“Can This Pig Fly? How A Dentist Assaulted A Patient And Made A Million Dollars.” Adam Scales has this essay — the second in a two-part series — today at FindLaw. You can access part one here.

“New Orleans DA loses race-firing appeal”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “The New Orleans district attorney lost his fight Wednesday against a ruling that said he violated the civil rights of dozens of white employees when he fired them after taking office in 2003 and replaced them with black workers.”

And The Times-Picayune of New Orleans provides a news update headlined “Jury verdict upheld in Jordan bias case.”

You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit at this link.

Available online from law.com: An article reports that “Solicitor General Sides Against SEC in Major High Court Securities Case.” In this post from earlier today, I linked to that amicus brief.

And in other news, “New York City’s Suit Against Gun Dealers Proceeds.” You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York at this link.

“U.S. Defends Surveillance to 3 Skeptical Judges”: Adam Liptak will have this article Thursday in The New York Times.

Justin Scheck of The Recorder reports that “9th Circuit Judges Challenge Government for More Candor on Wiretaps; Panel takes up two controversial cases involving feds’ once-secret, post-Sept. 11 spy program.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Feds urge appeals court to dismiss eavesdropping lawsuits.”

In coverage of today’s Ninth Circuit oral arguments in the NSA spying cases from Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog: David Kravets has a post titled “Is The Bush Administration Still Spying?”

Ryan Singel has a post titled “Analysis: Some Secret Documents Are Too Secret Even for Critical Judges.”

And live-blogging of this afternoon’s oral arguments appears in a post titled “NSA Judge: ‘I feel like I’m in Alice and Wonderland.’”

“Ninth Circuit Judge Marsha S. Berzon Receives ABA’s Margaret Brent Award”: The Public Information Office of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued has issued this news release.

“Appeals court may let NSA lawsuits proceed; A 9th U.S. Circuit Court panel peppers government attorneys with sharp questions and suggests that two cases alleging illegal surveillance should be allowed to continue”: Declan McCullagh of c|net News.com provides this report.

The Associated Press is reporting: Now available online are articles headlined “Gov’t Supports Business in Investor Case” and “Reporters, Family Sue HP in Spy Scheme.”

“What Happened in Norfolk: Four Navy men who confessed to a 1997 rape and murder now say those confessions were false; The only version of events less plausible than four innocent men signing false confessions could be the state’s theory of how they committed the crime.” Alan Berlow will have this article (TimesSelect temporary pass-through link) in the August 19, 2007 issue of The New York Times Magazine.

Update: You can now freely access the article at this link.

In news from Washington State: The Associated Press reports that “Wash. prosecutor’s sexual relations raise ethical questions.”

The American Bar Association has published the “U.S. Supreme Court Coloring and Activity Book”: And for a mere $5.95, you can purchase it, crayons included!

Also, Orin Kerr and I each received the same book in today’s mail, “The Party of the First Part: The Curious World of Legalese.”

Solicitor General’s Office files amicus brief in support of affirmance in Stoneridge Investment Partners, LLC v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.: You can access the amicus brief, filed today in the U.S. Supreme Court, at this link.

Earlier today, WSJ.com’s “Law Blog” had a related post titled “Stoneridge: Let 1000 Amici Bloom!”

At “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Government supports investment banks.”

And at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Tony Mauro has a post titled “Suspense on Stoneridge is over.”

“How lawyer navigates sea of secrecy in bizarre case; Among the obstacles: responding to a filing he can’t see and writing a brief with none of his notes at hand.” Today in The Los Angeles Times, Henry Weinstein has an article that begins, “Oakland lawyer Jon Eisenberg calls the case of Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. George W. Bush the strangest he has ever handled. How strange? Eisenberg was required to write one of his briefs in a windowless government office, without notes or lawbooks, under the watchful eye of two federal security guards. When he got hungry, one of the guards brought him a banana. And when he finished, a security official shredded all his drafts — and even the banana peel, Eisenberg said.”

“Secret Spying Showdown Hits Federal Appeals Court Wednesday”: Ryan Singel has this post at the “Threat Level” blog. In addition, David Kravets has a post titled “Spy Case Judges, All Democrats, To Hear Bush Eavesdropping Case Wednesday.”

And online at Wired, Jennifer Granick has an essay entitled “Nation’s Soul Is at Stake in NSA Surveillance Case.”

Happy birthday to Justice Stephen G. Breyer: According to the popular “Today in History” feature from The Associated Press, Justice Breyer celebrates his 69th birthday today.

“Judgeships hang on hung Senate; Bipartisanship on nominees is elusive”: This article appears today in The Chicago Tribune.

And The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Mississippi today contains an article headlined “1994 slur case part of debate on nominee.”

