“Obama’s Prisoner Dilemma: Reject Torture, Defend Torturers”: David Kravets has this post at Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog.

“Wide support for Al-Marri”: Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

“Bonds used ‘the clear’ in ’03 season, feds say”: Lance Williams and Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle have a news update that begins, “Former Giants slugger Barry Bonds used the BALCO designer steroid ‘the clear’ during the 2003 baseball season and also was taking a female fertility drug that can mask drug use on steroid tests, federal prosecutors say. Also in 2003, Bonds’ trainer, Greg Anderson, was secretly tape-recorded describing the regimen of undetectable banned drugs that baseball’s all-time homerun leader was using, federal prosecutors say.”

Howard Mintz of The San Jose Mercury News has an update headlined “Documents: Bonds tested positive for steroids three times in 2001 and 2002.”

And The New York Times has a news update headlined “Positive Drug Tests in Bonds Case.”

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has posted online the documents unsealed today at this link.

“Supreme Court chief justice praises Rehnquist at UA”: The Associated Press provides this report.

Earlier today, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. delivered the 3rd Rehnquist Center Lecture at the Rehnquist Center at the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law. You can view the lecture online, on-demand by clicking here (Windows Media Player required).

“Former Hawaii chief justice dies”: The Honolulu Star-Bulletin provides this news update.

“How President Obama Can Set a Key Example, and Send an Important Message, By Filling the Nation’s Most Protracted Judicial Vacancy”: Carl Tobias has this essay online today at FindLaw.

“Leahy Coy on New ‘Blue Slip’ Policy”: Keith Perine has this post at CQ Politics “Legal Beat” blog.

According to the post, “There are 27 states with at least one Republican senator, and 14 of those states have two GOP senators. If Leahy decides not to observe the blue slip practice as scrupulously as he did for the last two years, there could be a dramatic impact, particularly on appellate courts.”

“Florida Student Asks Scalia a Question — and Gets Scolded”: Tony Mauro has this post today at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.”

Some sad news from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit: According to an item on that court’s home page, “Due to snowstorms, Chief Judge Paul Michel was prevented from traveling to Puerto Rico to deliver a scheduled speech to the Association of Corporate Patent Counsel on January 28, 2009.”

In happier news, the court has posted the prepared text of the speech online at this link.

And in other tropics-related news, it appears that accepting a pro bono appointment from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit may, at least on rare occasion, result in a trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands to argue the appeal.

“We hold that it is within a district court’s inherent power to exercise broad discretion in imposing sanctions based on spoliated evidence.” So declares the unanimous en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in a three-page decision issued today.

At issue in the case was whether state or federal law controls a federal court’s imposition of sanctions as relief for spoliated evidence? Today’s ruling holds that federal law controls, thereby overruling some earlier Sixth Circuit decisions.

“US Chief Justice Roberts to speak at UA Wednesday”: This article appeared last Friday in The Arizona Daily Star.

Also last Friday, UA News reported that “U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. will be at the UA for separate events on Feb. 3 and Feb. 4.”

The Chief Justice’s remarks will begin today at 11 a.m. local time in Tucson, Arizona. As noted at this link, today he will be delivering the 3rd Rehnquist Center Lecture. The remarks will be televised live online via this link (Windows Media Player required) beginning at 10:50 a.m. local time and ending at noon local time.

“Google Trades Blame with HLS”: This article appears today in The Harvard Crimson.

“Revealed: Source of racial slur; Investigator used epithet in the Williams slay case.” Today’s edition of The Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger contains an article that begins, “A Supreme Court justice revealed yesterday that Bill Hunt, a former captain in the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office, was the investigator who used a racial epithet to describe Jayson Williams during a 2002 investigation of the fatal shooting at the former NBA star’s home. It was the first time Hunt’s name was publicly disclosed.”

“U.S. Supreme Court justice shows confidence, combativeness at West Palm Beach forum”: The South Florida Sun-Sentinel today contains an article that begins, “In a room filled with some of Palm Beach County’s most powerful people, it took a 20-year-old political science student to throw off U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Tuesday afternoon.”

And today’s edition of The Palm Beach Post contains an article headlined “Scalia on 2000: ‘Get over it.’”

“The $100,000 punch in the nose”: Today’s edition of The Kennebec Journal contains an article that begins, “Publishing a notice about a lawsuit in the Lincoln County News met the letter of the law, but violated the due process rights of a former Colby College student who now lives in Massachusetts, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled on Tuesday. It means that the case in which a former Colby student won $100,000 in damages from a former classmate will start over again in Lincoln County.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Court casts doubt on legal notices; Maine justices toss $100k verdict.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine at this link.

“The Supreme Court Restores Title VII’s Protection Against Retaliation, but Employees Still Face Gaps in Retaliation Law”: Joanna L. Grossman and Deborah Brake have this essay online at FindLaw.