“Power Station Case Generating Heat In Monterey Bay”: Today in The Daily Journal of California, Lawrence Hurley has a front page article that begins, “The delicate issue of how the government should weigh environmental interests against those of big business comes before the U.S. Supreme Court this week.”

“Gosh Darn Sons of Guns: We have an indecency problem. Really.” Law Professor Jeffrey Rosen has this article in the December 3, 2008 issue of The New Republic. The article begins, “On Election Day, as the Supreme Court was debating the Bush administration’s decision to fine TV networks for broadcasting ‘fleeting utterances’ of the words ‘fuck’ and ‘shit,’ an obscenity scandal in Britain cast light on the question before the justices: Can a single expletive actually be considered indecent?”

“Attorney general nominee inherits damaged department”: Marisa Taylor of McClatchy Newspapers has this article.

“Can Lori Drew Verdict Survive the 9th Circuit Court?” Kim Zetter has this post this evening at Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog.

“AP loses appeal on FOIA request for US Taliban”: The Associated Press provides this report.

My earlier coverage of today’s Second Circuit ruling appears at this link.

“Former official accuses appellate judge of downloading porn”: Michael Doyle of McClatchy Newspapers has an article that begins, “A former federal courts chief is demanding the impeachment or resignation of a prominent California-based appellate judge who is already facing scrutiny over raunchy Internet imagery.”

And at his “Suits and Sentences” blog today, Doyle has a post titled “The X-rated judge, continued.”

Just Manny being Manny: Although Los Angeles may lose one famous Manny to free agency this winter, another famous Manny continues to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Nearly every Major League Baseball team would love to have Manny Ramirez on its roster, because he is an amazing offensive threat. Whether Judge Real will continue to have meaningful work to do, by contrast, will depend on whether various federal appellate courts allow him to maintain his caseload. Today, in an opinion you can access here, the Ninth Circuit has reassigned to another judge one more of Judge Real’s former cases.

“No Supreme appeal for Wecht”: Jason Cato of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has a news update that begins, “The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to consider an appeal by Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, who had hoped to avoid a second federal public corruption trial.”

“State of the Docket”: Tom Goldstein has this post today at “SCOTUSblog.”

“Flattery in a Faux Pas at the Supreme Court”: At “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Tony Mauro has this post about today’s U.S. Supreme Court oral argument in which the Attorney General of Colorado referred to Justice David H. Souter as “Justice Ginsburg.”

The gaffe appears on page 32 of the oral argument transcript in Kansas v. Colorado, No. 105 Orig.

“50 New Sites Make 2nd Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100”: Molly McDonough has this post at the ABA Journal’s “Law News Now” blog.

You can access the complete list, and even vote for your favorites in various categories, via this link.

“Obama seeks Justice Dept change, taps Holder as AG”: The Associated Press provides this report.

In today’s mail: A copy of Brian Doherty’s new book, “Gun Control on Trial: Inside the Supreme Court Battle Over the Second Amendment.”

As I noted in this post back on November 18, 2008, the December 2008 issue of Reason magazine contains a lengthy excerpt from the book.

“This patent infringement case involves the consequence of silence in the face of a duty to disclose patents in a standards-setting organization”: So begins today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Qualcomm Inc. v. Broadcom Corp.

The opening paragraph of the Federal Circuit’s opinion summarizes today’s ruling as follows: “For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the district court’s determinations that Qualcomm had a duty to disclose the asserted patents to the JVT, that it breached this duty, and that the JVT misconduct and litigation misconduct were proper bases for the court’s exceptional case determination. Because the scope of the remedy of unenforceability as applying to the world was too broad, however, we vacate the unenforceability judgment and remand with instructions to enter an unenforceability remedy limited in scope to H.264-compliant products.”

Update: In early news coverage, Reuters provides a report headlined “Qualcomm ruling affirmed, vacated in part-U.S. court.”

“Eric Holder, a High Achiever Poised to Scale New Heights”: This profile appears today in The New York Times.

Second Circuit holds that The Associated Press has no right to access John Walker Lindh’s petitions filed with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Pardon Attorney seeking a reduction in his twenty-year prison sentence: The AP sought access under the Freedom of Information Act. John Walker Lindh, of course, is the so-called “American Taliban.”

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

“Court refuses to return to Rapanos“: Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

You can access today’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court at this link.

In early news coverage, The Associated Press reports that “High court declines pathologist Wecht’s appeal” and “High court turns down pipeline company appeal.”

“Unhappiness After Stream in Montana Is Open to All”: The New York Times today contains an article that begins, “A group of landowners, including several wealthy out-of-staters, are none too happy that their exclusive use of a scenic trout-rich stream in the Bitterroot Valley is coming to an end. The Montana Supreme Court ruled here recently that the 16-mile-long stream, Mitchell Slough, is open to the public and that the landowners are not entitled to fence it off as part of their private sanctuaries.”

You can access last month’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Montana at this link. And you can access the briefs filed on appeal via this link.

“Smoker lawsuit goes to trial in Broward; A lawsuit by the widow of a Cooper City man who died of lung cancer is the first of some 8,000 tobacco cases in Florida to head to trial”: The Miami Herald contains this article today.

“The Next Attorney General: What has been repaired and what needs improvement at the Justice Department.” This editorial appears today in The Washington Post.

“Messing With Malpractice Reform: Tort lawyers in Illinois try an end run around the voters.” The Wall Street Journal today contains an editorial that begins, “Much good has resulted since Illinois lawmakers joined 35 other states and placed limits on medical damage awards three years ago. Doctors no longer flee the state in droves, and health care is more accessible. But if the trial lawyers prevail in a case heard by the Illinois Supreme Court recently, those trends could be reversed.”

“Veteran judge in line for SJC; Superior Court’s Gants ruled in many high-profile cases”: Today’s edition of The Boston Globe contains an article that begins, “Governor Deval Patrick today is expected to nominate Superior Court Judge Ralph Gants as an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, according to an official briefed on the nomination.”

“Justices to hear school sex harassment case; Parents sue district under Title IX and civil rights law”: Joan Biskupic has this article today in USA Today.