law.com’s Tony Mauro is reporting: He has articles headlined “Pressure Is on Obama to Name First Hispanic Supreme Court Justice” and “High Court Water Law Case Misses Its Master.”

“Family of Slain Lawyer Sues Three Former Housemates; Complaint Alleges Men Conspired To Cover Up Crime”: The Washington Post today contains an article that begins, “The widow and family of a prominent Washington lawyer who was stabbed to death in 2006 filed a $20 million lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court yesterday, alleging that three friends of his concealed evidence and lied to police in a cover-up.”

“Justice admits to taunting Mukasey”: This article appears today in The Olympian of Olympia, Washington. Earlier today, I rounded-up some additional related news coverage at this link.

Available online from Bloggingheads.tv: Law Professors Jack Balkin and Eric Posner have a diavlog titled “National Security, Post-Bush” in which they discuss various subjects including “Will Obama pick ideological liberals for the Supreme Court?” and “How Obama will handle domestic surveillance.”

And a diavlog titled “Even Further Beyond the Hart-Dworkin Debate” features Law Professors Brian Leiter and Scott Shapiro.

“Truth or Consequences? Why can’t we hold torturers accountable and still find out the truth?” Dahlia Lithwick has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Seale arguments set for May; Panel says conviction fell under five-year statute of limitations for kidnapping”: The Associated Press provides this report.

The article mentions Fifth Circuit Judge Jerry E. Smith‘s dissent from the order granting rehearing en banc, which I discussed last night in a post you can access here.

“Democratic Agenda vs. Conservative Courts”: Harper Jean Tobin has this recent entry at “The Huffington Post.”

“Clarity, simplicity, and brevity are underrated qualities in legal advocacy.” Heading into the Thanksgiving holiday, Seventh Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner today issued an opinion containing some advice for lawyers, observing that “Although the dual federal-state regulatory scheme for the telecommunications industry is complex and even arcane, the parties did not have to assault us with 206 pages of briefs, brimming with jargon and technical detail, in order to be able to present the issues on appeal adequately.”

“Jury delivers mixed verdict in MySpace bullying trial; Lori Drew of Missouri is convicted of misdemeanor charges, but the L.A. jury deadlocks on felony conspiracy count; Drew had a fake relationship online with Megan Meier, 13, who committed suicide”: Scott Glover of The Los Angeles Times has this news update.

How has the Great Depression of 2008 affected the market for U.S. Supreme Court Justice bobblehead dolls from The Green Bag? Now up for auction at eBay are a Justice Anthony M. Kennedy bobblehead doll (net proceeds from the sale of the AMK bobblehead, I’m told, to be donated to the Combined Federal Campaign) and a Justice Louis D. Brandeis bobblehead doll (more Brandeis bobblehead auction details at this link). As of this moment, neither bobblehead has attracted any bids.

Access online the judicial misconduct complaint that L. Ralph Mecham, former head of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, has filed against Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski: As I first noted in this post last night, Cynthia Cotts of Bloomberg News yesterday had an article headlined “Retired U.S. Court Executive Files Kozinski Complaint.”

The Bloomberg article reports that Mecham supplied a copy of his misconduct complaint to Bloomberg. Mecham filed his complaint with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which has been assigned to handle certain judicial misconduct complaints against Chief Judge Kozinski.

The cover page of Mecham’s complaint identifies the judges against whom his Complaint of Judicial Misconduct applies as “Chief Judge Alex Kozinski principally but also Judge Mary M. Schroeder and Judge Sidney R. Thomas.” Mecham has signed the misconduct complaint under a declaration stating, “I declare under penalty of perjury that the statements made in this complaint are true and correct to the best of my knowledge.” The complaint is dated November 21, 2008.

I have posted online Mecham’s judicial misconduct complaint, minus exhibits and cover pages, at this link. Rulings on judicial misconduct complaints must be made available to the public, but proceedings on judicial misconduct complaints are usually conducted in a private and confidential manner, although the subject of a judicial misconduct proceeding has the ability to waive confidentiality. And, as is now obvious, the person filing a judicial misconduct complaint has the ability to publicize the initiation of the proceeding and the allegations at issue. You can access the “Rules for Judicial-Conduct and Judicial-Disability Proceedings” at this link.

“Jury convicts mom of lesser charges in online hoax”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “A jury on Wednesday was unable to reach a verdict on the main conspiracy charge and instead convicted a Missouri woman of three minor offenses for her role in an Internet hoax that apparently drove a 13-year-old girl to suicide.”

