“Congress Shouldn’t Impeach Bybee: Much as he deserves it.” Law professor Frank Bowman has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Conflict of Interest at Holland & Knight Sets Back Impeachment Inquiry; Facing accusations of perjury and bribery, U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous would be the first federal judge in two decades to be impeached”: David Ingram will have this article in Monday’s edition of Legal Times.

“White House Worried About Johnsen Nomination”: At the web site of The Atlantic Monthly, Marc Ambinder has a blog post that begins, “Dawn Johnsen’s nomination to head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel is in trouble, White House officials said today. Vote counters believe that she is several votes shy of the 60 needed to avert a filibuster.”

“May It Please the Court”: Illustrator Maira Kalman has produced this blogged artwork about her recent visit with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Supreme Court of the United States.

“Judge Richard Posner Questions His Free-Market Faith In ‘A Failure Of Capitalism'”: Marcus Baram had this article Monday at the Huffington Post.

“Judge Posner at the Federal Circuit: Patent on Sex Aid is Obvious.” Dennis Crouch has this post at “Patently-O.”

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

“White House: No point appealing photos’ lawsuit.” The Associated Press has a report that begins, “The White House says it was clear an appeal of a court ruling ordering the administration to release photographs of prisoners abused by U.S. military or civilian personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan would not succeed.”

Failing to provide the jury in a federal child pornography prosecution with mandatory minimum sentencing information that the jury may have used to nullify the defendant’s convictions is not a valid ground on which the district court may grant a new trial: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued this interesting ruling today.

At his “Sentencing Law and Policy” blog, law professor Doug Berman notes the ruling in a post titled “Notable (and major?) child porn ruling from the Second Circuit.”

Judge Posner knows an “obvious” sex toy when he sees one: Who could have predicted that having Seventh Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner sit by designation on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit would produce such material?

In an opinion by Judge Posner that the Federal Circuit issued today, that court has ruled that a patent for sex toys made out of “lubricious” borosilicate glass is invalid for obviousness. Thanks to a reader of this blog for drawing this ruling to my attention.

“Minn. high court won’t hear Senate case until June”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “Minnesota will head into June without a second U.S. senator under the Supreme Court’s schedule for hearing Republican Norm Coleman’s appeal.”

You can access today’s order of the Supreme Court of Minnesota at this link.

Dissenting Fifth Circuit judge accuses Pacific Legal Foundation of tilting at windmills in a “thinly veiled Libertarian crusade” aimed at overturning state laws that arguably infringe on private property rights: From the start of his dissenting opinion issued yesterday (at page 22 of the PDF file), it appears that Circuit Judge Jacques L. Wiener, Jr. takes a dim view of the litigation strategy that the Pacific Legal Foundation is employing in challenging a Texas law known as the Open Beaches Act.

But the PLF appears to have the last laugh at this juncture, as the majority — in an opinion by Chief Judge Edith H. Jones — has reinstated one key aspect of the PLF-sponsored lawsuit in order to certify a question to the Supreme Court of Texas.

Back in September 2008, The Associated Press had a related report headlined “Texas may seize beach homes due to Hurricane Ike erosion.” And earlier this month, The Facts newspaper of Clute, Texas published an article headlined “Briefs due by April 10 in beachfront battle.”

Update: At the not-so-thinly veiled Libertarian crusade known as “The Volokh Conspiracy,” law professor Eugene Volokh offers his reaction. And at the blog “PLF on Eminent Domain,” you can access a post titled “Pacific Legal Foundation Responds to Fifth Circuit Judge’s Critique of PLF’s Property Rights ‘Crusade.’”

D.C. Circuit decides Rasul case on remand from the U.S. Supreme Court for reconsideration in light of Boumediene: You can access today’s ruling at this link.

Update: The Associated Press reports that “Appeals court tosses Gitmo suit — again.”

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Detainee torture case rejected anew.”

“Judge gets lesson in cyber-slander case; Freehold firm’s suit involves blogger’s rights”: The Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger today contains an article that begins, “A Superior Court judge in Monmouth County yesterday received a crash course in the confusing cyber world of blogs and message boards in his attempt to determine whether a hockey-mom blogger from Washington State defamed a company she was investigating.”

“The crux of this case is the standard of care to be applied when a player in an adult ‘no-check’ ice hockey league checks and injures another player in violation of the league rules.” A three-judge panel of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania issued this ruling yesterday.

“Video of John Demjanjuk shows him walking without assistance”: Today’s edition of The Cleveland Plain Dealer contains an article that begins, “Videos of John Demjanjuk walking briskly indicate he is healthier than he has claimed and is fit to be deported to Germany for helping the Nazis kill Jews, federal prosecutors said late Thursday.”

The latest court filings in the deportation battle can be accessed via the home page of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.