“Obama Administration Sides With Investors In Merck Securities Case”: Brent Kendall of Dow Jones Newswires has this report.

“Courthouse Bible plaintiff now targets Houston council prayer”: Mary Flood of The Houston Chronicle has a news update that begins, “The woman who successfully sued to have a Bible removed from a Harris County courthouse display is now suing to stop city council from opening meetings with prayers that she believes are too Christian.”

“Cape Girardeau man released after arrest for flag desecration”: This article appeared yesterday in The Southeast Missourian.

“Supreme Court Justices debate, draw laughs at Tucson event”: The Arizona Daily Star has a news update that begins, “U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer drew laughs from taking a few good-natured jibes at one another, while raising thought-provoking questions about how to interpret the Constitution in an evolving society.”

In The East Valley Tribune, Howard Fischer has a news update headlined “Scalia: Some on court inventing rights.”

The Associated Press has a report headlined “Justice Scalia: Rival doctrine seeks rigidity.”

And the Office of University Communications at the University of Arizona has issued a news release headlined “What Would the Founders Think? During a UA-sponsored event, U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer discussed their personal judicial philosophies in determining how the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted.”

Via the web site of Arizona Public Media, you can view today’s event online by clicking here.

“Pa. jury returns verdict in Prempro-cancer case”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “A Philadelphia jury returned a sealed punitive-damages verdict Monday against drugmaker Wyeth Pharmaceuticals after finding a link between a woman’s breast cancer and the hormone-replacement drug she took.”

Even more Bashman news from Australia: Tuesday’s edition of The Warrnambool Standard contains an article headlined “Hit men: Thugs paid $50 each to bash man.”

You can learn more about Warrnambool at this link.

“Pa. Jury Weighs Damages in Prempro-Cancer Case; Jury weighs punitive damages in finding Prempro-breast cancer link; thousands of cases pending”: The Associated Press has this report from Philadelphia.

“Judicial Nominations in the Bush and Obama Administrations’ First Nine Months”: Russell Wheeler of The Brookings Institution has this report.

“Judge Cooke affirmed for dismissing count against Ben Kuehne”: David Oscar Markus has this post at his “Southern District of Florida Blog” about a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued today.

“Halloween Costume Comes Back to Haunt Woman in Sexual Harassment Case”: The blog “Siouxsie Law” — self-described as “an offbeat-gothic-legal blog” — has this timely post about a recent ruling of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.

“In Battle Over Gay Marriage, Timing May Be Key”: Adam Liptak will have this new installment of his “Sidebar” column in Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times.

“The Bench in Purgatory: The new Republican obstructionism on Obama’s judicial nominees.” Doug Kendall has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.