“‘High-value detainee’ gets lawyer”: Carol Rosenberg of The Miami Herald has a news update that begins, “Alleged arch-terrorist Abu Zubaydah, whom the CIA waterboarded in secret overseas interrogations, has agreed to let a civilian American attorney handle his case, the lawyer said Tuesday.”

The law deals another setback to the widow of a Connecticut state court judge who reportedly worked himself to death: Today in The Hartford Courant, Lynne Tuohy has an article headlined “Ruling: Widow Can’t Be Lone Beneficiary” that begins, “The state Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a state law passed 14 years ago to permit the widow of a workaholic judge to sue the state over his death was unconstitutional because it benefited her alone.”

And The Associated Press provides a report headlined “Court: Widow can’t pursue claim husband was worked to death.”

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

In news updates available online from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans: “La. Supreme Court hears arguments over whether Katrina’s waters constituted a ‘flood’” and “La. Supreme Court hears Hurricane Rita insurance case.”

“High court rules in Sprint discrimination complaint”: The Kansas City Star provides this news update.

“Patent court rules on Microsoft, Amado case”: Reuters provides a report that begins, “A federal court which hears patent appeals told a lower court on Tuesday to reconsider damages that Microsoft must pay a Guatemalan inventor for infringing his software in its popular Office Suite.”

And Wednesday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal will report that “Court to Review Damages In Microsoft Patent Case.”

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

“High court to hear Exxon Valdez damages case; At issue: Should the company pay $2.5 billion in punitive damages for the 1989 oil spill?” Warren Richey will have this article Wednesday in The Christian Science Monitor.

Today’s edition of The Anchorage Daily News contains articles headlined “Exxon Valdez: Long voyage to justice; On Wednesday, Supreme Court takes up oil giant’s final appeal of $2.5 billion in damages awarded in wake of 1989 spill” and “Cordova braces for court ruling; Fishing town residents say spill ruined their livelihoods.” You can access that newspaper’s extensive earlier coverage of the oil spill disaster via this link.

And The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports today that “Supreme Court to hear Exxon Valdez case Wednesday.”

“Clarence Thomas’ Two Years of Silence”: This audio segment (RealPlayer required) featuring Dahlia Lithwick appeared on today’s broadcast of NPR’s “Day to Day.”

First Circuit today becomes the first circuit to hold that the federal Bureau of Prisons may, through rulemaking, deny placement in a community corrections center to all prisoners during the first 90 percent of their sentences: You can access today’s ruling of a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit at this link. Before today, four other federal appellate courts have ruled that the BOP lacks that authority.

“Did Allison Engine Case Throw a Rod?” Tony Mauro has this post at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has posted online at this link the transcript of today’s oral argument in Allison Engine Co. v. United States ex rel. Sanders, No. 07-214.

“Age Ruling May Help Ex-Employee”: Pete Yost of The Associated Press provides this report.

“The effect of our Court’s rulings is that every local robbery of a business in the United States is a federal crime.” In a concurring opinion issued today, Senior Sixth Circuit Judge Richard F. Suhrheinrich calls on the U.S. Supreme Court to consider whether the Sixth Circuit, “[b]y continuing to allow a de minimis standard for individual violations of the Hobbs Act, [is] essentially nullifying the ‘substantial effect’ test of Lopez and Morrison.”

Today’s Sixth Circuit ruling upholds a defendant’s federal criminal conviction for interfering with commerce by robbery in violation of the Hobbs Act by using a gun to steal $538 from a Cleveland-area Little Caesar’s restaurant.

“Short Bench: Why the Dems lack Supreme Court nominees.” Jeffrey Rosen has this article online at The New Republic.

You call that Parmesan cheese? A ruling that the European Court of Justice issued today has resulted in seemingly conflicting headlines from some major mainstream media outlets.

On the one hand, Reuters provides a report headlined “Parmesan? It’s OK if it’s German, EU court says.” And BBC News reports that “Germany cleared in Parmesan case; A claim that Germany has failed to protect genuine Italian Parmesan cheese from imitation has been rejected by the top court in the European Union.”

On the other hand, Bloomberg News reports that “Only Italians Can Call It Parmesan Cheese, Court Says.” And Financial Times reports that “ECJ ruling protects Parmesan.”

