“Supreme Court curtails rights of public employees; The justices reject an Oregon woman’s discrimination lawsuit, saying it threatened to turn millions of ordinary job grievances into federal cases”: David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has this news update.

“Justices to See Philip Morris Case a Third Time”: Linda Greenhouse will have this article Tuesday in The New York Times.

And Tuesday in The Christian Science Monitor, Warren Richey will have an article headlined “$79 million smoker case not over; The U.S Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear — again — a case in which Philip Morris is disputing the size of a damage award.”

“US court again dismisses challenge to military ban on gays”: Agence France-Presse provides this report on today’s First Circuit ruling, which I first reported on in the post immediately below.

The AFP article seems to suggest that today’s First Circuit ruling overrules last month’s Ninth Circuit ruling to the contrary. Of course, if the First Circuit could overrule the Ninth Circuit, the U.S. Supreme Court might have a bit more free time on its hands.

First Circuit panel rejects constitutional challenge to the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy: You can access today’s ruling at this link. The majority opinion observes, “we are persuaded that Lawrence did indeed recognize a protected liberty interest for adults to engage in private, consensual sexual intimacy and applied a balancing of constitutional interests that defies either the strict scrutiny or rational basis label.”

Today’s ruling disagrees with a ruling that a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel issued last month. My earlier coverage of that Ninth Circuit ruling appears here and here.

“Is Los Angeles International Airport a public forum under the Liberty of Speech Clause of the California Constitution?” A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today issued an order certifying that question for resolution by the Supreme Court of California. The certification order issued in a case captioned International Society for Krishna Consciousness v. City of Los Angeles. A related scene from the movie “Airplane!” can be accessed at this link via YouTube.

“Supreme Court to Weigh School Sex-Discrimination Case”: Mark Walsh has this post at “The School Law Blog” of Education Week.

“Court reopens punitive damages case”: Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

Today’s U.S. Supreme Court Order List and opinions in argued cases: The Court today has issued opinions in the following four argued cases:

1. Allison Engine Co. v. United States Ex Rel. Sanders, No. 07-214. Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. You can access the opinion at this link and the oral argument transcript at this link.

2. Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc., No. 06-937. Justice Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. You can access the opinion at this link and the oral argument transcript at this link.

3. Bridge v. Phoenix Bond & Indemnity Co. Long Family Land & Cattle Co., No. 07-210. Justice Thomas delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. You can access the opinion at this link and the oral argument transcript at this link.

4. Engquist v. Oregon Dept. of Agriculture, No. 07-474. The Chief Justice delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Thomas, Stephen G. Breyer, and Alito joined. Justice John Paul Stevens issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justices David H. Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined. You can access the opinion at this link and the oral argument transcript at this link.

The Court plans to issue additional opinions on Thursday of this week.

The Court today also granted review in two cases and called for the views of the Solicitor General in another case. You can access today’s Order List at this link.

In early news coverage, The Associated Press reports that “Justices rule against worker who lost job“; “Justices allow RICO lawsuit in Illinois case“; “Court sets limits in government fraud suits“: “High court rules against multiple royalties“; and “Court will again review $79.5M award in tobacco case.”

“Justice is served: A Harvard Law grad develops an odd obsession.” Chris Colin has this interesting article today in The San Francisco Chronicle. The “odd obsession” is making plates — which you can dine off of — that commemorate important cases and U.S. Supreme Court Justices. You can view the plates via the web site “Learned Handmade Plates.”

“Law Schools Visited by Supreme Court Justices, 2007”: This post appears today at “TaxProf Blog.”

“Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner speaks on immigration and the increasing number of immigration cases”: You can view Saturday’s broadcast of C-SPAN’s “America and the Courts” by clicking here (RealPlayer required).