“Justice Breyer has advice for Obama court nominee”: The Associated Press has this report.

“A Shortcut to Appeal for Civil Cases Pending in Pa. State Court”: That’s the title of this month’s installment of my “Upon Further Review” column published in The Legal Intelligencer, Philadelphia’s daily newspaper for lawyers.

In essence, as I describe in more detail in the column, a Pennsylvania state Rule of Civil Procedure allows any party to send a case immediately to appeal if the trial judge takes more than 120 days to decide post-trial motions. Whether this shortcut is available depends on what sort of post-trial motions remain pending. But when the shortcut is available and is invoked, the trial judge loses jurisdiction to rule on the post-trial motions that have yet to be decided.

I’d be curious to hear from readers of this blog whether any similar post-trial shortcuts to appeal are available in other States.

“Sources: Obama expected to make high court pick by early May.” Bill Mears of CNN.com has this report.

“Scalia’s Retirement Party: Looking ahead to a conservative vacancy can help the Democrats at the polls.” Law professor Richard L. Hasen, author of the “Election Law Blog,” has this essay online at Slate.

“Alito is one Phillies fan whose opinions really matter”: This article, the second in a two-part series, appeared yesterday in The Philadelphia Daily News.

“Defining Radical Down: Are Judge Diane Wood’s abortion rulings truly indefensible?” Emily Bazelon has this essay online at Slate.

“Stevens’ Legacy Includes Key Role in Terrorism Cases; Justice’s influence led to rejection of Bush administration’s detention and trial plans for accused terrorists”: Marcia Coyle of The National Law Journal has this report.

And David Ingram and Carrie Levine of The National Law Journal have an article headlined “Senators, Interest Groups Weigh In on Possible Stevens Successor.”

“A feud worthy of the Bard: The Zappala and Orie clans are at each other’s throats in Western Pa.” Columnist Karen Heller has this essay today in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“Nebraska governor signs landmark abortion bills”: This article appears today in The Lincoln Journal Star.

Today’s edition of The Omaha World-Herald contains an article headlined “Gov.: I’ll fight for abortion laws.”

And The New York Times reports that “Nebraska Law Sets Limits on Abortion.”

“Our Fill-in-the-Blank Constitution”: Law professor Geoffrey R. Stone has this op-ed today in The New York Times.