“Republicans in California Assembly fail to block plan to upgrade courthouses; GOP lawmakers criticize state Chief Justice Ronald George for his rulings on gay marriage and parole for murderers”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.

“UCLA accused of illegal admissions practices; A professor resigns as an admissions committee member, saying the university is factoring race into acceptance decisions, a violation of state law”: The Los Angeles Times contains this article today.

“November Ballots Include Abortion Issues; South Dakota’s Initiative Would Ban the Procedure, Except in Certain Cases”: This article appears today in The Washington Post.

“Affirmative-action foes give up on 2008 ballot”: Today in The Arizona Daily Star, Howard Fischer has an article that begins, “Backers of a plan to constitutionally ban government affirmative action programs in the state gave up Friday in their legal efforts to get on the ballot.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Ariz. ballot campaign on affirmative action ends.”

“Figure in Clinton Impeachment Is Named to Florida Supreme Court”: This article appeared yesterday in The New York Times.

The Ledger of Lakeland, Florida reported yesterday that “Lakeland’s Canady Rises To High Court; Judge is one of Florida’s most conservative voices.”

The Miami Herald reported yesterday that “Canady chosen for high court; Gov. Charlie Crist selected ex-congressman Charles Canady for Florida’s Supreme Court, the first of four appointments Crist will make to the court in the coming months.”

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported yesterday that “Gov. Charlie Crist picks his first Supreme Court justice.”

The Palm Beach Post reported yesterday that “Lakeland judge fills Supreme Court seat.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Clinton impeachment prosecutor on Fla. high court.”

“Buckley Satire Throws the Book at the High Court; Christopher Buckley’s new book presents an unlikely justice”: law.com’s Tony Mauro has this report.

I previously collected several reviews of the book in a post that you can access here.

“Family of Bonds’s Trainer Feeling More Pressure”: The New York Times today contains an article that begins, “Federal authorities are considering criminal charges against both the wife and the mother-in-law of Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds’s former personal trainer, in an effort to pressure Anderson to testify against Bonds, according to a lawyer for Anderson’s wife and other people with knowledge of the case.”

And today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Lance Williams reports that “Trainer’s mom-in-law new player in Bonds case.”

In commentary available online from FindLaw: Vikram David Amar has an essay entitled “An Important Upcoming Supreme Court Case Raises Questions About Both the Fourth Amendment and the Weight of Precedent.”

And Edward Lazarus has an essay entitled “A New York Times Study of the Effect of Partisan Selection of Immigration Judges Illustrates Why Vetting Works, and Why Ideology Matters.”

“Despite legal troubles, Kent has no plans to leave bench; Federal judge will hear cases while he’s facing sex abuse charges”: This article appears today in The Houston Chronicle.

And The Galveston County Daily News reports today that “Kent to keep hearing cases.”

“Veep Nominee Palin and the Exxon Valdez Case”: Tony Mauro has this post at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.”

“Bush Seeks to Affirm a Continuing War on Terror”: Eric Lichtblau has this article today in The New York Times.

“Real Trouble: A federal judge’s behavior could move the line between judicial freedom and misconduct.” Terry Carter will have this profile of U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real of the Central District of California in the September 2008 Issue of ABA Journal magazine.

“Opinion of ‘Bible bill’ is up for interpretation; Both sides of the Scripture-in-school dispute say Abbott backed them up”: The Houston Chronicle today contains an article that begins, “Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott was supposed to settle a dispute over whether public schools must offer a course in Biblical study, but his opinion Thursday created more confusion.”

You can access at this link the opinion letter that the Attorney General of Texas issued yesterday.

Mad cow in the D.C. Circuit: A divided three-judge panel issued this decision today.

“U.S. Court Upholds Dismissal of KPMG Tax Indictments”: Bloomberg News provides a report that begins, “A U.S. appeals court upheld a judge’s decision to throw out the indictment of 13 former KPMG LLP executives for tax-fraud after finding federal prosecutors violated their constitutional right to legal counsel.”

