Available online from law.com: Justin Scheck reports that “9th Circuit Reverses Ghost-Written Opinion.”

In other news, “Bomb Threat Doesn’t Shake Tenacious Rookie; In first appearance before Conn. high court, lawyer seeks new cause of action.”

And in news from Texas, “Federal Vioxx Suit Ends With Mistrial.”

“Supreme Court to Hear Dispute on Texas Redistricting”: Linda Greenhouse will have this article Tuesday in The New York Times.

And Tuesday’s edition of The Washington Post will contain a front page article headlined “Justices To Review DeLay-Led Districting; Texas Plan Has Been Called Discriminatory.”

“Texas cases to be heard March 1”: Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

“Supreme Court Denies Williams a Stay”: The Associated Press provides this report.

“Governor denies Williams’ clemency request”: The Sacramento Bee provides this news update.

And The San Francisco Chronicle provides a news update headlined “Californians react to clemency denial.”

On this evening’s broadcast of NPR‘s “All Things Considered“: The broadcast contained segments entitled “High Court to Review Texas Congressional Districts” (featuring Nina Totenberg); “Governor Denies Clemency for Ex-Crips Leader Williams“; and “Judge to Set New Trial Date After Vioxx Mistrial.” RealPlayer is required to launch these audio files.

“First, the selection of textbooks by the state for use in public school classrooms is government speech, and is not subject to the forum analysis of Hazelwood or the viewpoint neutrality requirement. Second, even assuming that public school students possess a cognizable right to receive information, that right does not extend to the selection of textbooks for use in the classroom.” A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit announced these holdings today in a ruling you can access here.

“Byrd Warns Frist Against ‘Nuclear Option'”: Jesse J. Holland of The Associated Press provides this report.

“Supreme Court to weigh Texas redistricting; It has agreed to hear four cases on partisan shaping of districts”: Warren Richey will have this article Tuesday in The Christian Science Monitor.

And David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times provides a news update headlined “Supreme Court to Review GOP-Friendly Texas Redistricting.”

Attorneys’ fee award challenge by Wendt came too late: A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued this decision today.

“Federal Court Drops Proposed Gag Rule”: The AP provides a report that begins, “The federal court for Rhode Island on Monday dropped a proposed rule that would have banned lawyers and court workers from releasing any information about a case that was not part of the public record.”

Today’s announcement from the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island can be accessed here.

BREAKING NEWS — “Schwarzenegger Denies Clemency for Williams”: David Kravets of The Associated Press provides this report.

The Los Angeles Times provides a news update headlined “Schwarzenegger Rejects Williams’ Bid for Clemency.”

And The San Francisco Chronicle provides a news update headlined “Schwarzenegger denies clemency for Williams.”

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has issued a formal written decision denying clemency, and you can access it online at this link.

“Williams Waits on Gov.’s Clemency Decision”: David Kravets of The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “A federal appeals court has rejected a stay of execution for Crips co-founder Stanley Tookie Williams, who is scheduled to die after midnight.”

And The Los Angeles Times provides a news update headlined “Federal Appeals Court Denies Williams a Stay of Execution.”

Update: Today’s Ninth Circuit ruling can be accessed here.

Where a plaintiff in an arbitration case is awarded no recovery, does his action to overturn the award involve an amount in controversy of $0? A divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit was once willing to accept this argument, but later abandoned that holding upon finding a different way to rule against the plaintiff on which all three judges on the panel could agree. Thereafter, a different three-judge Ninth Circuit panel reached the opposite (but correct) result. My earlier coverage of the Ninth Circuit’s rulings on this issue can be accessed here and here.

In a decision issued today, a three-judge Eleventh Circuit panel confronted the very same issue, and in agreement with the Ninth Circuit’s final word on the subject, the Eleventh Circuit held that “a federal court has subject matter jurisdiction where a party seeking to vacate an arbitration award [of $0] is also seeking a new arbitration hearing at which he will demand a sum which exceeds the amount in controversy for diversity jurisdiction purposes.”

“High court to review Texas congressional map”: Allen Pusey of The Dallas Morning News provides this update.

And The Fort Worth Star-Telegram provides a news update headlined “Supreme Court agrees to review Texas congressional map.”

“Is There A Secret Law In the Gilmore Case?” Orin Kerr has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy,” following-up on his related post from earlier today titled “Secret Laws and Gilmore v. Gonzales.”

I previously collected press coverage of the Ninth Circuit‘s recent oral argument in the case (audio here in Windows Media) at this link.

“Top court to review Texas redistricting plan”: James Vicini of Reuters provides this report.

“Jonathan Luna Case Revisited, Reassessed”: WJZ-TV 13 in Baltimore had this report last Friday. And a video report can be accessed here.

In related coverage, The Centre Daily Times reported last Thursday that “Lawmaker wants closer Gricar probe.” And The Daily Collegian reported last Thursday that “Gricar’s family to renew his license.”

“Culture war pits UC vs. Christian way of teaching; Religious schools challenge admission standards in court”: The San Francisco Chronicle contains this article today.

