“BP Loses Bid to Require Proof of Losses in Spill Accord”: Jef Feeley and Laurel Brubaker Calkins of Bloomberg News have a report that begins, “BP Plc lost a bid to require businesses to provide proof their economic losses were caused by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill under a $9.2 billion settlement over the disaster.”

The Times-Picayune of New Orleans reports that “Some business claimants shouldn’t be required to prove damage from the BP oil spill, judge rules.”

Jonathan Stempel of Reuters reports that “Court rejects BP bid to require proof of Gulf oil spill losses.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Judge rules against BP in spill-settlement dispute.”

I have posted online at this link today’s ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

“Having considered the district court’s decision and the parties’ arguments concerning the stay factors, we conclude that a stay is not warranted.” A two-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit this evening issued an order denying the State of Utah’s motion for an emergency stay of a federal district judge’s recent decision allowing same-sex marriage in that state. The panel did, however, direct the clerk of court to issue an expedited appellate briefing schedule.

In early news coverage, The Salt Lake Tribune reports that “10th Circuit Court denies same-sex marriage stay; Court ruling gives OK for gays to keep getting marriage licenses in Utah.”

And The Associated Press has a report headlined “Federal court: No halt to gay marriages in Utah.”

“Same-Sex Marriage, The Legal Deluge”: Jeffrey Toobin has this blog post online today at The New Yorker.

“New Fair Housing Case Moves Forward…..With Judge Leon”: At WSJ.com’s “Law Blog,” Brent Kendall has this post.

“Ohio gay marriage ruling may just be beginning”: Amanda Lee Myers of The Associated Press has this report.

The Green Bag Almanac & Reader has posted online its 2013 Honorees for Exemplary Legal Writing: You can view the list by clicking here.

“Will An Appeals Court Stop Same-Sex Couples In Utah From Marrying On Christmas Eve? With no decision from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals at the end of the day Monday, more same-sex couples will be heading to clerks’ offices Tuesday to get married.” Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed has this report.

The Deseret News seeks to answer the question “What comes next for Utah marriage law?” A related article is headlined “About 700 marriage licenses issued in Utah since judge’s ruling; 1,500 rally to celebrate unexpected decision that led to gay weddings in Utah.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Utah turns to higher court to halt gay marriage.”

“The Constitution in 2014: The war on terrorism.” Lyle Denniston has this post, part one in a five-part series, today at the “Constitution Daily” blog of the National Constitution Center.

“Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling ripples through lower courts; Gay marriage activists are winning more cases in lower courts since the Supreme Court struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.