“Putting God in His Place: New Jersey student-warrior for the Constitution gets a death threat.” Columnist Nat Hentoff has this essay online at The Village Voice.

“Letting go of holds: Senators shouldn’t be allowed to single-handedly delay nominations or bills.” The Los Angeles Times today contains an editorial that begins, “Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), one of Congress’ conservative culture warriors, opposes one of President Bush’s judicial nominees because she dared to attend a same-sex commitment ceremony in 2002. Whether they want to enable the senator’s bigotry is a question for Kansans and, eventually perhaps, the rest of us (Brownback is a possible 2008 presidential candidate). But the Senate can and should take action to prevent a single senator from imposing his prejudices on the entire body.”

“Gay marriage outcome today uncertain”: The Boston Globe today contains an article that begins, “Supporters of same-sex marriage are scrambling to hold together a shaky coalition of lawmakers today in hopes of blocking a vote on a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.” The newspaper also contains an editorial entitled “The expanding circle of rights.”

The Boston Herald reports today that “Gay-wed opponents vow fight to the end.”

And The Republican of Springfield, Massachusetts contains an editorial entitled “State must preserve gay marriage rights.”

“Fairness for Lewinsky”: Columnist Richard Cohen has this op-ed today in The Washington Post.

N.B. Can’t claim “no relation” here. Nonetheless, entries in this blog’s recurring “no relation” series can be accessed via this link.

“Texas Smuggling Deaths Retrial to Resume”: The Associated Press provides this report.

“Second Thoughts on Gays in the Military”: Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman John M. Shalikashvili has this op-ed today in The New York Times.

“The Former Magnificent Seven”: On Saturday, The Wall Street Journal contained an editorial (temporary free access) that begins, “As the clock moved toward midnight in the judicial year yesterday, two federal appeals court judges issued an exquisite, brief ruling that should have members of the legal fraternity clucking from Manhattan to San Francisco.”

My earlier coverage appears at this link.

“A Federal Appeals Court Upholds the Government’s Seizure of Computer Records of Major League Baseball Players’ Drug Tests”: Michael C. Dorf has this essay online today at FindLaw.

“Despite 2004 ruling, Mexican truck travel still limited”: The Associated Press provides this report.

“The Judicial Vesting Option: Opting Out of Nomination and Advice and Consent.” Suppose new federal trial and appellate judges were selected by current federal trial and appellate judges instead of being nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. That’s the provocative proposal described in this article (abstract with links for download) by Law Professor Tuan Samahon (via “Legal Theory Blog“).

“Journalists May Testify in CIA Leak Case”: The Associated Press provides this report.

“Paul Clement Stays Cool in Court Hot Seat; He’s the government’s point man for defending anti-terror policies — which can lead to some uncomfortable moments”: law.com’s Tony Mauro provides this report.

“Constitutional Crisis, at Least at the Roberts Household”: Jess Bravin has this post today at WSJ.com’s “Washington Wire” blog.

“The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries That Defined America.” Law Professor Jeffrey Rosen‘s new book is scheduled to go on sale later this month, in connection with the debut of a four-part series on PBS.

An online companion resource for the PBS series can be accessed via a web site titled “The History of the Supreme Court.”

“Leave Us Alone”: In the Sunday Book Review section of yesterday’s edition of The New York Times, Gary Rosen had this review of Charles Fried‘s new book, “Modern Liberty: And the Limits of Government.”

“A Retreat on Rationing Free Speech?” Columnist George F. Will had this op-ed yesterday in The Washington Post.

“Contempt in Massachusetts: Suddenly the Supreme Judicial Court can’t tell the legislature what to do.” This editorial appears online at OpinionJournal.

And at National Review Online, Hadley Arkes has an essay entitled “Lawyers@Bay: A moment of truth in Massachusetts.”

“Open Secrets: Enron, intelligence, and the perils of too much information.” Malcolm Gladwell has this article in the January 8, 2007 issue of The New Yorker.

Bring out your unpublished opinions: Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32.1 officially starts to apply today, as the rule expressly mandates that federal appellate courts cannot prohibit citation to unpublished or non-precedential opinions issued on or after January 1, 2007.

Due to court closures in observance of the National Day of Mourning for President Ford on January 2, 2007, most federal appellate courts will not have an opportunity to issue their first unpublished or non-precedential opinions governed by FRAP 32.1 until January 3, 2007. One exception is the Tenth Circuit, which will be open for business tomorrow.

“Blawg Review #89”: Available online here, at “Blawg Review.”

“Chief Justice Advocates Higher Pay for Judiciary”: Linda Greenhouse has this article today in The New York Times.

Today in The Los Angeles Times, David G. Savage reports that “Roberts calls for pay raise for judges; The chief justice says federal jurists’ lagging salaries pose a threat to the court system.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Roberts Blasts Inadequate Pay for Judges.”

Via this link, you can access the 2000 through 2006 editions of the “Chief Justice’s Year-End Reports On The Federal Judiciary.”

“Chief makes judges’ pay the top issue”: Lyle Denniston has this post online at “SCOTUSblog.”

You can access Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.’s “2006 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary” by clicking here.