“Library’s ban on prayer service upheld on appeal; Judges rule 2-1 that distinction between worship, other meetings is constitutional”: Bob Egelko has this article today in The San Francisco Chronicle. My earlier coverage appears here and here.

“Attempt to Settle Skid Row Suit Fails; Rebuffing Villaraigosa, the council rejects a plan to let the homeless sleep on sidewalks at night”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times. The newspaper also contains an op-ed by Ramona Ripston, the wife of Ninth Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt, entitled “Homelessness Isn’t a Crime; The City Council scuttles a skid row compromise that would’ve done something to help the homeless.”

And The New York Times reports today that “Deal on Homeless Camps Falls Through in Los Angeles.”

“Justice Dept. Amends Remark on Torture Case”: The New York Times today contains an article that begins, “In an embarrassing turnabout, the Department of Justice backed away Wednesday from a denial by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales of responsibility for the treatment of a Canadian who was seized by American authorities in 2002. The man was deported to Syria, where he was imprisoned and beaten.”

“Plan to Break Up 9th Circuit Court Faces Opposition; Judges, politicians and law professors line up against the move that some conservatives seek”: Henry Weinstein has this article today in The Los Angeles Times.

The prepared texts of statements delivered at yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing can be accessed via this link.

“Freelance journalist gets prison reprieve”: Today’s edition of The San Francisco Chronicle contains an article that begins, “Freelance journalist Josh Wolf was given a two-day extension Wednesday to produce outtakes of video footage he shot at a protest last year or return to prison. Wolf, 24, was to have reported to the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin by 1 p.m. Wednesday. About 11:15 a.m., he received a last-minute order from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco giving him a 48-hour extension.”

And “The Huffington Post” blog offers a post titled “A Last Meal with Josh Wolf.”