“Scalia, Breyer Debate Unanimity on the High Court”: law.com’s Tony Mauro provides this report.

“Death row lawyers put on notice; Texas highest criminal court sets standards for dumping attorneys for shoddy work”: This article appears today in The Austin American-Statesman.

“I am convinced that to treat drunk driving convictions, however numerous, as ‘violent felonies’ is unwarranted by the language of the ACCA and is contrary to the intent of Congress.” So writes Circuit Judge Michael W. McConnell, in a dissent issued today from a three-judge panel’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. In that dissent, Judge McConnell recognizes that his view is not only contrary to the decision his Tenth Circuit colleagues reach today, but his dissenting view is also contrary to recent holdings of the Seventh and Eighth Circuits (the latter, sitting en banc).

Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200: The Associated Press provides a report headlined “Court Denies Skilling’s Bail Request” that begins, “A federal appellate court denied former Enron Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling’s request to remain free during his appeal Tuesday and ordered him imprisoned immediately.”

The Associated Press is reporting: Now available online are articles headlined “Government Appeals Currency Redesign” and “Terror Case Shows Bush, Libertarian Rift.”

By a vote of 9-7, en banc Fifth Circuit overturns Texas state court death sentence on a finding of a Penry violation: You can access the en banc ruling, dated yesterday but posted online today, at this link. The 161-page en banc ruling consists of a majority opinion, a concurrence, and four separate dissenting opinions. Odds are good that if you aren’t familiar with Penry yet, you will be by the time you are done reading today’s lengthy adjudication.

Update: A reader emails to note that Circuit Judge James L. Dennis gives a shout-out to his current law clerks — Kevin Kneupper, Jelani Jefferson, and Bradley Meissner — in footnote one of his concurring opinion on page 48 of the PDF file. Sadly, only one of those law clerks appears to have a blog, while another appears to be mentioned on page 19 of this Harvard Law School fundraising brochure. Assuming that Judge Dennis is the only member of the en banc court to have offered a law clerk shout-out, it would appear that the en banc Fifth Circuit is aligned 15-1 against law clerk shout-outs.

“Colleges ask court to delay Proposal 2; State schools want to stall action for Class of ’07; U-M may back off challenge of affirmative action ban”: This article appears today in The Detroit News.

The Detroit Free Press reports today that “Universities want some more time on Prop 2; They cite fairness; U-M drops threat.”

The Ann Arbor News reports that “U-M files for delay on Prop 2; MSU, Wayne State also seek to retain policies for 2007 admissions.”

And The Michigan Daily contains an article headlined “‘U’ seeks to delay Prop 2; MSU, Wayne co-file motion” and a news analysis headlined “Is ‘U’ softening its strategy? Milder tack could prevent backlash from voters, legislators.”

I have uploaded here and here yesterday’s court filings that are the subject of these news reports.

“Akin Gump Strikes Deal With Larry Tribe”: Peter Lattman has this post today at WSJ.com’s “Law Blog.”

Does Ohio’s DOMA constitutional amendment affect whether that State’s domestic violence law applies to unmarried persons? The Columbus Dispatch today contains an article headlined “Domestic-assault case tests effects of ’04 marriage law” that begins, “When Ohioans voted two years ago to outlaw same-sex marriages, they also might have stripped away defenses for unmarried partners in abusive relationships, domestic-violence attorneys will argue today in a case before the state Supreme Court.”

The court provides this summary about the case, and you can view the oral argument live, online by clicking here (RealPlayer required). The court is now (at 10:40 a.m. eastern time) hearing oral argument in the immediately preceding case on today’s oral argument calendar.

Update: At 11 a.m. eastern time, Ohio’s highest court has begun hearing oral argument in this case. Second update: Oral argument of the case concluded at 11:39 a.m. eastern time. Archived video of the oral argument should soon be available via this link.

“States, news groups back Chronicle’s BALCO reporters; Appeals court to decide whether to jail men for withholding grand jury transcript source”: This article appears today in The San Francisco Chronicle.

And The Associated Press reports that “States Side With SF Chronicle Reporters.”

Thanks for propelling “How Appealing” into second place in the voting for “Best Law Blog” in The 2006 Weblog Awards: Just 24 hours ago, “How Appealing” had fallen to third place in the polls, trailing some British law blog that I had never heard of before this contest began. But my readers valiantly answered yesterday’s plea, voting in droves to ensure that “How Appealing” now holds second place by approximately 200 votes over the third place blog.

“The Volokh Conspiracy” continues to maintain an insurmountable and well-deserved 600+ vote lead in first place, so please continue to vote once every 24 hours between now and December 15th, when the polls will close, to assure that “How Appealing” remains in second place.

You can vote once every 24 hours per web browser, so if you haven’t voted recently, please do so by clicking here.

A reason for bloggers to praise The New York Times: I just noticed a new feature available at the web site of The New York Times. Immediately below the headlines of newly published articles, and to the right of the beginning of the text of those articles, are a series of links that now include a brand-new option titled “Share.” Clicking on the “Share” option launches several other options, including one titled “Permalink.”