“Williams awaits decision on fate; State Supreme Court rejects appeal; bid for clemency unsettled”: This front page article appears today in The Sacramento Bee.

“Governor Schwarzenegger Appoints Justice Carol Corrigan to the Supreme Court of the State of California”: The Governor of the State of California issued this news release last Friday. I previously collected press coverage at this link.

“Judge declares mistrial in first federal Vioxx case”: The Houston Chronicle provides this news update.

And Merck & Co., Inc. has issued this press release.

Some exciting news, to be followed in due course by other exciting news: Today in The Legal Intelligencer, the December 2005 installment of my monthly appellate column appears. This month’s column is headlined “Opponents Of Rule Allowing Non–Precedential U.S. Court Of Appeals Decisions To Be Cited Manage To Insert A Fly In The Ointment.” The link is subscription-only, but I’ll be posting a freely-available copy of the column online here on Wednesday.

With today’s column, I have begun my sixth year as a columnist for The Legal Intelligencer. But the truly exciting news is that Monday, January 9, 2006 will mark the debut of my weekly column online at law.com. That column will be freely available for all to read each week from the moment it’s posted online late on the preceding Friday night until it mysteriously disappears under the cover of darkness at some unspecified date far in the future. I thank the good folks at law.com for offering me a weekly online column at American Lawyer Media’s flagship web site, and I’m very much looking forward to having a more frequent column that will reach a much larger audience.

“Attorneys for Great Falls, wiccan agree on payment”: The Herald of Rock Hill, South Carolina today contains an article that begins, “The town of Great Falls may be on the verge of paying about $53,000 it owes to a woman’s lawyer who successfully sued the town to remove mention of Jesus Christ from council prayers.”

On Saturday, the newspaper reported that “Council takes prayer out of ministers’ hands.” And last Tuesday, the newspaper reported that “Prayer taken off City Council agenda.”

“A Little Sleuthing Unmasks Writer of Wikipedia Prank”: This article appeared yesterday in The New York Times.

And USA Today reports today that “Author of false Wikipedia biography apologizes; Nashville man sends letter to journalist, says entries were intended as ‘a joke.’”

“Alito’s supporters fight back”: Columnist Robert Novak has this op-ed today in The Chicago Sun-Times.

Today at National Review Online, Edward Whelan has an essay entitled “Deserving Derision: The Left’s ludicrous attack on Alito.”

Also today, Progress for America Voter Fund issued a news release titled “‘A Man of Honor, Principle, and Integrity’ – Progress for America Voter Fund Announces a New Alito TV Ad.” You can view the ad online via this link.

And this past Friday, Nan Aron of the Alliance for Justice issued a news release titled “Pirolli v. World Flavors, Inc.: Unpublished Opinion Reveals Judge Alito’s Conservative Legal Agenda.”

“Mother hopes for plea deal; She says Lafave trial would further victimize her son”: This article appeared yesterday in The Ocala Star-Banner.

“Prosecutor in Williams’ Case Faces Lawsuit”: The AP provides a report that begins, “As he presses for Stanley Tookie Williams’ execution for four murders, a top county prosecutor faces his own legal troubles for killing a man while on duty as a reserve sheriff’s deputy.”

“Judge declares mistrial in Vioxx case”: Reuters reports here that “The judge on Monday declared a mistrial in the first federal lawsuit against Merck & Co. Inc. and its painkiller Vioxx.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Jury Hung in First Federal Vioxx Trial.”

Today’s U.S. Supreme Court Order List: You can view today’s Order List at this link.

Gina Holland of The Associated Press reports that “Supreme Court to Review Texas Redistricting.” And Reuters reports that “Top court to review Texas redistricting plan.”

In other news coverage, The AP reports that “Justices to Hear Workers’ Wage Case” and “Court Won’t Hear Suit Against Home Depot.” And Reuters reports that “Court won’t hear National Geographic CD-ROM case” and “Top court rejects appeal in Sandisk case.”

At “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Court to hear Texas redistricting cases.”

And at his “Election Law” blog, Law Professor Rick Hasen has a post titled “Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Texas Redistricting Case; Will a Justice Alito Make a Difference?”

“Lobby Groups Following Bork Playbook; Reaching for a Familiar Foe To Derail Alito Nomination”: T.R. Goldman has this article (free access) in today’s issue of Legal Times.

“PATRIOT Unbound: Not even flubbed terror cases can dent law’s appeal.” Jeff A. Taylor has this essay online at Reason.

“Alito: A Sampling of Misleading Media Coverage.” Stuart Taylor Jr. has this essay today online at National Journal.

The Washington Post is reporting: Today’s newspaper contains an article headlined “Custody Battle Is Waged Over Comatose Girl; Massachusetts Fights Stepfather Accused Of Beating Youngster.”

And yesterday, the newspaper reported that “Warning Label on Darwin Sows Division in Suburbia; Parents in Cobb County, Ga., Clash Over Sticker in Textbooks.”

“Al-Arian judge enhances image; Many say James S. Moody Jr. holds court with patience, intelligence, calm and control – and a dry sense of humor”: This article appears today in The St. Petersburg Times.