“Disquiet over schools’ moment of silence; A family of Illinois atheists is fighting to overturn a law requiring time for students’ quiet reflection; The father and daughter say it mandates prayer”: The Los Angeles Times contains this article today.

“Wagons circled at CIA over tapes’ demise; The clandestine branch has a fierce instinct for protecting the agency’s interests and a reputation for undermining directors perceived as hostile”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.

“During Recess, Democrats Push Back”: Recess appointments are the subject of this article published today in The Washington Post.

On this past Saturday’s broadcast of C-SPAN’s “America and the Courts“: By clicking here (RealPlayer required) you can view the remarks Justice Clarence Thomas delivered late last month at an event sponsored by Hillsdale College.

Justice Thomas’s remarks at this event made news, as noted in this earlier post.

“Judging Lawyers: Lawyers sue over a rating site — and see their claim rejected on First Amendment grounds.” This editorial appears today in The Wall Street Journal.

My most recent earlier coverage appears at this link.

“The Ehrenfeld/Mahfouz Case: How ‘Libel Tourism’ Undermines the First Amendment and, in the Internet Age, Compels An International Solution.” Julie Hilden has this essay online today at FindLaw.

“Death Penalty in Review: Capital punishment loses ground, for good reasons.” This editorial appears today in The Washington Post.

“Several Top Positions at Justice Department Unfilled; Although Congress Has Blocked Some Candidates, Bush Has Not Offered Nominees for Every Job”: Dan Eggen has this article today in The Washington Post.

“The Worst Courts for Businesses? It’s a Matter of Opinion.” This installment of Adam Liptak’s “Sidebar” column will appear Monday in The New York Times.

“Castille goal: No politics on court; His Pennsylvania Supreme Court will get two new justices plus an interim one named by Gov. Rendell.” The Philadelphia Inquirer contains this article today.

“Move to impeach federal judge a rarity; Porteous case first lodged in decade”: This article appears today in The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.

“Creative vigilantes: Magicians, chefs, and stand-up comics protect their creations without the law; What they can teach lawyers – and Congress – about the future of intellectual property.” Daniel B. Smith has this article today in the Ideas section of The Boston Globe.

“CIA needs more taping, experts say; The videos could have given analysts valuable information about terrorism interrogations, according to some observers”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.

“Proponent of pit bulls seeks high court test; Warden pushing for spay, neuter rule”: The Toledo Blade today contains an article that begins, “Former Toledoan Paul Tellings has taken his fight against the city’s pit bull ordinance to the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging its constitutionality as a ‘breed-specific’ law because it allows only one of those types of dogs per household.”

“A Conversation With U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg”: Justice Ginsburg was today’s guest on the Voice of America program “Press Conference USA.”

You can access the audio online using either RealPlayer or Windows Media Player. In addition, you can download the audio in mp3 podcast format.

“State court overturns medical pot user’s conviction for dealing”: Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “A person who carries a small amount of marijuana with a doctor’s note allowing medical use can’t be convicted of dealing the drug just because police thought he was a dealer, a state appeals court ruled Friday. In overturning an Orange County man’s conviction for possessing marijuana for sale, the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana said the prosecutor needed more evidence of sales than the opinion of a sheriff’s deputy who specialized in investigating narcotics dealers.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District, Division Three, at this link.

“Judge lets Bonds keep lawyers despite conflict; Attorneys represented others in BALCO”: Howard Mintz has this article today in The San Jose Mercury News.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports today that “Bonds tells judge he accepts defense lawyers’ possible conflicts.”

The New York Times reports that “Bonds Will Keep Lawyers, Despite Potential Conflicts.”

And The Los Angeles Times reports that “Bonds waives lawyers’ conflict-of-interest issue; Slugger’s legal team includes two attorneys who represented others in the federal steroids investigation.”

“FBI Prepares Vast Database Of Biometrics; $1 Billion Project to Include Images of Irises and Faces”: The Washington Post today contains a front page article that begins, “The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world’s largest computer database of peoples’ physical characteristics, a project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the United States and abroad.”

“9/11 Panel Study Finds That C.I.A. Withheld Tapes”: This front page article appears today in The New York Times, which has posted a related document online at this link. The newspaper also contains an article headlined “No Immediate Ruling on Judicial Inquiry.”

The Washington Post today contains articles headlined “CIA Tapes Were Kept From 9/11 Panel, Report Says; Agency Defends Its Role as Information Provider in Commission’s Investigation of Terrorist Plots” and “Detainee Evidence Probe Weighed; Judge Told Guantanamo Information May Have Been Destroyed.”

