“Dear President Obama, This Is Why Judges Matter: Two Bush appointees deliver body blows to reproductive rights — and demonstrate the power of the bench.
” Emily Bazelon and Dahlia Lithwick have this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Bring Back the Guillotine: Lethal injection is the wrong way to do capital punishment; Severing the head is the better way to go.” John Kruzel has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Next step in stop-frisk depends on new NYC mayor”: The Associated Press has this report.

And Reuters has a report headlined “New York’s de Blasio would drop stop-and-frisk appeal: source.”

“The Fight to Criminalize Early-Term Abortions: New rulings in Texas and Oklahoma could challenge the last remnant of Roe v. Wade.” Dahlia Lithwick has this essay online at Slate.

“Shut Up, Judge! A misguided appeals court tries to silence — and quash — stop-and-frisk Judge Shira Scheindlin.” Emily Bazelon has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Fan injured by hot dog suing Kan. City Royals”: The Associated Press has this report.

My earlier coverage of the case can be accessed here.

“After Court Ruling, 9 Abortion Providers End Services”: The Texas Tribune has this report.

“Obama administration again backs University of Texas in affirmative action case”: Josh Gerstein of Politico.com has this blog post.

“Chief’s chance to finish reforms”: Today’s edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer contains an editorial that begins, “Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille hasn’t had the luxury of ignoring the state’s most troubled courts. He presides over one of them.”

One week ago today, columnist Stu Bykofsky had an op-ed in The Philadelphia Daily News titled “Supreme choice.”

On October 22, 2013, The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania posted online an essay written by Matt Birkbeck titled “Chief Justice Castille still has some explaining to do.”

And in news coverage, in last Saturday’s edition of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Paula Reed Ward and Timothy McNulty had an article headlined “Pa. judges worrying shutdown may imperil re-election chances.”

“Sandusky asks Pa. high court to take his case”: The Associated Press has this report.

“D.C. appeals court backs challenge to Obamacare contraception mandate”: The Washington Times has this news update.

The Associated Press reports that “Appeals court deals blow to contraceptive mandate.”

The Hill has a blog post titled “Court strikes down mandate for birth control in ObamaCare.”

At “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Zoe Tillman has a post titled “D.C. Circuit: Contraceptive Mandate Violates Religious Freedom.”

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “A split ruling on birth-control mandate.”

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

“Texas Women’s Clinics Cease Abortions Under Court Ruling”: Bloomberg News has this report.

Divided three-judge D.C. Circuit panel rules that the contraceptive mandate imposed by the Affordable Care Act trammels the right of free exercise as protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act: You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at this link.

Circuit Judge Janice Rogers Brown delivered the opinion of the Court. Senior Circuit Judge A. Raymond Randolph concurred in part and concurred in the judgment. And Senior Circuit Judge Harry T. Edwards issued an opinion concurring in part but dissenting from the overall outcome of today’s ruling.

“Legislative leaders consider not writing gay marriage into N.J. law, for now at least”: The Newark Star-Ledger has this report.

“Obama tilts federal judiciary back toward Democrats; Nation’s appeals and district courts, long dominated by Republican appointees, are evenly split as the GOP seeks to slow or block Obama’s agenda”: In today’s edition of USA Today, Richard Wolf has this front page article.

“National groups send a prayer to the Supreme Court”: Lawrence Hurley of Reuters has a report that begins, “Bankrolled by powerful outside interests, what began as a dispute aired in the pages of a town’s local newspaper next week moves to the U.S. Supreme Court where justices could potentially roll back legal precedents that limit the role of religion in public life.”

And Religion News Service reports that “Supreme Court to consider religious prayer at government meetings.”

“Wife Poisoning Husband’s Lover Tests Weapons Law at High Court”: Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News has this report.