“Judiciary Chairman Leahy on FBI Patriot Act Abuses”: This audio segment (RealPlayer required) appeared on this evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

“F.B.I. Head Admits Mistakes in Use of Security Act”: The New York Times contains this article today.

The Washington Post today contains front page articles headlined “FBI Audit Prompts Calls for Reform; Some Lawmakers Suggest Limits On Patriot Act” and “Report Details Missteps in Data Collection,” along with an article headlined “Gonzales Tries to Mollify GOP Critics on Firings, FBI Missteps.”

The Los Angeles Times reports that “FBI abuses may lead to Patriot Act limits; Irate lawmakers threaten to rein in the bureau after reports of improperly obtained bank and phone data.”

The Chicago Tribune contains an article headlined “Report blasts FBI; Audit: Agents illegally obtained data.”

And The Washington Times contains an article headlined “Report: FBI illegally got records in terror probes.”

“House panel expands inquiry into prosecutor firings; The judiciary committee asks the White House for legal documents and interviews with officials”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.

Carol Rosenberg is reporting: Yesterday in The Miami Herald, she had articles headlined “Secret Guantanamo hearings start today; Hundreds of hearings shown to the press in 2004 are a model for secret sessions being staged starting today for former CIA black site captives now at Guantanamo” and “Military panels hear captives’ side of story.”

The Hartford Courant is reporting: In today’s newspaper, Lynne Tuohy has an article headlined “Court Sidesteps Central Issue In Sullivan Case” that begins, “The state Supreme Court has declined to issue what would have been a nationally historic ruling on whether lawmakers can compel a judge to testify before a legislative inquiry, saying former Chief Justice William J. Sullivan’s voluntary testimony last month rendered the issue moot.”

And an article headlined “Super-Sealed No More: Judicial Branch Reveals Parties In Most ‘Level 1’ Cases” begins, “The divorce case of former Middletown Mayor Domenique S. Thornton and a paternity suit against saxophonist Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band are among cases that received the benefit of ‘super-secret’ status, which kept them from public view for years, documents released by the judicial branch Friday reveal.”

“The Right Way to Manage U.S. Attorneys”: Abbe David Lowell has this op-ed today in The Washington Post.

Lowell is also mentioned today, along with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, in an article published in The New York Times headlined “Was Dane’s Madness Just Method? Jury to Decide.”

“Law School Deans Speak Out on Web Site Content; Yale, Penn Condemn Anonymous Attacks”: The Washington Post today contains an article that begins, “The deans at two top law schools have admonished the operators of an Internet message board that hosts chats containing personal attacks against female students and racist and homophobic remarks. Letters written by the deans at Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania law schools, were issued after an article in The Washington Post aired the debate over AutoAdmit, a message board that was created as a forum to exchange advice on law schools and firms.”

“Gun Rights in D.C.” Law Professor Michael C. Dorf has this post today at “Dorf on Law.” Therein, he writes that “it is a bit vexing to have my views cited simply for the purpose of being dismissed, which is what Judge Silberman’s opinion in Parker does.”

Meanwhile, yesterday at “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Law Professor Eugene Volokh in an update to this post wrote, “Several colleagues of mine at Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, at which I’m a part-part-part-time academic affiliate, are representing the Violence Policy Center as amicus in support of the D.C. gun ban.” You can view the Mayer, Brown amicus brief at this link.

Sadly, they made Justice (and Philadelphia Phillies fan) Samuel A. Alito, Jr. wear a Tampa Bay Devil Rays jersey to throw out today’s first pitch: You can see the images here and here. On a somewhat more pleasant note, the Phillies won that spring training game today.

On today’s broadcast of NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday“: The broadcast contained audio segments entitled “Court Cites Constitution in Rejecting Handgun Ban” and “Libby’s Prosecutor Returns to Work in Chicago” (RealPlayer required).

“Bonus Round: What to make of those astronomical Supreme Court signing bonuses?” Dahlia Lithwick has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Students protest commencement speaker; Saint Mary’s College Democrats create petition against conservative justice Alito”: This article appeared yesterday in The Observer of South Bend, Indiana.

“Do You Miss Our Constitution? No previous American law has been as subversive as the Military Commissions Act of 2006.” Columnist Nat Hentoff has this essay in the current issue of The Village Voice.

“D.C.’s Ban On Handguns In Homes Is Thrown Out; Fenty Promises to Fight Appellate Court’s Ruling”: David Nakamura and Robert Barnes have this front page article today in The Washington Post. The newspaper also contains an editorial entitled “Dangerous Ruling: An appeals court ruling would put handguns back in D.C. homes.”

Today in The Los Angeles Times, David G. Savage reports that “Washington D.C. gun ban bites the dust; The ruling sets up a Supreme Court showdown over the scope of the 2nd Amendment.”

And The Washington Times reports that “Court strikes down D.C. ban on guns.”

“Can Congress repeal birthright citizenship? Anti-immigration lawmakers are pushing the idea, but the 14th Amendment may get in their way.” James C. Ho has this op-ed today in The Los Angeles Times.

“Too Many Secrets”: The New York Times today contains an editorial that begins, “It is a challenge to keep track of all the ways the Bush administration is eroding constitutional protections, but one that should get more attention is its abuse of the state secrets doctrine. A federal appeals court in Virginia this month accepted the administration’s claim that the doctrine barred a lawsuit of a torture victim from going forward, and the government is using the defense in another torture case in New York. The Supreme Court needs to scale back the use of this dangerous legal defense.”