Selecting the “Permalink” option launches a new window providing access to a link that The New York Times describes as follows: “Using this link will ensure access to the article, even after it becomes part of the NYT archive.”

Previously, the only way that a blogger could ensure that he or she was linking to an NYTimes article that would not eventually become no longer freely available once consigned to that newspaper’s archives was to use the RSS link that could either be generated via Blogspace or searched for manually using the newspaper’s own RSS page.

Unfortunately, not every article published in each day’s newspaper received an RSS link from the NYTimes, and therefore those articles that did not receive an RSS link would eventually become largely unavailable for free in the NYTimes archive.

Earlier this morning, I linked to a NYTimes article headlined “Bill on Civil Unions Moves Forward in New Jersey.” No RSS link was available for that article either through Blogspace or the NYTimes’ own RSS page. However, using the NYTimes’ new “Permalink” option, I was nonetheless able to use this link to the article, which the newspaper says will provide full access to the article even after first of my two links to the article in this paragraph directs the user to the NYTimes archive.

What’s happening here is that The NYTimes is making it easier for bloggers to link to articles published in that newspaper in a way that — weeks, months, and years from now — will enable others who click on those links to freely access the full text of those articles without either needing to have a TimesSelect subscription or needing to pay for full access. Here’s an example: this is an RSS pass-through link to an article published on November 1, 2005 headlined “President Picks Judge on Appeals Court for O’Connor’s Seat.” By contrast, click here to see what sort of access to that very same article you’d receive if I had not furnished the RSS permalink.

As before, bloggers will of course have to execute a few more mouse-clicks to provide their readers with permalinks to NYTimes content, but I’m hoping that other bloggers will realize the value to their readers and their own archives in doing so.

“Skilling prison date postponed; 5th Circuit asks time for ‘careful consideration’ of his bail request, sets no timetable”: This article appears today in The Houston Chronicle.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports today that “Waseca will have to wait for former Enron CEO; A court has stayed the order requiring Jeff Skilling to report to the federal prison in Waseca by Tuesday afternoon.”

And The Washington Post reports that “Skilling’s Arrival In Prison Delayed; Court Weighs Bail Pending Appeal.”

“Letter reveals shooter’s anger; It says lawyer ‘destroyed his life'”: The Chicago Tribune today contains an article that begins, “Angry, misspelled words and rambling sentences, scrawled by the hand of the man who last week killed three and tore a downtown law firm apart with gunfire, sketch a rough-edged portrait of a frustrated, fragile mind that would eventually break. Joe Jackson, a would-be inventor with a plan for a tractor-trailer toilet, believed a patent attorney had stolen his idea.” Some excerpts from the letter can be viewed online at this link.

And the newspaper also reports today that “Shooting rampage casts pall of anxiety; Visitors to high-rise say they are scared.”

“Judge Rejects Injunction Against ‘Borat'”: The Associated Press provides this report.

And BBC News reports that “Move to block Borat DVD rejected; A move by two university students to halt the forthcoming DVD release of the spoof movie Borat has been rejected by a Los Angeles judge.”

“Senate panel approves civil unions bill; Gay pairs a step closer to marriage equality”: This article appears today in The Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger.

The New York Times reports today that “Bill on Civil Unions Moves Forward in New Jersey.”

And The Philadelphia Inquirer reports today that “N.J. civil-union bill rushes to a vote.”

“So This Manatee Walks Into the Internet”: The New York Times today contains this article recounting the story of why the NBC television show “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” purchased the domain name www.hornymanatee.com.

“Novel Legal Challenge to Wal-Mart Appears To Be Faltering on Coast”: Josh Gerstein has this article today in The New York Sun.

“High court’s majestic library off limits; Repository of law getting makeover, closed until 2008”: Joan Biskupic has this article today in USA Today.

“Victim-photo ruling is reversed; The Supreme Court unanimously reinstates a murder conviction that a California-based court rejected based on grieving observers’ pins”: David G. Savage has this article today in The Los Angeles Times. The newspaper also contains an editorial entitled “The 9th Circuit’s deserved slap: Supreme Court rebuff in death penalty case points to a recurring problem with the appeals panel.”

In today’s issue of USA Today, Joan Biskupic reports that “Murder conviction stands in Supreme Court case; Lower court had said buttons worn by spectators might have biased jury.”

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that “Murder verdict upheld — appeals court lacked jurisdiction.”

The San Jose Mercury News reports that “Buttons of victims permitted at trials; Supreme Court rules in San Jose murder case.” And an editorial is entitled “Ruling misses opportunity to clarify courtroom displays.”

“Miller-Jenkins v. Miller-Jenkins, and Vermont versus Virginia: How One Contested Custody Case Illustrates the Perils of Non-Uniform State Marriage and Parentage Laws.” Joanna Grossman has this essay online today at FindLaw.