“Forsyth files petition to take prayer case to the U.S. Supreme Court”: The Winston-Salem Journal has a news update that begins, “Forsyth County filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court today to overturn a lower court’s ruling that banned prayers mentioning Jesus from the start of meetings of the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners.”

The newspaper has posted the petition for writ of certiorari at this link.

“Reagan, Not the Left, Started Partisan Fires”: Columnist Michael Kinsley has this essay online at Bloomberg News.

“Boatright brings family law expertise, ‘intangibles’ to Colorado Supreme Court”: The Denver Post has this news update.

“Ninth Circuit Grants Rehearing En Banc in United States v. Nosal“: Orin Kerr has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

And at his “Under the Radar” blog at Politico.com, Josh Gerstein has a post titled “Is checking sports scores or personal e-mail at work a crime?”

You can access today’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granting rehearing en banc at this link.

My earlier coverage of the divided three-judge panel’s ruling in the case can be accessed here.

“UT’s Missing Brief and Justice Kagan’s Recusal”: Hans A. von Spakovsky has this post at National Review Online’s “Bench Memos” blog.

“Interest groups flex clout in judicial elections”: The Associated Press has this report.

“More Women Judges Needed, Gertner and Lithwick Say”: The University of Virginia School of Law issued this news release today.

You can access audio from the event via this link (26.2MB mp3 audio file).

“Women launch new legal salvo against Wal-Mart”: Dan Levine and Poornima Gupta of Reuters have this report.

And The Associated Press reports that “Calif. women allege Wal-Mart bias in new lawsuit.”

Update: In other coverage, Bloomberg News reports that “Wal-Mart Workers Limit Gender Bias Suit to California Stores.”

“This is a strange case.” So begins the opinion that Chief Judge Alex Kozinski issued today on behalf of the majority on a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Here is the entire first paragraph of the majority opinion:

This is a strange case. Its resolution hinges on the absence, as a factual matter, of something we must accept as a legal matter. There are unlikely to be many more like it, so this opinion’s precedential value is probably limited. We nevertheless publish pursuant to General Order 4.3. While we’re at it, we offer some advice to lawyers: Don’t apologize unless you’re sure you did something wrong. And there’s also a lesson for district judges: Don’t accept too readily lawyers’ confessions of error or rely on your own memory of what happened. Trials are complicated and we sometimes misremember details. That’s why we have transcripts.

Circuit Judge Sandra S. Ikuta, who earlier in her career worked as a law clerk for Judge Kozinski, issued a dissenting opinion.

“My View of the Second Question Presented in United States v. Jones, the Fourth Amendment GPS Case”: Orin Kerr has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

“Judicial elections, corporate policies give glimpse into 2012”: Dan Eggen of The Washington Post has this report.

And Reuters reports that “Interest groups increase spending on state court elections.”

“UK supreme court judges air concerns over having to follow Europe’s lead; Rulings from Strasbourg human rights court ‘sometimes too narrow’ and interpretations are disputed”: This article appears today in The Guardian (UK), along with a news analysis headlined “The UK supreme court is changing the way we think about law; The separation of judiciary and legislature will bring about a more confrontational relationship between judges and ministers.”

“Reduced sentence for Miami-Dade rapist under Supreme Court ruling; Jacamo Ardon, 17 when he kidnapped and raped a woman in 1991, will soon leave prison, under a new ruling, but he will be deported to his native Nicaragua”: Today’s edition of The Miami Herald contains an article that begins, “A Miami man convicted in the brutal 1991 gang rape of a college student will soon leave prison, thanks to a controversial U.S. Supreme Court ruling.”

“Supreme Court to hear ‘downer cattle’ meat processing case which originated in Chino”: The Contra Costa Times contained this article yesterday.

“Judge nixes Christie request to have N.J. judges contribute more toward pensions and benefits”: The Newark Star-Ledger today contains an article that begins, “Despite a tongue-lashing last week from the governor, a Superior Court judge ruled today that state judges do not have to pay more for pensions and health plans while the state is appealing a ruling that declared the increases unconstitutional.”

“Colorado Supreme Court candidates say they’re not politically active”: The Denver Post contains this article today.

“Sandra Day O’Connor talks of life as a cowgirl and on the court”: This article appears today in The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

“Lawyer Opposing Health Law Is Familiar Face to the Justices”: In today’s edition of The New York Times, Kevin Sack has a front page article that begins, “It would be hard for any lawyer to fathom a more riveting caseload than the one Paul D. Clement carried during his seven years in President George W. Bush’s Justice Department.”

“Interest Groups Dominate Spending in Judicial Elections, New Report Shows; Nearly 40 Percent of All Campaign Cash in 2009-10 Came From 10 Organizations”: The Justice at Stake Campaign, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, and the National Institute on Money in State Politics have issued this news release today.

You can access the report, titled “The New Politics of Judicial Elections: 2009-10; How Special Interest ‘Super Spenders’ Threatened Impartial Justice and Emboldened Unprecedented Legislative Attacks on America’s Courts,” by clicking here.