Reuters reports that “Court upholds dismissal of charges in KPMG case.”

The Associated Press reports that “Dismissal upheld in KPMG case.”

law.com reports that “2nd Circuit Upholds End of Cases Against Former KPMG Employees.”

And today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal contains an editorial entitled “White-Collar Justice.”

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

Meanwhile, in related coverage, The New York Times reports today that “U.S. Lifts a Policy in Corporate Crime Cases.”

And USA Today reports that “Justice can’t ask firms to waive legal privilege; Guidelines rein in Enron era practices.”

“U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent indicted in sex case”: This article appears today in The Houston Chronicle, along with articles headlined “Accusations bring Kent a different kind of notoriety” and “Prosecutors face task of offsetting aura of authority.” In addition, columnist Rick Casey has an op-ed entitled “Judging the judges who judged Kent.” The newspaper has posted the indictment online at this link.

The Galveston County Daily News reports today that “Indicted Judge Kent ‘ready’ to fight, lawyer says.”

The Associated Press reports that “Federal judge indicted on sex abuse charges.”

ABCNews.com reports that “Federal Judge Indicted in Sex Abuse Case; Samuel Kent Faces Sex Abuse Charges; His Lawyer Claims Relationship Was Consensual.”

And Texas Lawyer has an article headlined “Kent Indicted: Lawyer Says Judge ‘Angry and Ready for the Fight.'”

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a news release titled “U.S. District Court Judge Charged With Attempted Aggravated Sexual Abuse and Abusive Sexual Contact.”

“Obama’s Job No. 1 Is Halt Court’s Rightward Swing”: Bloomberg News columnist Ann Woolner has this essay today.

“U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent indicted in sex case”: The Houston Chronicle provides a news update that begins, “U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent was indicted Thursday on charges of abusive sexual contact and aggravated sexual abuse, making him the first federal judge to be charged with federal sex crimes and the first in Texas to be indicted in recent history.”

“Federal court in Ohio OKs 1912 ‘gold’ lease clause”: The Associated Press provides this report. My earlier coverage of yesterday’s Sixth Circuit ruling appears at this link.

And, as The Vancouver Sun noted earlier this week in an article headlined “A case of conflicting principles that’s as good as gold; Judge decides how to split up the booty when the protection of property and protection of commercial transactions collide,” gold coins were also recently the subject of a court ruling in Canada.

“Roberts to judge UF court contest”: Yesterday’s edition of The Gainesville Sun contained an article that begins, “The chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court will judge a competition of University of Florida law students on Sept. 5.” According to the article, “Chief Justice John Roberts will judge moot court at the Phillips Center. Four law students will write briefs and make oral arguments in a fictional case on the Constitutionality of anti-abortion license plates.”

And The National Law Journal provides a news update headlined “Chief justice to judge Florida Law moot court competition.”

(Via the ABA Journal’s “Law News Now” blog.)

“Mexican Supreme Court upholds legal abortion”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “Mexico’s Supreme Court voted 8-3 Thursday to uphold legal abortion in the capital, opening the possibility that similar measures could be adopted elsewhere in Mexico – and perhaps beyond.”

Reuters reports that “Mexico’s top court upholds abortion law.”

Agence France-Presse reports that “Mexico’s Supreme Court upholds capital’s abortion law.”

And The Guardian (UK) provides a news update headlined “Court backs Mexico City’s free abortion law; Absolute right to terminate pregnancy up to 12 weeks has sparked national debate on longstanding taboo.”

“2nd Circuit Appears Skeptical of Validity of Patriot Act’s National Security Letters”: law.com provides this report.

“Ohio Judge, 82, Sees History’s ‘Spark’ in Obama’s Nomination”: Bloomberg News provides this report about retired Sixth Circuit Judge Nathaniel R. Jones.

