The first batch of same-week U.S. Supreme Court oral argument audio recordings are now available: You can access the audio recordings from this week’s oral arguments via this link.

“[W]e conclude that Vermont’s ban on all vanity plate combinations that ‘refer, in any language, to a . . . religion’ or ‘deity’ constitutes unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination”: So holds a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a ruling issued today.

The case arose after Vermont rejected the plaintiff’s request for a vanity licence plate consisting of “JN36TN,” referring to the oft-quoted Biblical verse John 3:16.

“Appeals court favors secrecy in Gitmo case”: The Associated Press has this report on a ruling (containing many redactions) that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit made public on Wednesday.

“Stripper in federal judge scandal ID’d”: This article appears today in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

And The Mobile Press-Register reports today that “Judge in Eddie Smith case arrested on drug charges.”