“Justices to review death penalty case; Once again, the 9th Circuit Appeals Court’s sentence overturning will be reconsidered”: David G. Savage has this article today in The Los Angeles Times.

And The Seattle Times reports today that “Supreme Court to hear death-sentence appeal.”

“High Court Adds Death-Penalty And Tobacco Cases to Docket; Justices Also to Rule on Legal Fees, Tax Issues This Term”: Robert Barnes will have this article Saturday in The Washington Post.

“Official calls for boycott of law firms representing detainees”: Carol Rosenberg of McClatchy Newspapers provides this report.

“Amateur Sleuthing Lands Grisham in Real-Life Court”: This front page article will appear Saturday in The Washington Post.

“Judicial Pay: Too Much, Too Little or Just Right?” You can access the new installment of my “On Appeal” column for law.com by clicking here.

Neil A. Lewis is reporting: In Saturday’s edition of The New York Times, he will have articles headlined “Official Attacks Top Law Firms Over Detainees” and “Judge Rejects Defamation Suit Against The Times.”

“Judge Dismisses Anthrax Libel Case”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “A federal judge on Friday dismissed a libel lawsuit filed against The New York Times by a former Army scientist once identified as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks.”

And Bloomberg News reports that “New York Times Wins in Lawsuit Over Anthrax Columns.”

Today’s U.S. Supreme Court Order List: The Court granted review today in four cases. You can access the Order List at this link.

The Associated Press reports that “Supreme Court Accepts Philip Morris Case.”

Reuters reports that “Supreme Court to review light cigarette dispute.”

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston reports that “Court to hear four more cases.”

Programming note: Once again, the work-related matter that has caused me to be in Washington, DC today will have me off-line for much of the day. Additional posts will appear later today, after I return home to the Philadelphia area.

“High court’s Scalia advocates against ‘activist’ judges”: The Cleveland Plain Dealer on Thursday contained this article.

And in other coverage, The Associated Press reports that “Justice Scalia says smaller docket leads to better opinions.”

“Guantanamo stirs protests; In Cuba, Europe and the U.S., activists decry detentions at the camp, where terror suspects first arrived 5 years ago”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.

“250 potential jurors show up for Nichols case”: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution today contains an article that begins, “Court officials didn’t seem too disappointed Thursday when only about a third of the potential Fulton County jurors summoned to court in the case of accused courthouse gunman Brian Nichols showed up.”

“Unveiled Threats: A Bush appointee’s crude gambit on detainees’ legal rights.” The Washington Post contains this editorial today.

“New Jersey Says Clerics Aren’t Required to Unite Gay Couples”: This article appears today in The New York Times.

The Newark Star-Ledger reports today that “State exempts clergy from mandate on presiding over same-sex unions.”

And The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that “Clerics need not sanctify gay rites; The clergy may decline to perform religious services, the state confirmed.”

“Bush 41 will chair constitution center; Officials say ex-president will be actively engaged in leading the Phila.-based ‘jewel of America'”: The Philadelphia Inquirer contains this article today.

The Philadelphia Daily News reports today that “George H.W. Bush named to chair Constitution Center board.”

The National Constitution Center yesterday issued this press release.

“A Setback for Prosecutors in the ‘Enron of Kansas’ Case”: This article appears today in The New York Times.

My earlier coverage appears here and here.

“Canadian Court Rules Lesbian Partner Is a Parent”: The New York Times today contains an article that begins, “Last week, a 5-year-old Ontario boy became a member of a larger family. An appeals court ruled that he has three parents: a father and two mothers.”

My earlier coverage appears at this link.

“L.A. man sues to take wife’s last name; ACLU suit alleges gender discrimination”: This article appears today in USA Today.

“Curtain’s Up As Libby Is Set for Trial”: Josh Gerstein has this article today in The New York Sun.

“U.S. Preparing for Trials of Top Qaeda Detainees”: This article will appear Friday in The New York Times.

“Ex-Prosecutor Is Accused of Running Escort Service”: law.com provides this report.

My earlier coverage appears in a post titled “It’s allegedly hard out here for a former federal prosecutor.”

The economics of everything and anything: Online at SSRN, William M. Landes and Richard A. Posner have posted a paper titled “The Economics of Presidential Pardons and Commutations” (abstract with link for download). Thanks to “Legal Theory Blog” for the pointer.

“Supreme Court again hears Ann Arbor same-sex benefits case”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “The Michigan Supreme Court again heard arguments Thursday in a lawsuit challenging the Ann Arbor school district’s same-sex benefits policy.”

“Gitmo Turns Five”: Jonathan Hafetz will have this essay in the January 29, 2007 issue of The Nation.

The McClatchy Newspapers are reporting: Now available online are articles headlined “Protests worldwide mark the 5-year anniversary of Guantanamo” and “House Democrats vow to look into conditions at Guantanamo.”

One year ago, The Associated Press knew U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito, Jr.‘s actual first name: According to The AP’s widely-distributed “Today in history” feature for January 12, 2007, one year ago “Supreme Court nominee Joseph Alito completed four days of testimony at his Senate confirmation hearing.”

“Jury Selection Begins in Atlanta Shooting Case”: This audio segment (RealPlayer required) appeared on today’s broadcast of NPR‘s “Morning Edition.”

Password-shmassword, Fourth Circuit holds: Today, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that a wife had authority to allow police to search the contents of her husband’s password-protected computer, even though only the husband knew the password. The police accessed the files by mirroring the computer’s hard drive, which avoided any need to ascertain the password. Although the computer was password-protected, none of the files on the computer were themselves encrypted. You can access today’s ruling at this link.

“The Brennan Memos: Brennan dishes on his colleagues.” Jim Newton has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate. This is part three in a three-part series. Links to the two earlier parts are available via the foregoing link.

Programming note: The work-related matter that has caused me to be in Washington, DC today will have me off-line for much of the day. Additional posts will appear later today.

“Roberts’ Rules: In an exclusive interview, Chief Justice John Roberts says that if the Supreme Court is to maintain legitimacy, its justices must start acting more like colleagues and less like prima donnas.” Law Professor Jeffrey Rosen has this article [update: free access now available] in the January/February 2007 issue of The Atlantic Monthly.

Ann Althouse provides extensive excerpts from the article in this blog post.

Available online at Slate: Dahlia Lithwick has a jurisprudence essay entitled “Just Say No Twice: The Supreme Court declines to pay its union dues.”

Emily Bazelon has a jurisprudence essay entitled “Four Ways To Stop the War: What Congress could do–if it dared.”

And Meghan O’Rourke has an essay entitled “The Copycat Syndrome: Plagiarists at work” focusing on Seventh Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner‘s new book, “The Little Book of Plagiarism.”

Available online at Reason: Julian Sanchez has an essay entitled “The Pinpoint Search: How super-accurate surveillance technology threatens our privacy.”

And Katherine Mangu-Ward has an essay entitled “Is Privacy Overrated? The merits, drawbacks, and inevitability of the surveillance nation.”

Available at National Review Online: Mark Mix has an essay entitled “Laboring Against Free Speech: Unions want to force workers to pay for political speech the workers object to.”

And Edward Whelan has an essay entitled “Not Credible ‘Whatsoever’: The ABA sinks deeper.”

“Justices express support for limiting use of union fees”: Joan Biskupic has this article today in USA Today.

And The Washington Times reports today that “Supreme Court hears teachers’ union case.”