“Fort Worth attorney considers challenging Supreme Court ruling for airman”: Yesterday’s edition of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram contained an article that begins, “There are few battles with worse odds for a U.S. serviceman than trying to sue the U.S. government for negligence.”

The newspaper also contained an article headlined “Airman who lost both legs in botched surgery fights for compensation.”

“Goodwin Liu appears to have clear path to California Supreme Court”: Howard Mintz of The San Jose Mercury News has this update.

“Judicial commission is next in line to tackle court incident”: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a news update that begins, “With two Supreme Court justices avoiding criminal charges last week, the pressure in the case now shifts to the state’s commission for disciplining judges.”

“Appeals court throws out sanctions against Miami federal prosecutors; A federal appeals court found that the U.S. attorney’s office did not act improperly in the high-profile prosecution of a Miami Beach doctor acquitted of overprescribing pain medication”: Jay Weaver of The Miami Herald has this news update.

The Associated Press reports that “Sanctions against Miami prosecutors overturned.”

And from Thomson Reuters, Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” has a report headlined “11th Circ. on prosecutorial misconduct: What does ‘or’ mean?”

You can access today’s ruling of a partially divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit at this link.

“Warrantless surveillance memos remain under wraps”: Pete Yost of The Associated Press has this report.

“Impeached Judge Thomas Porteous’ former secretary loses appeal to regain job”: The Times-Picayune of New Orleans has this news update reporting on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued last Friday.

“This case requires us to determine whether a child conceived through artificial insemination more than a year after her father’s death qualifies for benefits under the [Social Security] Act.” Addressing an issue that is already the subject of a circuit split, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit answered “no” in a ruling issued today.

Appellate practice pointer — the Eleventh Circuit demonstrates the advantages of understanding the meaning of a biblical allusion before persisting in an objection to it: On Tuesday of last week, Circuit Judge Ed Carnes issued this opinion on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

On pages 32 through 34 of the opinion, the court rejects the argument that a federal district judge’s statement to the jury of “may you have the judgment of Solomon” before deliberations began should be understood as improperly encouraging the jury to “split the baby.”

“Commentary: The Court’s increasing reliance on amicus curiae in the past term.” R. Reeves Anderson and Anthony J. Franze have this essay in the August 24, 2011 issue of The National Law Journal’s “Supreme Court Insider.”

“Judge mulls unsealing videos of gay marriage trial”: The Associated Press has this report.

On judges as umpires — a recent Wall Street Journal article demonstrates that even baseball umpires can have style: An article that The Wall Street Journal published earlier this month was headlined “Baseball’s Masked Men Show Their Inner Hams on Strike Three; Gyrating Umpires Get Chance to Show Off When Batter Looks His Worst.”

A related graphic, which seeks to describe the strike-three mechanics of each major league baseball umpire, can be accessed here. Of course, when it comes to strike-three calls, it is difficult to compete with this one.

“Judge Tani Cantil-Sakauye backs off camera push”: Bob Egelko has this article today in The San Francisco Chronicle.

“Partners: Will Clarence and Virginia Thomas succeed in killing Obama’s health-care plan?” Jeffrey Toobin had this “Annals of Law” essay in the August 29, 2011 issue of The New Yorker.