“Brian Nichols judge on a singular mission”: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday will contain an article that begins, “His chambers are down a corridor removed from the commotion, up a flight and beyond three security checkpoints. It’s there that, for most of the last eight months, DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Hilton Fuller, along with a staff of two and rotating security guards, has set up what amounts to an exile from the outside world.”

The article goes on to report: “In his 24 years as a judge, Fuller has tried cases equally gruesome to the four slayings with which Nichols is charged, and he’s rendered decisions that have reverberated far beyond his courtroom. But never has the spotlight shone as glaringly on him as it does in the case of State of Georgia v. Brian Gene Nichols. Nichols is charged in the March 11, 2005, shooting deaths of Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes and court reporter Julie Ann Brandau inside a Fulton County courtroom, sheriff’s deputy Hoyt Teasley outside the courthouse and customs agent David Wilhelm at Wilhelm’s Buckhead home. The trial takes place in the same courthouse from which Nichols escaped. It will be prosecuted by six attorneys from the Fulton County district attorney’s office who were colleagues of Barnes and Brandau. And, when trial opens Jan. 11, it will be covered by the national media and Court TV. The case is fraught with emotion. And Fuller is doing his best to shield himself from it.”

“Recent Flexing of Presidential Powers Had Personal Roots in Ford White House”: This article appears today in The New York Times.

“Appeals Court Rejects Brief Submitted by Ex-Judges”: Adam Liptak has this article today in The New York Times.

Liptak’s article contains some interesting comments from former D.C. Circuit Judge Abner J. Mikva, who was among the amici whose brief the D.C. Circuit rejected yesterday. According to the article:

Mr. Mikva said the rejection of his brief was motivated by personal animus, not politics. “It’s not political at all,” he said in an interview. “This was clearly aimed at me.”

The judges in the majority, Mr. Mikva said, were furious with him because he opposed allowing judges to accept free trips to resorts for seminars sponsored by private groups.

“They’re so close to retirement age,” Mr. Mikva said of the judges in the majority. “They really should grow up.”

It seems that even if the rejection of the amicus brief wasn’t intended as a personal affront to former Judge Mikva, the issue certainly has now become personal between him and his former colleagues still on that court.

The issue of judicial junkets is one that can give rise to strong feelings, but I hadn’t initially drawn any connection between yesterday’s rejection of an amicus brief in the Guantanamo detainees case and that issue. My earlier coverage of yesterday’s D.C. Circuit order can be accessed here.

And at “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Jonathan Adler has a post titled “NYT on Judicial Amicus Brief Rejection.”

“Truth, Justice, Abortion and the Times Magazine”: Byron Calame, the Public Editor for The New York Times, will have this essay tomorrow in that newspaper. The focus of Calame’s essay is an article about El Salvador headlined “Pro-Life Nation” that was the cover story of The New York Times Magazine on April 9, 2006.

“Gerald Ford’s Affirmative Action”: Jeffrey Toobin has this op-ed today in The New York Times.

“For Guantanamo Review Boards, Limits Abound”: This article will appear Sunday in The New York Times.

“After 30 Years, Supreme Court History Project Turns a Final Page”: Linda Greenhouse has this article today in The New York Times.

“Las Vegas judge under investigation; The 9th Circuit has hired a law firm to suggest action on James C. Mahan, sources say”: The Los Angeles Times today contains an article that begins, “The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has launched an investigation of a federal judge who awarded more than $4.8 million in judgments and fees without apparently disclosing his personal, political and business ties to those who benefited, two sources close to the inquiry told The Times. U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan of Las Vegas, a popular state judge who joined the federal bench in 2002 after his nomination by President Bush, was the subject of Times investigative reports in June.”

You can access Judge Mahan’s official U.S. Courts biography by clicking here.

“Racial ban back on for 3 colleges; Court rules admissions policies must comply with Prop 2 right away”: The Detroit News today contains an article that begins, “A federal appeals court ruled Friday night that Michigan’s three largest universities must immediately remove race and gender consideration from their admissions and financial aid decisions and fully comply with Proposal 2. The ruling of the three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals effectively overturned the six-month delay a lower court judge granted last week to the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University.”

The Detroit Free Press reports today that “U.S. panel rejects a delay for Prop 2; Affirmative action ban is upheld.”

And The Associated Press provides a report headlined “Court: Mich. Schools Can’t Admit on Race.”

Circuit Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton wrote last night’s decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel. Various pleadings filed in connection with the matter can be accessed via the home page of the Sixth Circuit’s web site.

“Review of inmate’s execution request; Can judges override wish to end appeals, set new sentencing?” Bob Egelko has this article today in The San Francisco Chronicle.

My earlier coverage appears at this link.

“Judges Uphold Law on Inmate Religion”: The Associated Press provides this report. My earlier coverage appears here.

“The Bill of Wrongs: The 10 most outrageous civil liberties violations of 2006.” Dahlia Lithwick has this essay online today at Slate.