatchy Newspapers provide this report.

Available online from law.com: Marcia Coyle reports that “Supreme Court Revisits Punitive Damages; With justices divided 4-3 over constitutional limits, views of Roberts and Alito may shape jurisprudence.”

In other news, “9th Circuit Rejects Overtime for Adjusters in Farmer’s Insurance Class Action.”

An article reports that “11th Circuit Asked to Clarify Corporate Liability.”

And the new installment of my “On Appeal” column is headlined “Making the Most of Appellate Oral Argument.”

“ACLU Drops Patriot Act Challenge”: The Associated Press provides this report.

“Justices Agree to Hear 1925(b) Case”: The Legal Intelligencer provides this news update. I discussed the case in question in my recent “On Appeal” column for law.com headlined “How Many Issues Should You Raise on Appeal?”

“Maryland judge: Topless photo didn’t violate privacy.” The Associated Press provides this report. And you can access last week’s opinion of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland at this link. The Daily Record of Baltimore provided earlier coverage when the lawsuit was filed. (Via “Above the Law.”)

“That possession is nine-tenths of the law is a truism hardly bearing repetition. Statements to this effect have existed almost as long as the common law itself.” A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit today issued an opinion that begins, “This case concerns the ownership of papers from the administrations of two governors of South Carolina during the Civil War.”

In that opinion, written by Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, the Fourth Circuit affirms a federal district court’s ruling that the State of South Carolina “failed to establish that the papers constituted public property under South Carolina law of the Civil War era.” As a result, a man who, according to today’s opinion, “found the papers in 1999 or 2000 in a shopping bag in a closet at his late stepmother’s home” retains ownership of the documents.

In October 2004, Civil War News published a report headlined “South Carolina Claims Documents General’s Family Wants To Sell.” And in August 2005, The Associated Press reported that “Judge rules Confederate letters belong to state.” That bankruptcy court ruling was later reversed by the federal district court ruling that the Fourth Circuit affirmed today.

“A Big Night for Judge Wallace in San Diego”: The Public Information Office of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has issued a news release that begins, “Senior Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit received the American Judicature Society’s 2005 Edward J. Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Award at an Oct. 19 ceremony in San Diego.” A list of past recipients of the award can be accessed here.

“ADF attorneys appeal Poway ‘T-shirt’ case to U.S. Supreme Court; Nation’s highest court asked to reverse the 9th Circuit’s approval of censorship of Christian students”: Alliance Defense Fund issued this press release today. You can access the cert. petition at this link.

“White House Denies Cheney OK’d Torture”: The Associated Press provides this report. My earlier coverage appears here.

“Court to hear four new cases”: Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.” You can access today’s Order List at this link.

In early news coverage, The Associated Press provides reports headlined “Supreme Court Intervenes in Patent Fight“; “High Court to Hear Autism Lawsuit Case“; and “Supreme Court to Hear Police Chase Case.”

“Crack Cocaine Sentencing Rules Hit 20”: This audio segment (RealPlayer required) appeared on today’s broadcast of NPR‘s “Morning Edition.”

I previously published here some additional views on the issue.

In jurisprudence essays available online from Slate: Law Professor Judith Resnik has an essay entitled “When the Justice Department Played Defense: Congress gives the 2002 torture memos a weird upside.”

And Law Professor Tim Wu has an essay entitled “Does YouTube Really Have Legal Problems?: How the Bell Lobby helped midwife YouTube.”

“To ‘respect and protect’: Bishop ordained, speaks in favor of state abortion ban.” The Argus Leader of Sioux Falls, South Dakota contains this article today.

“G.O.P. Moves Fast to Reignite Issue of Gay Marriage”: This article appears today in The New York Times, along with articles headlined “Corzine Tells Legislators He Backs Civil Unions Over Same-Sex Marriage” and “Clinton Wouldn’t Block Law if Albany Backs Gay Marriage.”

The Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger today contains articles headlined “Lawmakers cool to gay marriage; State legislators showing more support for civil union law“; “Fight to add amendment is still uphill“; “Kean insists he supports civil unions; Senate candidate says he hasn’t switched positions on gay rights“; and “A prudent move but hardly a timid one, court experts say.”

