Second Circuit Judge Guido Calabresi to take senior status effective July 21, 2009: See here for confirmation (via “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times“). As of that date, he will have served for fifteen years as a federal appellate judge.

Today in New Orleans: On my second day here, I finally gave in to the temptation to visit the John Minor Wisdom U.S. Court of Appeals Building.

In addition to visiting the three courtrooms on the second floor — including the en banc courtroom containing seats for seventeen judges at the bench — I visited the court’s library, where the librarian in charge gave me a complimentary copy of “A History of the Fifth Circuit 1891-1981” by law professor Harvey C. Couch.

My wife took some interesting photos of the outside of the building, which I’ll try to post online after I return home.

This afternoon’s symposium event at Loyola Law School was much fun. It was great to finally meet both Jerry Goldman, founder of the amazing “Oyez” site, and Ernest Svenson of “Ernie the Attorney” fame.

It was also very interesting to hear professor Timothy R Johnson of the University of Minnesota speak about a project he is currently working on with two other professors to study how often each of the nine Justices serving on the U.S. Supreme Court interrupt, or get interrupted by, each other during oral argument. One of the study’s least surprising findings is that Justice Clarence Thomas isn’t doing much interrupting of his colleagues, nor is he being interrupted often by his colleagues, at oral argument.

“U.S. Abandons Detainee Label but Policy Is Largely Intact”: Saturday’s edition of The New York Times will contain an article that begins, “The Obama administration said Friday that it would abandon the Bush administration’s term ‘enemy combatant’ as it argues in court for the continued detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in a move that seemed intended to symbolically separate the new administration from Bush detention policies.”

Saturday’s edition of The Washington Post will report that “U.S. Retires ‘Enemy Combatant,’ Keeps Broad Right to Detain.”

The Associated Press reports that “Obama admin. to end use of term ‘enemy combatant.’”

James Rowley of Bloomberg News reports that “Obama Drops Enemy Combatant Term in Guantanamo Cases.”

Reuters reports that “U.S. drops ‘enemy combatant’ as basis for detention.”

At “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “U.S. defines its claim to detention power.”

Today, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a news release titled “Department of Justice Withdraws ‘Enemy Combatant’ Definition for Guantanamo Detainees.” The news release links to the “Declaration of Attorney General Eric Holder” and a brief that the federal government filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

“Court stays out of Anna Nicole Smith case”: The AP has a report that begins, “Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has turned down a plea for help from the estate of Anna Nicole Smith in a fight over a Texas oil tycoon’s fortune.”

What a twit: The Associated Press has a report headlined “Appeal says juror sent ‘tweets’ during $12.6M case” that begins, “A building materials company and its owner have appealed a $12.6 million verdict against them, alleging that a juror posted messages on Twitter.com during the trial that show he’s biased against them.”

“Ginsburg: Possible court opening soon.” The Associated Press has this report.

“Staples libel ruling concerns news media groups; Truth not failsafe as defense in case”: Jonathan Saltzman has this article today in The Boston Globe.

Programming note: This afternoon, I’ll be a speaker at a Loyola Law Review symposium titled “On the Brink: The Judiciary’s Tug of War with Technology.” Should you happen to be in or near New Orleans, the event is open to the public and begins at 1 p.m. My panel is due to start at 4 p.m.

This morning, after grabbing breakfast at Stanley, we plan to visit the National World War II Museum and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.

Additional posts will appear here at some point later today.

“U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts in Boise, praises western law schools”: This article appears today in The Idaho Statesman.

This afternoon, the Chief Justice will be delivering the Bellwood Lecture at the University of Idaho College of Law.

“New czar’s goal: Find nations for detainees; The Obama administration created a diplomatic post in an effort to convince countries to accept Guantanamo detainees.” Carol Rosenberg has this article today in The Miami Herald.

“How Obama Will Handle U.S. Attorney Posts Still Unclear”: The Washington Post contains this article today.