“N.J. justices weigh limits on gun sales”: The Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger today contains an article that begins, “The state Supreme Court will tackle the always-controversial issue of gun control today when it considers whether cities and towns may enact their own laws limiting the sale of firearms.”

And today in The New York Times, Jimmy Carter has an op-ed entitled “What Happened to the Ban on Assault Weapons?”

“Next Case: State vs. Federal Power; Justices to Rule if U.S. Treasury Can Shield National Banks From New York Laws.” Jess Bravin has this article today in The Wall Street Journal.

“Asylum seekers have better luck with northern or female judges; Northern, female judges most likely to let them stay”: Abdon M. Pallasch has this article today in The Chicago Sun-Times.

“At 89, Justice John Paul Stevens sees the fruit of his labors; Over 34 years in the Supreme Court, many of the liberal justice’s lone dissents have become majority opinions; The most recent example was last week”: David G. Savage will have this article Monday in The Los Angeles Times.

“Does death row await Casey Anthony? Even if she is sentenced to die, she might not be executed — few women are in Florida.” This article appears today in The Orlando Sentinel.

“A Crack in the Wall of Secrecy”: The New York Times today contains an editorial that begins, “President Obama’s release last week of four graphic torture memos written by the Bush Justice Department was an essential step toward re-establishing the rule of law. It has had another positive, if unintended, result. The disclosure undermined a flimsy claim of state secrets — first made by the Bush administration and still being pressed by the Obama Justice Department — to deny a day in court to five victims of the extraordinary rendition program, under which foreigners were abducted and sent to be tortured in other countries.”

“Why Harold Koh is Dividing the GOP”: Massimo Calabresi, the son of Second Circuit Judge Guido Calabresi, has this article online at Time magazine’s web site.

And the current issue of The Harvard Law Record contains an article headlined “Calabresi reflects on Catholicism.”

“A Tragedy That Won’t Fade Away: When grisly images of their daughter’s death went viral on the Internet, the Catsouras family decided to fight back.” This article will appear in the May 4, 2009 issue of Newsweek.

“Voting rights lawsuit started in Austin garage; Supreme Court case involves moving utility district polling place 3 blocks”: Today in The Austin American-Statesman, Chuck Lindell has an article that begins, “Anderson Cooper’s people recently phoned Jack Stueber about sending a CNN crew to his suburban Austin garage, joining a media pilgrimage to what might be the least likely racial battleground in America. This Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case from Stueber’s neighborhood that could redefine the Voting Rights Act of 1965, landmark legislation that outlawed decades of ballot-box discrimination against minorities.”

“Same-Sex Ruling Belies the Staid Image of Iowa”: Sunday’s edition of The New York Times will contain this article.

“Effectiveness Of Harsh Questioning Is Unclear; Detainee May Have Faced Few Traditional Tactics”: This article will appear Sunday in The Washington Post.

And Sunday’s edition of The Los Angeles Times will contain an article headlined “CIA reportedly declined to closely evaluate harsh interrogations; Current and former U.S. officials say the failure to carefully examine the value of ‘enhanced’ methods like waterboarding — despite calls to do so as early as 2003 — was part of a broader trend.”

“FBI: Key Sept. 11 Leads Obtained Without Torture.” This audio segment (RealPlayer required) appeared on Friday evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” along with an audio segment entitled “Timeline Reflects Treatment Of Detainees.”

And at Politico.com, Josh Gerstein and Craig Gordon have an article headlined “Should America torture?”

“At Whitman, A Protest Over Poet’s Lifestyle”: The Washington Post today contains an article that begins, “A group of seven congregants from Topeka, Kan., set up outside Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda yesterday to protest the sexual orientation of the poet for whom the school was named.”

Perhaps next these protestors will target the Walt Whitman Bridge, connecting south Philadelphia and Gloucester City, New Jersey.

“Major test on voting rights”: Lyle Denniston has this post today at “SCOTUSblog.”

“Amid Outcry on Memo, Signer’s Private Regret; Friends Say Judge Wasn’t Proud of Outcome”: This front page article about Ninth Circuit Judge Jay S. Bybee appears today in The Washington Post.

Today’s edition of that newspaper also contains articles headlined “In 2002, Military Agency Warned Against ‘Torture’; Extreme Duress Could Yield Unreliable Information, It Said“; “Cheney Requests Release of 2 CIA Reports on Interrogations“; and “Pentagon to Release Prisoner Abuse Photos,” along with an editorial entitled “Eyes Wide Shut: The Bush administration repeatedly ignored warnings about its detainee interrogation policies.”

“We’re All Torturers Now: Will anything about the U.S. torture scandal ever scandalize us again?” Dahlia Lithwick has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“What do you expect? It’s talk radio, court says.” Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “A federal appeals court had some advice Friday for anyone whose reputation gets trashed on talk radio: Don’t bother suing for slander, because no one reasonably expects objective facts from the typical talk show host.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.

“High court test for voting rights in Texas case”: The Associated Press has this report.

And at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Tony Mauro has a post titled “Supreme Court Rally Planned Next Wednesday.”

“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.

“Brown calls 1996 anti-affirmative action law unconstitutional; California attorney general issues the opinion in response to a request from the state Supreme Court; He appears to be seeking to appeal to liberals in an expected run for governor”: Maura Dolan of The Los Angeles Times has this news update.

My earlier coverage appears at this link.

“Hardin jail tries for detainees from Gitmo”: This article appears today in The Billings Gazette.

And The Associated Press reports that “Montana town wants its empty jail to be new Gitmo.”