The Trenton Times reports that “Gay marriage lacks political support; After court ruling, legislators lean to civil unions.”

The Washington Post contains articles headlined “Religious Conservatives Cheer Ruling on Gays as Wake-Up Call” and “N.J. Ruling Could Yield Backlash at Nov. Polls.”

The Los Angeles Times contains articles headlined “A state with gay-friendly laws faces a fight over partnerships; New Jersey’s Legislature has 180 days to legalize same-sex marriage or civil unions” and “A letdown for state’s same-sex couples; This week’s ruling in New Jersey is likely to make California justices more ‘restrained’ on the question of gay marriage, experts say.” The newspaper also contains an editorial entitled “Right approach on gay marriage: As California prepares to review the issue, a New Jersey court upholds the rights of all committed couples.”

The Boston Globe reports that “GOP seizes on N.J. ruling to rally religious conservatives; Presses voters to back bans on same-sex nuptials.” In addition, the newspaper contains an editorial entitled “New Jersey’s opportunity.”

The Chicago Tribune contains an editorial entitled “Marriage by any other name.”

And USA Today contains an editorial entitled “This time, judges find sensible compromise on gay unions; N.J. court protects rights, leaves ‘marriage’ up to lawmakers,” while Peter Sprigg has an op-ed entitled “Where’s judicial restraint? N.J. court just can’t go around ordering Legislature to make laws.”

“Justice’s TV ad a hard hitter; Wiggins rebuts Hunstein attack”: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution today contains an article that begins, “One of the most personal attack ads of Georgia’s election season is up and running on television, and it doesn’t involve any candidates for governor. It’s from an incumbent Georgia Supreme Court justice.”

“3,000 to be called for jury selection in Padilla trial”: This article appears today in The South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

No rest for the Wiccans: From Florida, The Associated Press reports that “Court rejects Wiccans’ tax challenge.”

You can access yesterday’s order of the Supreme Court of Florida at this link.

“Alito protege sworn in as U.S. attorney in Miami; R. Alexander Acosta was officially sworn in as the U.S. attorney in Miami by his former boss, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito”: Yesterday’s edition of The Miami Herald contained this article.

“Jury says paralegal guilty in stabbing; The jury rejects the ‘stand your ground’ defense in the manslaughter case”: This article appears today in The St. Petersburg Times.

The Harvard Crimson is reporting: Today’s newspaper contains articles headlined “More Similarities in Law Prof’s Book; For second time, passages found in Ogletree’s work nearly identical to other text” and “Crimson Cuts Columnist for Lifting Material; Online magazine Slate says it won’t pursue action against paper.”

The second of these two items also receives coverage today in The Boston Globe, in an article headlined “Harvard Crimson says writer lifted material; Student paper expresses regret.”

What is the numerical value of “not guilty”? The Washington Post reports today that “Murder Trial Juror Booted for Invoking Numerology.”

“Malvo Questioned In Arizona Shooting”: This article appears today in The Washington Post.

“Cheney’s Remarks Fuel Torture Debate; Critics Say He Backed Waterboarding”: The Washington Post contains this article today.

And McClatchy Newspapers report that “Cheney confirms that detainees were subjected to water-boarding.”

“Law Firms Are Starting to Adopt Outsourcing”: This article appears today in The New York Times.

“Reprimand for a Justice Who Met With Inmates”: Today in The New York Times, Adam Liptak has an article that begins, “A special panel of the Washington Supreme Court made up of nine substitute judges reprimanded one of the court’s justices yesterday for visiting a facility that holds sexually violent predators.”

And The Seattle Times reports today that “Justice admonished for visiting inmates.”

My earlier coverage appears at this link.

“Sen. Arlen Specter on how Democrats’ control of Senate could affect future Supreme Court”: The Wall Street Journal Online is today providing free access to this video segment.

“$79.5M in punitive damages at core of Supreme Court case; Philip Morris says judgment violates guarantee of due process of law”: Joan Biskupic has this article today in USA Today.

“How Will the Roberts Court Interpret the Establishment Clause? The Consequences of a Shift Away from Justice O’Connor’s ‘Endorsement’ Test for Government-Sponsored Displays of Religious Messages and Symbols.” Vikram David Amar and Alan Brownstein have this essay today at FindLaw.