“Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas talks about ‘life’s calling’ during impromtu visit to Ave Maria University”: The Naples (Fla.) Daily News has this update.

And Politico.com reports that “Justice Thomas’s wife Virginia Thomas now a lobbyist.”

“2nd Cheshire Suspect’s Lawyers Want Trial Moved To Stamford; Cite Widespread Publicity In First Case”: The Hartford Courant has this news update.

The New Haven Register has a news update headlined “Komisarjevsky attorneys file motions seeking to move murder trial out of New Haven, disqualify judge.”

And The Associated Press reports that “2nd Conn. home invasion suspect wants trial moved.”

By a vote of 5-5, the Second Circuit fails to grant rehearing en banc of three-judge panel decision holding that corporations are not subject to liability under the Alien Tort Statute: Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an order denying panel rehearing (accompanied by separate opinions) and an order denying rehearing en banc by an evenly divided vote (also accompanied by separate opinions).

My earlier coverage of the original three-judge panel’s lengthy ruling can be accessed here.

Second Circuit holds that prosecution’s reliance on criminal defendant’s tattoo to establish guilt did not violate that defendant’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination: You can access today’s interesting ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit at this link.

Today’s ruling reasons that, although the tattoo was used in a manner that was testimonial and incriminating, the voluntary tattooing of an incriminating word on the defendant’s arm was not the result of government compulsion, and therefore no Fifth Amendment violation occurred.

“Fla. doctor’s terrorism conviction is upheld”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of a doctor accused of offering to treat injured al-Qaida fighters.”

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

“[I]n this case the amount in controversy is $75,000 exactly–one penny short of the jurisdictional bar that Congress has set.” As a result, diversity of citizenship jurisdiction does not exist in federal court, and therefore the case in question must be returned to state court (from whence it had been removed) to be relitigated from the outset. You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit at this link.

“Judge rejects Orie request to delay corruption trial”: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette contains this article today.

And The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports today that “Pa. GOP wants Orie’s charges tossed.”

“A Push to Open Hearings in Judge-Misconduct Cases”: The New York Times contains this article today.

“Antonin Scalia shoots from the hip on ‘undemocratic’ European Union”: This article appears today in The Australian.

And The Australia Associated Press has an article headlined “Cut the jargon and apply cocktail party test, says judge.”

“Panel OKs Graves nomination again; Judiciary Committee’s vote was second time Mississippi jurist approved”: The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Mississippi today contains an article that begins, “The Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously Thursday to approve the nomination of Mississippi Supreme Court Justice James Graves for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.”

“Wash. prosecutors want defeated justice off cases”: The Associated Press has an article that begins, “Prosecutors in five Washington counties want former Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders barred from continuing to rule on cases — an effort he calls a blatant attempt to manipulate the court.”

Earlier, Wednesday’s edition of The Daily Herald of Everett, Washington contained an article headlined “Justice Sanders lost election but is still ruling on nearly 70 cases; Richard Sanders was appointed to continue work on his unfinished cases, angering some prosecutors.”

“Williams’ e-mail ‘plea’ was simply Internet scam”: This article appeared yesterday in The Providence (R.I.) Journal.

And The Associated Press reports that “Retired RI chief justice victim of e-mail hack.”

“Richland Co ‘poster’ judge hopes for hearing by US Supreme Court”: The Mansfield (Ohio) News Journal contains this article today.

“Hatch: Kagan should sit out health care debate.” This article appears today in The Salt Lake Tribune.

And The Hill has a blog post titled “Hatch: Kagan should recuse herself from any challenge to healthcare reform.”

“Targeted judges will likely need own ads, Streit says”: Today in The Des Moines Register, Grant Schule has an article that begins, “The three Iowa Supreme Court justices who were voted out of office in November did not actively campaign because they falsely believed voters would see through the political attacks on the court, one of the ousted members said Thursday.”

“Cuccinelli seeks expedited review of health-care suit by U.S. Supreme Court”: This article appears today in The Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The Washington Post reports today that “Virginia to seek expedited Supreme Court review of suit over health-care law.”

The New York Times reports that “Virginia to Ask Supreme Court to Rule on Health Law.”

Greg Stohr and Justin Blum of Bloomberg News report that “Obama Go-Slow Approach at Supreme Court on Health Law May Build Support.”

And at The Atlantic’s web site, law professor Garrett Epps has a blog post titled “The Vinson Ruling and the Strange Nature of American Judicial Review.”