On this evening’s broadcast of NPR‘s “All Things Considered“: The broadcast contained segments entitled “Scalia Remarks Draw Criticism Before Guantanamo Case” (featuring Nina Totenberg) and “Moussaoui Testifies He Was to Hijack Plane on 9/11.” RealPlayer is required to launch these audio segments.

“High court case tests extent of presidential powers in war”: Joan Biskupic will have this article Tuesday in USA Today.

Available online from law.com: Tony Mauro reports that “Top Law Firms Join Forces in Landmark Detainee Case.”

And Marcia Coyle reports that “Supreme Court to Look at Critical Patent Issue in eBay Case; Justices to review injunctions for halting patent violations.”

The White House officially withdraws the nomination of Henry W. Saad to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit: The official notice of the nomination’s withdrawal is here.

“Jury duty can reveal secrets”: The Chicago Tribune provides a news update that begins, “The white-hot spotlight of the American judicial system can be uncomfortable, with lawyers, judges and sometimes the media prying into difficult and embarrassing moments. But defendants aren’t alone in the glare. From the moment a jury summons arrives, potential jurors find their own histories under scrutiny.”

“Specter pursues independent political path”: James Kuhnhenn of Knight Ridder Newspapers provides this report.

“Medical marijuana focuses on right to life”: David Kravets of The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “A lawyer for an ill California woman whose doctor says marijuana is the only medicine keeping her alive asked an appeals court Monday to prevent federal drug agents from ever arresting her.”

“High court to hear landmark eBay patent case”: Reuters provides this report.

“Reading Material for Pa. Inmates Debated; High Court Hears 1st Amendment Case”: Charles Lane will have this article Tuesday in The Washington Post.

“Invisible Men: Did Lindsey Graham and Jon Kyl mislead the Supreme Court?” Emily Bazelon has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Appeal from a wife’s revenge: close, but no cigar; Wife’s role in lawyer’s conviction a key factor.” This article appears in today’s issue of The National Law Journal. My earlier coverage is here.

“Retired Generals Want Scalia Off Gitmo Case”: The Associated Press provides this report.

Over the recorded dissent of seven judges, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denies rehearing en banc of decision holding that the Supreme Court of Louisiana may constitutionally deny nonimmigrant aliens the opportunity to seek admission to the Louisiana bar: Today’s lead dissent, by Circuit Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham, begins:

I respectfully dissent from the Court’s refusal to consider en banc the important issues in this case. The panel majority rejects strict scrutiny on the basis that these “nonimmigrant aliens,” whatever that means, are not as “discrete and insular” as the “permanent resident aliens” afforded suspect classification by the Supreme Court. It reaches that result by judicially crafting a subset of aliens, scaled by how it perceives the aliens’ proximity to citizenship. This is a bold step not sanctioned by Supreme Court precedent.

My coverage of the original divided three-judge panel’s ruling, which issued in July 2005, can be accessed here. The Fifth Circuit currently has sixteen judges in regular active service. Assuming no recusals, nine votes were required to grant rehearing en banc.

Unanimous three-judge Fifth Circuit panel holds that physician assistants and nurse practitioners do not qualify for the professional exemption to the overtime requirements of the
Fair Labor Standards Act: Last Friday’s ruling, which the Fifth Circuit posted online today, can be accessed here.

“Justice Scalia Gives a Sign, but No Finger”: The Associated Press provides this report. My earlier coverage is here.

Several amici urge Justice Antonin Scalia to recuse from further involvement in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, No. 05-184: A letter filed with the U.S. Supreme Court this evening on behalf of five retired generals and admirals who have previously filed amicus briefs in the case can be accessed here.

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Scalia asked to step aside.”

“Ryan judge dismisses 2 jurors”: The Chicago Sun-Times provides a news update that begins, “Two jurors who served for nearly six months on former Gov. George Ryan’s jury were dismissed today after a federal judge learned the two had criminal histories they didn’t disclose at the beginning of the trial.”