And The Los Angeles Times reports that “Judge reluctant to probe tapes case; The Justice Department is conducting an inquiry into the CIA’s destruction of videotaped interrogations, he says.”

“Pentagon prosecuting kin of 9/11 hijacker”: Carol Rosenberg has this article today in The Miami Herald.

“Two more freed in Genarlow Wilson case”: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contains this article today.

“Questions and Doubts in a Texas Shooting Case”: This article will appear Sunday in The New York Times.

“Stained robe”: The Times-Picayune of New Orleans today contains an editorial that concludes, “Judge Porteous took an oath to uphold the law and to conduct himself in an honorable and ethical manner. Two entities that have reviewed his conduct — the disciplinary Special Investigatory Committee and the administrative panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals — have concluded that he broke that oath. For doing so, Judge Porteous should be impeached.”

“Order keeps Kent from hearing certain cases”: The Galveston County Daily News today contains an article that begins, “The latest order by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will greatly restrict the cases U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent can hear when he returns to the bench in January, a legal expert said Friday. The order said that as long as a federal criminal investigation into the judge’s conduct continues, Kent will not handle any cases in which the federal government is a party or in which sexual misconduct is alleged.”

And yesterday in The Houston Chronicle, columnist Rick Casey had an op-ed entitled “Kent probe might take a long time.”

“Judge: Blogger identity is safe; Rules for person targeting officials”: Today’s edition of The Asbury Park Press contains an article that begins, “The undisclosed identity of an Internet blogger whose comments targeted local officials will remain a mystery for now, a state Superior Court judge ruled Friday. Judge Terence P. Flynn in Freehold ruled to quash a subpoena filed by Manalapan Township against Google, seeking the name and account information of the author of the blog ‘daTruthSquad.blogspot.com’ calling the request ‘an unjust infringement on the blogger’s First Amendment rights.'”

Da blog celebrates da ruling at this link.

“Carcieri won’t have to testify in smoke shop case”: The Providence (R.I.) Journal today contains an article that begins, “The state Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Governor Carcieri will not have to take the stand at the trial of seven Narragansett Indians charged when the state police raided a tribal smoke shop four summers ago.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island at this link.

“Crack sentences eligible to be cut; Scores in Mass. will have right to appeal; Federal panel acted to reduce disparities”: This front page article appears today in The Boston Globe.

Available online from National Public Radio: This evening’s broadcast of “All Things Considered” contained an audio segment entitled “Judge Weighs Legality of CIA Tapes’ Destruction.”

And today’s broadcast of “Day to Day” contained an audio segment entitled “Federal Agency Investigates Waterboarding Source.”

RealPlayer is required to launch these audio segments.

“Government appeals on speech-debate privilege”: Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

“The Next Supreme Court Justice?” Tom Goldstein had this essay yesterday in The Daily Journal of California.

“High court rules on child visitation; Having grandparents’ rights trump parents’ is unconstitutional”: Today’s edition of The Honolulu Star-Bulletin contains an article that begins, “A law that gives grandparents visitation rights to their grandchildren even if the parents object is unconstitutional, the Hawaii Supreme Court has ruled.”

The newspaper also contains a related editorial entitled “Change law to modify grandparent visitation.”

You can access last week’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Hawaii at this link.

“Starcher won’t seek another court term”: The Charleston (W. Va.) Gazette today contains an article that begins, “State Supreme Court Justice Larry Starcher announced Thursday he would not run for re-election for another 12-year term, and will end his time on the court in January 2009.”

And The West Virginia Record reports that “Starcher not running for re-election.”

“Phony grenade causes scare”: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer today contains an article that begins, “What appeared to be a grenade addressed to Washington State Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders turned out to be a novelty item, but it caused a scare when postal workers discovered it early Thursday.”

“Chesapeake man convicted of child porn gets new trial”: The Virginian-Pilot today contains an article that begins, “A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that a Chesapeake man convicted of possessing child pornography should have been given his Miranda warnings when 24 FBI agents showed up at his house with guns drawn to question him.”

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

“Trouble in Paradise”: The January 2008 issue of Vanity Fair magazine contains a lengthy article that the publication describes as follows, “Settled in 1790 by mutineers from the storied H.M.S. Bounty, Pitcairn Island is one of the British Empire’s most isolated remnants, a mystical hunk of rock that was largely ignored until 1996. Then Pitcairn’s secret was exposed: generations of rape and child molestation as a way of life. Delving into the South Pacific island’s past, the authors chronicle its 10-year clash with the British legal system, which ripped apart a tiny society.”