“Defeat of Bush’s judicial nominee traced to S.C.’s Graham”: The State newspaper of Columbia, South Carolina today contains an article that begins, “If the defeat of a high-profile judicial nominee were probed like a homicide investigation, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s fingerprints would be on the gun. After Congress adjourned for its summer recess last week, the Senate quietly returned to the White House the nomination of William J. ‘Jim’ Haynes to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.”

“Murals in federal building spark debate over censorship”: The McClatchy Newspapers provide this report. The controversial murals are located in the building that houses the headquarters for the Environmental Protection Agency, and they can be viewed via this link.

“Is conspiracy a war crime? The White House urges Congress to say yes, because it makes terror convictions easier; The high court is split.” Warren Richey will have this article Monday in The Christian Science Monitor.

“NYC Subway Searches”: At the “Concurring Opinions” blog, Daniel J. Solove has a post that begins, “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit recently upheld New York City’s program of random searches at subways.”

“In search of judicial diversity; California’s growing minority population has yet to be reflected on the court bench”: The Sacramento Bee contains this article today.

“Childproof: Why is a segregated community O.K. when kids are the ones excluded?” This article appears today in The New York Times Magazine.

Cincinnati Reds 7, Philadelphia Phillies 5 (11 innings): My son and I today attended an exciting game at which the Phillies rallied to score two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the game into extra frames, but the Reds proved victorious in the eleventh inning. Ryan Howard hit both his league-leading 41st home run of the season and a single with two outs to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth.

I’ll be in Cincinnati in a little under one month from now to present an oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and it will be interesting to see whether either the Phillies or the Reds will then still be in contention for the Wild Card playoff berth. You can access the box score from today’s game at this link, while wraps are here and here.

“Search Me? Google Wants to Digitize Every Book; Publishers Say Read the Fine Print First.” The Washington Post contains this article today.

“Filing targets Skilling gains; Prosecutors say ex-CEO of Enron liable for Lay’s proceeds as well”: This article appeared yesterday in The Houston Chronicle.

And The Associated Press reports that “Feds Want Skilling to Pay Nearly $183M.”