“WTC Bomber Claims Sept. 11 Retaliation”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “Fifteen years after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, a Palestinian sentenced to more than 100 years in prison in the attack claims that a vengeful U.S. government has blocked him from appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

“Court decides ‘me-too’ case”: Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

Today’s lone U.S. Supreme Court ruling in an argued case issued in Sprint/United Management Co. v. Mendelsohn, No. 06-1221. You can access the opinion at this link and the oral argument transcript at this link.

“High court to rule on warrantless search of vehicle; Arizona jurists ruled against police who looked through a car while the handcuffed driver was in their patrol unit, saying the officers weren’t in danger”: David G. Savage has this article today in The Los Angeles Times.

And today in The Arizona Daily Star, Howard Fischer reports that “High court to hear local warrantless case; Will decide whether state justices correct in overturning TPD search of car in 1999.”

“Encino judge gets no award in escalator fall; The Encino jurist who fell from an escalator had sought $21 million”: The Los Angeles Times today contains an article that begins, “A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury has ruled against a federal judge who was seeking $21 million after alleging that he was severely injured when he fell from a malfunctioning escalator at an Encino shopping center. U.S. District Judge George P. Schiavelli, 59, said he was riding the escalator at Encino Place shopping center in August 2005 when it stopped ‘suddenly and without warning,’ knocking him down the stairs and causing permanent injuries, according to court records.”

“Bush like a Nazi? Cancel commercial, judge tells Fieger; It could influence jurors in lawyer’s trial, Borman says.” Today’s edition of The Detroit Free Press contains an article that begins, “A federal judge told lawyers for embattled Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger that he must pull at least one of his TV commercials because it could influence potential jurors in a trial on charges he illegally contributed $127,000 to John Edwards’ 2004 presidential campaign.”

And The Detroit News reports today that “Fed judge says Fieger will have to pull TV ads; Ahead of ruling in appeal, jurist calls spots a ‘blatant’ attempt to taint jury pool.”

You can view the advertisement in question by clicking here.

“State high court’s output low, so far, in a complex year”: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today contains an article that begins, “By this time in an ordinary year, the Wisconsin Supreme Court would have released about 20 of the approximately 90 rulings it makes during its September-to-July term. But this is no ordinary year. While one newly elected justice has been embroiled in an ethics investigation and another justice is mired in a contentious campaign for his seat, the court’s output has fallen. The current session has yielded only 10 case rulings, less than half the 20.5-ruling average of the previous four years through the end of February. Its rate of dealing with lawyer discipline matters has dropped off, too. For the court, it’s a sensitive question whether its uneasy place in the midst of highly partisan debate has held back the pace of justice – historically a point of pride.”

In recent news coverage pertaining to the death of Baltimore-based Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Luna in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania more than four years ago: Two Sundays ago, The Lancaster Sunday News contained an article headlined “Show him the money: A convict throws another twist into 4-year-old Luna mystery” that begins, “He’s not trying to smear Jonathan Luna’s name, Nacoe Brown insists. He just wants to get out of jail. And if that means suggesting that the man who put him in prison — the man who was found dead in a Brecknock Township stream more than four years ago — had something to do with the theft of $38,000 in evidence money from Brown’s trial, so be it.”

That same newspaper issue also contained a related article headlined “Detective plans to take another shot at getting autopsy report.”

“Defense stymied in 9/11 death-penalty case”: Yesterday in The Miami Herald, Carol Rosenberg had an article that begins, “Two weeks after the Pentagon announced plans to stage death-penalty trials for six Guantanamo captives as alleged Sept. 11 co-conspirators, none of the men has seen a military defense lawyer. Only one of the six has an assigned lawyer, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Bryan Broyles. But Broyles failed to see his client during a Feb. 13-16 visit to the isolated Navy base.”

“Hats Off To Kagan: The law school dean’s tenure has been marked by numerous accomplishments.” This editorial appears today in The Harvard Crimson.

The Providence (R.I.) Journal is reporting: Today’s newspaper contains articles headlined “Supreme Court to hear R.I. case” and “Jury selection begins in Narragansetts’ smoke-shop raid case.”

“Exxon spill revisited at high court; Justices to decide whether $2.5 billion awarded after Alaska disaster will stand”: Joan Biskupic has this article today in USA Today.

“When Does Federal Law Preempt State Law In Tort Cases? Last Week’s Supreme Court Decision Offers Some Guidance.” Anthony J. Sebok has this essay online at FindLaw.