At “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Orin Kerr has posts titled “What Does the Lori Drew Verdict Mean?” and “Lori Drew Jury Reaches a Verdict.”

“Searching Steven Hatfill”: Michael Doyle of McClatchy’s Washington Bureau has this post today at his new “Suits & Sentences” blog.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has made available via this link the unsealed search warrant-related documents.

On an interlocutory appeal by permission, the Sixth Circuit affirms a federal district court’s refusal to dismiss claims alleging that Ohio’s voting system violates voters’ rights to equal protection of the law and substantive due process: You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit at this link.

“Court says lukewarm food hot enough for prison”: Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “State prison rules say inmates are entitled to two hot meals a day – but it’s up to prison officials to decide how hot is hot enough, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the California Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District, Division One, at this link.

“U.S. Muslims Taken Aback by a Charity’s Conviction”: The New York Times contains this article today.

“Florida ban on gay adoptions ruled unconstitutional; A gay North Miami man is allowed to adopt the two foster children he has raised since 2004 after a juvenile court judge declared a state ban unconstitutional”: This article appears today in The Miami Herald.

And The New York Times reports today that “Florida Gay Adoption Ban Is Ruled Unconstitutional.”

You can access yesterday’s trial court ruling at this link.

“Freed Guantanamo prisoner arrives home in Yemen; Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a former driver and bodyguard to Osama bin Laden, will serve the remaining month of his sentence in his homeland”: Carol J. Williams has this article today in The Los Angeles Times.

And today in The Miami Herald, Carol Rosenberg reports that “Bin Laden’s driver will finish jail time in Yemen; The Pentagon has sent Osama bin Laden’s driver from Guantanamo to his native Yemen to serve out his prison sentence, three months after a military jury convicted him of war crimes.”

“State Supreme Court: Sentence for sex offenders overruled; Life in prison breaks Eighth Amendment.” Bill Rankin has this article today in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Georgia at this link.

“Nichols’ delusion danger debated; Prosecutor prods psychiatrist about whether killer still a threat”: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contains this article today.

“Gay rights leaders plan $1-million war chest to defend judges who back same-sex marriage; At a ‘virtual’ town hall meeting, they also discuss putting a new gay-marriage question before voters, perhaps as soon as 2010”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.

“Journal asks high court to make Station jury questionnaires public”: The Providence (R.I.) Journal today contains an article that begins, “Two years after 421 prospective jurors filled out questionnaires eliciting their opinions about the tragic Station nightclub fire that claimed 100 lives, The Providence Journal’s fight to open those records is bound for the Rhode Island Supreme Court.”

“New Details on F.B.I.’s False Start in Anthrax Case”: This article appears today in The New York Times.

The Washington Post reports today that “In Anthrax Probe, Focus on Hatfill Relied on Informants.”

And The Los Angeles Times reports that “FBI’s early anthrax hunches revealed in documents; The unsealed papers show how the FBI came to think Steven J. Hatfill was responsible for the deadly 2001 anthrax mailings.”

“US judge rejects call for recusal”: Today in The Boston Globe, Jonathan Saltzman has an article that begins, “A federal district court judge yesterday refused to disqualify herself from the case of a man suing the Boston Police Department for a wrongful conviction in three rapes though the city said remarks she made from the bench betrayed a ‘deep-seated favoritism and antagonism.'”

“ER doc/wife of Gibbs & Bruns associate tends to fallen U.S. attorney general”: Yesterday at Texas Lawyer’s “Tex Parte Blog,” Brenda Sapino Jeffreys had a post that begins, “Dr. Lisa Cooper, an emergency room doctor in Houston who is married to Gibbs & Bruns associate Matthew Cooper, got a chance to use her skills on U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey when he collapsed on Nov. 20 while giving a speech in Washington, D.C.”

Readers of “How Appealing” learned of Dr. Cooper’s treatment of Attorney General Mukasey via this post on the morning of November 21, 2008.

“State justice confirms he yelled ‘Tyrant!’ at Mukasey before AG collapsed; Washington State Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders says that he yelled ‘Tyrant!’ at U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey during a Federalist Society speech in which Mukasey later collapsed at the podium”: This article appears today in The Seattle Times. The newspaper has posted online at this link a PDF copy of Justice Sanders’ statement.

The Olympian of Olympia, Washington has a news update headlined “Justice acknowledges yelling ‘tyrant’ at U.S. attorney general.”

And The Associated Press has a report headlined “Who yelled ‘tyrant’ at AG Mukasey? A judge.”