“Author Examines Effects Of Solitary Confinement”: This audio segment (RealPlayer required) featuring Atul Gawande appeared on this evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

In the March 30, 2009 issue of The New Yorker, Gawande has an “Annals of Human Rights” article headlined “Hellhole: The United States holds tens of thousands of inmates in long-term solitary confinement; Is this torture?”

“Palin stands firm on consent; State lawmakers consider compromise requiring parental notification”: This article appeared yesterday in The Anchorage Daily News.

“Error Correction”: Law professor Chad M. Oldfather has posted this article online at SSRN (via “Legal Theory Blog“).

The article’s syllabus begins, “Under most accounts of appellate review, error correction stands with law declaration as the core purposes of the process. Yet while a vast amount of scholarship addresses the process of judicial law creation, error correction has received comparatively little attention.”

“Campus security bills for speakers challenged”: Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “When a UC Berkeley student group invited a speaker known for his hard-line pro-Israel stance, the university feared clashes with Palestinian supporters and billed the group more than $3,000 for police protection.”

The article reports on the efforts of “the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a conservative-leaning group that defends free speech on campus,” to challenge such fees as unconstitutional.

“Kansans to vote on gun ownership amendment”: This article appears today in The Wichita Eagle.

“McHugh rumored to be in line to replace Albright”: Friday’s edition of The Charleston (W. Va.) Daily Mail contained an article that begins, “Some say Gov. Joe Manchin won’t have to look far to find a suitable replacement for former West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Joseph Albright.”

“Tennessee could have no appellate judge elections in 2010 or 2014”: The Memphis Commercial Appeal provides a report that begins, “There would be no Tennessee elections in 2010 or 2014 for appellate judges — including Tennessee Supreme Court justices — if the legislature doesn’t enact some means for judicial election to replace the current selection system that is set to expire June 30, according to an advisory opinion by the state attorney general released Friday.”

The Tennessee Attorney General’s opinion bears the title “Effect of Expiration of Judicial Selection Commission and Judicial Evaluation Commission.”

“Reinstated, Chief Justice Bears Hopes of Pakistan”: This article appears today in The New York Times.

“State Supreme Court challenger counting on undecided voters”: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contains this article today.

“Judge dismisses attempt to remove ‘one state under God’ from Texas pledge”: This article appeared yesterday in The Dallas Morning News.

And The Associated Press reports that “Judge rules Texas pledge may reference God.”

You can access Thursday’s ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas at this link.