“Al-Arian Files Habeas for Release”: Josh Gerstein of The New York Sun has this news update.

Recently on C-SPAN’s “America and the Courts“: This past Saturday’s broadcast was titled “Panel on the American Press in Times of War.” C-SPAN has also made the entire panel presentation available for viewing at this link.

And the broadcast from two Saturdays ago was titled “Linda Greenhouse, Former New York Times Supreme Court Reporter.”

RealPlayer is required to launch these video clips.

Reviews of Christopher Buckley’s forthcoming novel “Supreme Courtship“: The Associated Press has a review headlined “Judge Judy on the Supreme Court? Buckley’s latest political satire is breezy and delightful.”

Monday in The New York Times, Janet Maslin had a review of the book headlined “A Texas Babe to Join the Brethren (Any Dissenting Opinions?)”

And on Sunday, The Washington Post published this review of the book.

“Dissent upsets high court; Majority stifled fellow justice’s opinion, only to OK it after media calls, Diaz says”: This article appeared last Saturday in The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Mississippi.

“Wyoming loses gun case in federal court”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “A federal appeals court in Denver has ruled that a Wyoming state law that seeks to allow people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence to regain their gun rights fails to meet federal requirements. A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday ruled that the procedure spelled out in Wyoming law actually fails to expunge the criminal record of people convicted of domestic violence.”

In response to the ruling, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has today issued a news release headlined “Brady Center Hails Court Ruling Blocking Domestic Abusers From Getting Guns.”

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

“Judge fears secret hearings over Guantanamo Bay”: The Associated Press provides this report.

“Exxon Valdez settlement checks could be distributed in October; Partial agreement reached in long case”: The Anchorage Daily News today contains an article that begins, “Lawyers in the epic Exxon Valdez court case have negotiated a settlement to pay out most of the $507.5 million the U.S. Supreme Court awarded in June, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs confirmed Tuesday.”

“Top Mexico court shows support for abortion law”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “The Supreme Court indicated Wednesday it will uphold a Mexico City law allowing abortion that has divided the country. Four of the 11 Supreme Court justices said during deliberations that they would vote against declaring the law unconstitutional. Eight votes would be needed to strike it down.”

Not an erotic dancing opinion, but nevertheless worth a look: An opinion in a case captioned 216 Jamaica Avenue v. S & R Playhouse has perhaps a better than average chance at involving erotic entertainment, but alas that proved not to be the case with regard to this decision that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued today.

Yet the opinion remains of interest because the decision considers the enforceability of a contractual provision, contained in a lease executed in 1911, stating that “[a]ll of said rents shall be paid in gold coin of the United States of the present standard of weight and fineness.” The trial court had held that the provision was unenforceable. But today, in an opinion by Circuit Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton, the Sixth Circuit reaches the opposite conclusion.

“Bush steps up fight over congressional authority”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “The Bush administration is raising the stakes in a court fight that could change the balance of power between the White House and Congress. Justice Department lawyers said Wednesday that they will soon ask a federal appeals court not to force the president’s top advisers to comply with congressional subpoenas next month. President Bush argues Congress doesn’t have the authority to demand information from his aides.”

Retrospective programming note: No posts appeared here after 4 p.m. yesterday because my son and I last night were at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia to watch the Phillies host the New York Mets. You can access the box score at this link, while wraps are available here and here.

The thirteen-inning game made for a late, but ultimately very satisfying, night at the ballpark. Additional coverage can be accessed here and here.

With the Phillies on the road this weekend in Chicago, the next baseball game that my son and I will be attending will be this Sunday’s game at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., where the Nationals will host the Atlanta Braves. Some readers may recall that we made our first trek down to that new ballpark earlier this year, on Memorial Day weekend.

“Judge Allows No Delay of Miers’s Testimony About Fired Prosecutors”: Dan Eggen has this article today in The Washington Post.

You can access at this link yesterday’s ruling of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.