“Prolific Spammer’s Conviction Upheld”: The Associated Press provides this report on a 4-3 ruling that the Supreme Court of Virginia issued today.

And Venkat Balasubramani offers these thoughts about the ruling at his “Spam Notes” blog.

“Judge orders feds to try again on Bonds indictment”: The San Francisco Chronicle provides a news update that begins, “A federal judge on Friday told the government to re-craft its perjury case against Barry Bonds, saying prosecutors had improperly lumped multiple alleged offenses into each of four counts of its indictment of the former Giants star.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Judge Unseals Barry Bonds’ Testimony.”

You can count on First Circuit Judge Juan R. Torruella‘s foreshadowing of the denial of rehearing en banc in Cerqueira v. American Airlines, Inc.: One week ago yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued an en banc ruling in a federal sentencing case. As I noted in this post that evening, Judge Torruella’s dissent from the en banc ruling in the sentencing case cited to his separate dissent from the denial of rehearing en banc in the Cerqueira case.

That was unusual, however, because the First Circuit had not yet denied rehearing en banc in the Cerqueira case. Today, however, the First Circuit did formally issue its denial of rehearing en banc in Cerqueira and, no surprise, it includes a dissent from the denial of rehearing en banc that Judge Torruella wrote. The vote on whether to grant rehearing en banc was 3-2 against. My original coverage of the three-judge panel’s ruling in Cerqueira appeared at this link.

“Podcast: Richard Posner and David Lat on ‘Judges as Public Figures.'” “The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog” has posted online this podcast (61.5MB mp3 file) (via “Above the Law“).

“Safe from searches: Two Supreme Court cases will help define the boundaries between privacy and policing.” The Los Angeles Times contains this editorial today.

“Appeals court denies injunction against controversial Arizona law; Statute that can shut down businesses for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants will be enforced beginning Saturday”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.

And The Arizona Republic reports today that “Appeals to stop state sanctions law denied.”

“Quaker teacher fired for changing loyalty oath”: The San Francisco Chronicle today contains an article that begins, “California State University East Bay has fired a math teacher after six weeks on the job because she inserted the word ‘nonviolently’ in her state-required Oath of Allegiance form.”

Pennsylvania’s highest court agrees to consider whether to modernize its approach toward product liability claims: The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on Wednesday issued an order granting review of a case that presents the question “Whether this Court should apply Section 2 of the Restatement (Third) of Torts in place of Section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts.”

“Bill Would Remove Doubt on Presidential Eligibility”: The New York Times today contains an article that begins, “Senator John McCain said Thursday that he had no concerns about his meeting the constitutional qualifications for the presidency because of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone. A Democratic colleague said she wanted to remove even a trace of doubt.”

“Greenhouse To Leave Times; Pulitzer-Prize winning Supreme Court reporter will retire”: This article appears today in The Harvard Crimson.

“Skilling prepares for another round; Arguments scheduled for April in relation to ‘honest services’ issue”: Tuesday’s edition of The Houston Chronicle contained an article that begins, “Lawyers for former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling and the government will soon face off once again as his side argues to erase his convictions while prosecutors seek to maintain them. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled arguments in Skilling’s appeal for April 2 in New Orleans. The arguments will come nearly two years after a Houston federal jury convicted Skilling of multiple crimes and more than 15 months after he began serving a 24-year prison term at a lockup in Minnesota.”

“Exxon’s Day of Valdez Reckoning May Never Arrive”: Bloomberg News columnist Ann Woolner has this essay today.