“Adoption ban targets gay couples, critics say; A new Arkansas law that bars unmarried adults from adopting or fostering children puts the spotlight on same-sex parenting”: The Los Angeles Times contains this article today.

“Colorado man faces criminal charge in libel case; J.P. Weichel is accused of writing defamatory comments about his former girlfriend on a Craigslist forum; Free-speech advocates are outraged”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.

“UC professor under fire for White House memo”: The San Francisco Chronicle has a news update that begins, “Berkeley’s city council will delve into national policy again next week when it votes whether to demand the United States charge Berkeley resident and former Bush adviser John Yoo with war crimes. Yoo, a tenured professor at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law, wrote the memos offering legal justification for torture while he worked for the White House from 2001 to 2003.”

“The Constitution, Designed to Change, Rarely Does; Repeal of Prohibition Demonstrates the Flexibility Founders Intended — and the Infrequency With Which It Is Used”: The Wall Street Journal contains this article today.

“Catholic groups fear abortion rights bill; But it’s unclear if the Freedom of Choice Act imperils a doctor’s right not to perform the procedure”: This article will appear Friday in The Christian Science Monitor.

“‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ suffers a blow in S.F. federal court”: Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle has a news update that begins, “A federal appeals court refused Thursday to reconsider a ruling that raised doubts about the constitutionality of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy for gays in the military, a decision that could give President-elect Barack Obama a chance to act quickly on his promise to repeal the policy. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco denied the Air Force’s request for a rehearing of a May 21 decision reviving a suit by a female officer in Washington state who was discharged because she had a relationship with another woman.”

And The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington provides a news update headlined “Decision keeps ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ challenge alive.”

You can access today’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denying rehearing en banc, from which six judges have noted their dissent, at this link.

My earlier coverage of the three-judge panel’s ruling from May 2008 can be accessed here and here.

“Justice Hecht fined $29,000 for illegal contribution”: The Houston Chronicle has a news update that begins, “The Texas Ethics Commission today fined Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht $29,000 for accepting and failing to report an illegal political contribution from a law firm. The case involves a discount Hecht received for personal legal services from Jackson Walker. Hecht said he is disappointed and will consider appealing the commission’s decision to state district court.”

Tony Mauro is reporting: Today at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” he has posts titled “The Supreme Court’s Big Bang, Explained” and “Re-enactment to Mark the 100th Birthday of the ‘Brandeis Brief.’”

“NYC court: Big city guns can equal stiff sentence.” The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “Federal judges can give harsher penalties to people who help bring illegal guns to big cities, a federal appeals court decided Thursday. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals approved the practice in its ruling for the case of an illegal gun dealer who got two years in prison, which was six months more than federal sentencing guidelines recommended.”

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

In news of significance to appellate geeks everywhere, it appears that the Second Circuit has finally abandoned “in banc” in favor of “en banc,” as I recently advocated here.

In June 2007, a three-judge Second Circuit panel overturned the sentence as improper. You can access that ruling at this link, while my initial coverage of that ruling appears at this link. In October 2007, the same three-judge panel issued a revised decision reaching essentially the same result. You can access the revised ruling at this link, while my initial coverage of the revised ruling appears at this link. And the trial court’s opinion explaining the basis for the increased sentence can be accessed here.

“Alito jabs at Biden over long-ago plagiarism”: Mark Sherman of The Associated Press provides this report.

And at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Tony Mauro has a post titled “Just In: Justice Stevens Will Swear In Biden as Vice President.”

Programming note: I’ll be participating in an appellate mediation this morning at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Additional posts will appear here later today.