“Bizarre Sex Toys Wars in the South”: Law Professor Arthur S. Leonard has this post at his “Leonard Link” blog.

“Inmate Claims Veganism Is a Religious Belief”: Law Professor Howard M. Friedman has this post at his “Religion Clause” blog.

“The incessant demand for pornography, some have said, is an engine of technological development.” So begins a lengthy opinion that Chief Judge John M. Walker, Jr. issued today on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

The Senate Judiciary Committee appears likely to hold an additional hearing to consider whether all immigration appeals should be heard and decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit: Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) just noted during today’s executive business meeting (which remains underway) that objections to the proposal had been expressed by various federal appellate judges, and apparently those judges (and perhaps others, including the Federal Circuit’s Chief Judge) will be invited to testify before the committee on the subject perhaps as early as next week.

“Ryan judge probing jurors’ criminal records; Jury deliberations could be resumed Tuesday”: The Chicago Tribune provides this news update.

“The Honorable Judge Pickering Talks About the Politics of Judicial Confirmation and the Culture War”: The Center for Individual Freedom has posted online the transcript of a recent radio interview with former Fifth Circuit Judge Charles W. Pickering, Sr.

“ACLJ Represents Members of Congress in Asking Federal Court to Dismiss Lawsuit Challenging National Motto ‘In God We Trust'”: The American Center for Law and Justice issued this press release today. You can access the brief filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California at this link.

“Illinois top court undecided on Altria rehearing”: Reuters provides a report that begins, “The Illinois Supreme Court still has not decided whether it will rehear a case in which it threw out a $10.1 billion verdict against Philip Morris USA, a court spokeswoman said on Monday.”

“Bush’s wartime powers face court challenge”: This article will appear Tuesday in Financial Times.

And James Vicini of Reuters reports that “Guantanamo tribunals under court scrutiny.”

“A Conspiracy Theory: How the Supreme Court can decide its thorniest case.” Online at Slate, Ariel N. Lavinbuk has a jurisprudence essay that begins, “Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Hamdan v. Rumfseld, the case against Osama Bin Laden’s motor-pool operator, on trial for conspiracy before a Guantanamo Bay military commission.”

“Presidents, Senates, and Failed Supreme Court Nominations”: Keith E. Whittington has this article (abstract with link for download) online at SSRN (via “Legal Theory Blog“).

“Court rejects lawyers’ appeal over pit bull ads”: Reuters provides this report.

And at the blog “f/k/a….,” David Giacalone has a post titled “Supreme Court rejects PIT-BULL appeal.”

The Associated Press is reporting: Now available online are articles headlined “Justices Review Prison Disciplinary Rules” and “Moussaoui Says He Was to Hijack 5th Plane.”

“Remarks on Detainees By Scalia Raise Recusal Questions”: law.com’s Tony Mauro provides this news update.

“Immigration Bill Could Hinder Asylum Bids; Lawyers Say Reforms Might Widen Use of Mass Detentions and Expedited Removals”: Lawrence Hurley has this article today in The Daily Journal of California.

The Associated Press is reporting: Now available online are articles headlined “Two Justices Eye Driver Privacy Case“; “O’Connor, Justices Exchange Farewells“; and “Moussaoui Denies Part in 9/11 Hijackings.”

“Justice Jackson’s Unpublished Opinion in Ex parte Quirin“: Law Professor Jack Goldsmith will have this interesting article in the Spring 2006 issue of The Green Bag.

In the article’s first paragraph, Goldsmith writes that “the opinion is of more than historical interest. For it analyzes many of the same issues that are being debated today in the war on terrorism — most notably in the battle over the legality of military commissions currently before the U.S. Supreme Court in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.”

“Free to Dissent: Why Justice Scalia need not recuse himself from the Hamdan case.” Daveed Gartenstein-Ross has this essay online today at The Weekly Standard.