“Roberts and Alito: An ’08 issue?” Carrie Budoff has this report online at The Politico.

“Antarctica’s Workers Frozen Out of Tax Break by U.S. Courts”: Bloomberg News provides this report.

And in related coverage, “TaxProf Blog” has a post titled “Antarctica Is Not a Foreign Country for Tax Purposes.”

“Judge Who Filed Suit Plans to Appeal Defeat; Olive Branch From Cleaners Rejected”: This article appears today in The Washington Post.

“Despite 11th Circuit Ruling, AT&T Vows to Keep Car Logo; NASCAR lawyer says client hopes to get issue worked out quickly, with AT&T honoring federal appeals court’s opinion”: law.com provides this report.

My earlier coverage of yesterday’s Eleventh Circuit ruling appears at this link.

“A fight to give hope to the terminally ill: Patients, advocates want greater access to experimental drugs.” James Oliphant had this article yesterday in The Chicago Tribune.

The Associated Press is reporting: An article reports that “Court Tosses Out Award in Hanford Case.” My earlier coverage of today’s Ninth Circuit ruling appears at this link.

And in other news, “Judge Appeals $54M Pants Dismissal.”

Available online from National Public Radio: This evening’s broadcast of “All Things Considered” contained an audio segment entitled “Schools Worry About Fate of Desegregation Efforts.”

Today’s broadcast of “Day to Day” contained an audio segment entitled “Jose Padilla Trial Winds Down” featuring Dahlia Lithwick.

And today’s broadcast of “Morning Edition” contained an audio segment entitled “Comic-Book Store Owner on Trial for Nude Images.”

RealPlayer is required to launch these audio segments.

In jurisprudence essays available online at Slate: Dahlia Lithwick has an essay entitled “The Worst of Both Worlds: The false choice between treating terrorists as criminals or soldiers.”

And Bruce Fein has an essay entitled “Secret Insecurity: Self-serving hush-ups, in Canada and the United States.”

“Beyond Padilla terror case, huge legal issues; His detention and interrogation in the US raises basic constitutional questions”: Warren Richey will have this article Wednesday in The Christian Science Monitor.

“Pearson to Appeal Pants Verdict”: The Washington Post provides a news update that begins, “A day after the dry cleaners he sued tried to make peace, D.C. Administrative Law Judge Roy Pearson filed official notice today that he plans to appeal the verdict against him to the District’s highest court.”

Eighth Circuit decides appeal involving replevin of a historic steam locomotive: You can access today’s ruling at this link.

Ninth Circuit decides appeal from result of bellwether trial in Hanford Nuclear Facility downwinder litigation: You can access today’s lengthy ruling at this link. And additional background on the case is available from the web site Downwinders.com.

U.S. citizen who traveled to Iraq in 2003 to act as human shield to deter the bombing of civilian infrastructure facilities avoided death but not taxes: Today, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected the woman’s challenge to a civil monetary penalty of $6,700 that the U.S. Treasury assessed for violating regulations that governed what interactions United States citizens could have with Iraq while economic sanctions were in place. You can access today’s ruling at this link.

When Justice Alito met Judge Ito: According to The Houston Chronicle (second item), it happened last week. The article contains no mention of whether any members of the Ito family use the first name Al.

“Prosecutors Turn to Padilla for Closing Arguments”: This article appears today in The New York Times.

The Washington Post reports today that “Defense Says Case Against Padilla Is ‘Politically Motivated.’”

And in The Miami Herald, Jay Weaver reports that “Padilla is called al Qaeda ‘star recruit’; In closing arguments, a prosecutor said former Broward County resident Jose Padilla and two co-defendants talked in code — using ‘football’ to mean jihad.”

“Justice Kennedy wins Bar Association’s highest award”: Bob Egelko has this article today in The San Francisco Chronicle.

And today in The Los Angeles Times, Henry Weinstein reports that “ABA targets CIA methods, secrets law; The lawyers’ group wants Congress to override a Bush order allowing ‘enhanced’ interrogation methods.”

Editorials published in The Los Angeles Times: Today’s newspaper contains editorials entitled “Don’t make investor lawsuits harder: For the good of investors, the Bush administration should stay on the sidelines in a securities fraud lawsuit.”

And yesterday’s newspaper contained an editorial entitled “Ex-Terminator takes on video games: Gov. Schwarzenegger — no stranger to making money from violent media — is appealing a court decision allowing minors to purchase graphic games.”

“Gonzales could get say in states’ executions; Proposed rules would let the attorney general sign off on ‘fast tracking’ death penalty appeals”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.

“Fair Pay, the Right Way: The House overcorrects a Supreme Court decision.” The Washington Post contains this editorial today.