“Refugees in Limbo: Ordered Out of U.S., but With Nowhere to Go.” This article will appear Saturday in The New York Times.

“Blogging: Getting Started.” Brian R. Harris has this article today in The Legal Intelligencer, Philadelphia’s daily newspaper for lawyers.

On Monday, Priscilla R. Owen is scheduled to be sworn-in to service on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Austin, Texas: So The Associated Press is reporting, here.

Because the Fifth Circuit allows its judges to choose which font to use in their published opinions, I’m hoping that Judge Owen chooses a good one, such as Book Antiqua, but certainly not Courier or Times New Roman. Plenty of other good suggestions are available here, via the Seventh Circuit.

The Associated Press is reporting: An article headlined “Pharmacists Can Be Liable for Drug Risks” reports on this ruling that Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal issued yesterday.

And in news from Canada, “Judge Restricts Homolka’s Post-Prison Life.”

“California Court Takes on Lesbian Parental Rights Case”: This segment (RealPlayer required) appeared on this evening’s broadcast of NPR‘s “All Things Considered.”

“Immigration Deluge Looms at 9th Circuit; New Law Means More Asylum and Deportation Cases”: Peter Blumberg has this article today in The Daily Journal of California. The Ninth Circuit has posted online at its web site a “Special Notice Re: Real ID Act of 2005.”

“America Courting Constitutional Disaster with Supreme Court Vacancies; PFAWF Study Documents Individual Liberties and Legal Protections at Risk from New Justices in mold of Scalia and Thomas”: The organization People For the American Way has issued this press release today announcing the availability of a new report titled “Courting Disaster 2005: Americans’ Constitutional Freedoms and Legal Protections are Threatened by the Radical Right.”

“They undertake to ‘litigate by day and copulate by night'”: Senior Circuit Judge James C. Hill‘s opinion, dissenting from the Eleventh Circuit‘s resolution of an insurance coverage issue in a case involving live-in lovers, is somewhat amusing. You can access the complete ruling at this link.

Ray Luipa visits Disney World: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has today issued its ruling in the RLUIPA case known as Konikov v. Orange County, Florida. Additional background about the case can be accessed here thanks to The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

“The next abortion case?” Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

“Quattrone cites Andersen ruling in appeal request”: Reuters provides this report.

First Circuit rejects defamation lawsuit filed by Madonna’s former lover: You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit at this link.

The trial court, in rejecting the defamation claim, had ruled that imputing homosexuality can no longer be considered defamatory per se in Massachusetts. The First Circuit affirmed on other grounds and thus found it unnecessary to decide the correctness of that ruling.

“Court orders Kansas Legislature to double education money”: The Kansas City Star provides this news update.

The Supreme Court of Kansas‘ school funding decision is now available online: You can access the ruling at this link, and the court’s summary of its ruling is here.

The summary begins, “The Supreme Court today unanimously ordered school funding for the coming school year to be increased no later than July 1 from approximately $142 million appropriated by the 2005 Legislature to $285 million above the past school year’s level of funding.”

“Appeals court strikes down Va. abortion ban”: The Associated Press provides this report.

Divided Fourth Circuit panel affirms federal district court’s ruling that declared Virginia’s partial birth abortion ban unconstitutional: You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit at this link.

The majority opinion, written by Circuit Judge M. Blane Michael, begins:

This case involves a facial challenge under the Fourteenth Amendment to a Virginia statute that attempts to criminalize “partial birth abortion,” which the statute terms “partial birth infanticide.” In a summary judgment order the district court declared the statute invalid for several reasons. We affirm because it lacks an exception to protect a woman’s health.

Circuit Judge Paul V. Niemeyer issued a passionate dissent. Here is just a sample:

The majority’s opinion is a bold, new law that, in essence, constitutionalizes infanticide of a most gruesome nature. The plaintiff Dr. William Fitzhugh, an abortionist, sought, through this lawsuit, to protect his ability to perform abortions by crushing infants’ skulls or dismembering their limbs when they are inches away from being fully delivered alive without injury to the infant or to the mother. In his words, “My job on any given patient is to terminate that pregnancy, which means that I don’t want a live birth.” By expanding abortion rights to this extent, the majority unnecessarily distances our jurisprudence from that of the Supreme Court and from general norms of morality. I profoundly dissent from today’s decision.

You can access the dissent directly at this link (starting on page 18 of the PDF file).

Last October, I linked here to press coverage of the Fourth Circuit’s oral argument in this appeal.

“Scrushy jury deadlocked; judge says ‘keep at it'”: Reuters provides this report.

And The Associated Press provides a report headlined “Judge to Scrushy Jury: Keep Deliberating.”

“Ruling Eases Use of Police Personnel Files for Defense”: Today in The Los Angeles Times, Maura Dolan has this article reporting on yesterday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of California.

And today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko reports that “Ruling opens up police officers’ personnel file.”

“School finance ruling coming today”: The Associated Press reports here that “The Kansas Supreme Court today plans to release its much-anticipated ruling on the legality of the state’s school finance formula.”

The opinion will be posted online at 3 p.m. central time at the web site of the Kansas Judicial Branch.

“Austin lawmaker says chief justice threatened him; Jefferson denies Keel’s allegation”: The Austin American-Statesman today contains an article that begins, “Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, repeated Thursday that Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson threatened to punish him politically if judges did not get a pay raise.”

“‘Sunscreen’ speech rings familiar; Springstead High’s principal says she didn’t mean to plagiarize her graduation speech from a Chicago Tribune column”: This article appears today in The St. Petersburg Times.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting: Today’s newspaper contains articles headlined “Special court confers compassionate justice” and “Ex-priest is released from prison.”

And yesterday’s newspaper reported that “Dream car turns into court battle.”

“Man ordered to pay for healing ritual”: Reuters reports here that “A California man who injured three Hmong men in a fight must pay their medical bills including more than $6,000 for animals and herbal medicines used in traditional healing ceremonies, a court has ruled.”

My earlier report on this matter, from one week ago today, can be found at this link.

“Judges taken off Allegheny County real estate Web site; Security concerns cited in wake of shootings”: This article appears today in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

And The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports today that “Judges’ names come off assessment site.”

“WTO ‘no protest zone’ was OK; But court says its enforcement can be challenged”: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer contains this article today.

And The Seattle Times reports that “Court upholds WTO no-protest zone.”

“Bush Poised to Nominate Dozens For Judgeships, GOP Insiders Say”: This article appears today in The Washington Post. You can access a list of current federal judicial vacancies here and future vacancies here.