“UC owes millions in refunds to students, appeals court rules”: Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “The University of California owes millions of dollars in refunds to about 40,000 students who were promised that their tuition fees would be held steady but were hit with increases in 2003 when the state ran short of money, a state appeals court ruled Friday.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the California Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District at this link.

“UCLA Law School joins others to pry into judicial secrecy; With the Rand Corp., an alliance is formed to study confidentiality in the civil justice system”: Henry Weinstein has this article today in The Los Angeles Times.

“Bush Administration Blocked Waterboarding Critic; Former DOJ Official Tested the Method Himself, in Effort to Form Torture Policy”: Jan Crawford Greenburg and Ariane de Vogue have this report at ABCNews.com. You can watch a related video report by clicking here.

And today’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered” contained an audio segment entitled “Waterboarding: An Issue Before Mukasey’s Bid” (RealPlayer required).

“Exxon Valdez: a case of the undead; This now-historic case drags on and on solely because the 9th Circuit has let it happen.” David Lebedoff has this op-ed today in The Los Angeles Times.

“Democratic Defections Clear Path For Mukasey; 2 Senators Say Nominee Is Best Bush Would Offer”: This front page article appears today in The Washington Post.

The New York Times today contains articles headlined “Justice Nominee Gets 2 Key Votes From Democrats” and “3 Top Republican Candidates Take a Hard Line on the Interrogation of Detainees.”

The Los Angeles Times reports that “Mukasey all but a shoo-in for approval; Two Democrats on the judiciary panel express concerns but say they will vote to confirm him as attorney general.” In addition, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has an op-ed entitled “Judge Mukasey has my vote; The attorney general nominee’s answers on torture are clear, and he will rise to the challenges of the job.”

The Wall Street Journal reports that “Mukasey Gets Crucial Support; Schumer, Feinstein Back Attorney General Pick; Confirmation Is Likely.”

Marisa Taylor of McClatchy Newspapers reports that “Democrats support Mukasey despite waterboarding comments.”

The Washington Times reports that “2 key Democrats OK Mukasey.”

And Monday’s edition of Legal Times will report that “Mukasey May Wind Up as an AG on a Short Leash; If confirmed as the next attorney general, Mukasey could head to the Justice Department with Congress on his back.”

“New Detainee Rights Weighed in Plans to Close Guantanamo”: Sunday’s edition of The New York Times will contain this article.

“Capital Cases Stalling as Costs Grow Daunting”: This article will appear Sunday in The New York Times.

In addition, the newspaper’s Week in Review section on Sunday will contain an article headlined “It’s Not Whether to Kill, but How.”

C-SPAN has posted online the audio of last Wednesday’s Fourth Circuit en banc oral argument in Al-Marri v. Wright: You can access the audio by clicking here (RealPlayer required).

On Wednesday, I had this post previewing the oral argument. And I collected news coverage of what happened at the en banc oral argument in posts that you can access here and here.

“Brian Nichols case: DA sues to oust Nichols judge.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution today contains an article that begins, “Fulton County prosecutors are lobbying the Georgia Supreme Court to force the judge overseeing the trial of suspected courthouse gunman Brian Nichols off the beleaguered death penalty case.”

And Fulton County Daily Report contains an article headlined “Prosecutor Asks Ga. Justices to Boot Judge From Courthouse Shooter Case.”

Available online from law.com: Shannon P. Duffy reports that “3rd Circuit Finds Retirement Packages for Tenured Professors Are Taxable.” My earlier coverage of yesterday’s Third Circuit ruling appears at this link. And “TaxProf Blog” has this post about the ruling.

In other news, “5th Circuit Restricts Trial Courts’ Discretion in Venue Motions.”

An article reports that “Calif. Supreme Court to Hear High-Stakes Hollywood Dispute.”

And the brand new installment of my “On Appeal” column is headlined “Court Learns Best Way to Keep a Secret Is Not by Posting It on the Internet.”