“Turning Point: The Supreme Court; The court is political, and more than Roe v. Wade is at stake.” Zachary Roth has this article online at Columbia Journalism Review.

The appellate paparazzi can be ruthless: CNN.com reports that “Ken Starr helping lawmakers fight paparazzi.”

“Ex-steelworker, Nazi guard loses deportation appeal”: The Associated Press provides this report on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued today.

Texarkana arcana: At “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Eugene Volokh has a post titled “Article III, Congress, and the Texarkana Courthouse,” quoting Brian Kalt.

Longtime readers of this blog may recall that after I attended the Eighth Circuit‘s Judicial Conference in Brainerd, Minnesota in July 2006, I received from another of the attendees this eagerly-awaited postcard depicting the U.S. Post Office & Court House in Texarkana.

“Gay rights: Lesbos islanders go to court in bid to reclaim the word lesbian.” This article appears today in The Guardian (UK).

The Telegraph (UK) reports today that “Lesbos islanders want to stop homosexual women calling themselves Lesbians; The inhabitants of the Aegean island of Lesbos have began a court action that will attempt to prevent homosexual women from calling themselves Lesbians.”

And The Associated Press reports that “3 from Lesbos sue gay group over ‘Lesbian’ name.” (This CNN.com version of The AP’s report contains a photograph of a male lesbian.)

Earlier, columnist John Walsh of The Independent (UK) had an essay entitled “Who are the real lesbians?”

And Howard Richler had an op-ed in The Toronto Star entitled “People of Lesbos lay claim to name – but whose word is it? ‘Lesbian’ is entrenched in English to refer to homosexual women; How about Lesbonians?”

Dahlia Lithwick and Benjamin Wittes on Bloggingheads.tv: You can launch the diavlog by clicking here.

Two Mondays from now, on June 23rd, Ben’s new book will be the subject of this event in Washington, D.C.

“The game’s up: jurors playing Sudoku abort trial.” Wednesday’s edition of The Sydney Morning Herald contains an article that begins, “After 105 witnesses and three months of evidence, a drug trial costing $1 million was aborted yesterday when it emerged that jurors had been playing Sudoku since the trial’s second week. In the District Court in Sydney, Judge Peter Zahra discharged the jury after hearing evidence from two accused men, one of their solicitors and the jury forewoman, who admitted that she and four other jurors had been diverting themselves in the jury box by playing the popular numbers game.”

One more reason to feel blue: The company that manages and produces the Las Vegas production of the Blue Man Group today lost its legal challenge to an adverse NLRB decision. Adding insult to injury, today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the petitioner’s motion that the court “take judicial notice of several artistic reviews of the Blue Man Group show that aptly describe the unique and highly unusual experience of attending a Blue Man Group performance.”

Update: At “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Joe Palazzolo has a post titled “D.C. Circuit Gives Blue Man Group Two Thumbs Down.”

“Abortion foes take battle beyond Roe; Makeup of high court is political focal point, but activists cutting access with ruling intact”: James Oliphant has this article today in The Chicago Tribune.

“On the reshaped Supreme Court, O’Connor’s legacy is fading away; Without her, it turns to the right on key issues”: Joan Biskupic has this front page article today in USA Today.

“9th Circuit Taps Special Prosecutor for Toxic-Tort Case”: law.com provides a report that begins, “A special master has already recommended that attorneys Thomas Girardi and Walter Lack pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in sanctions, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals isn’t done with them yet. On Monday, a three-judge panel appointed a special prosecutor to determine the proper discipline for the Los Angeles-based plaintiffs attorneys in connection with a string of errors in a toxic-tort case against Dow Chemical Co. and other companies.”

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

“Court will again hear Portland widow’s case; The U.S. Supreme Court takes up a $79.5 million judgment against Philip Morris”: Today in The Oregonian, Ashbel S. Green has this article, in which I am quoted.

James Vicini of Reuters reports that “Top court to hear Philip Morris damages appeal.”

And Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Altria Gets High Court Hearing on $79.5 Million Award.”

“Justices Reject ‘Class of One’ Argument”: Linda Greenhouse has this article today in The New York Times.

And today in The Washington Post, Robert Barnes reports that “Court Limits Public-Worker Claims; Unique Complaint of Bias Disallowed as Equal-Protection Case.” The newspaper also contains an editorial entitled “Personnel Decision: The Supreme Court gives government some needed leeway in employment matters.”

“US court rules in Quanta’s favor in LG patent case”: Reuters provides this report.

And law.com’s Tony Mauro reports that “Supreme Court Limits Companies’ Ability to Collect Multiple Royalties on Their Patents.”

“Court upholds ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’; Case originated in Boston with 12 former GIs”: This article appears today in The Boston Globe.

My earlier coverage of yesterday’s First Circuit ruling appears at this link.