In Bashman news from Australia: Sky News has a report headlined “Investigation after cops bash man.”

“Wednesday at the 2nd Circuit: venue battle in BofA MBS deal.” Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has this report.

“The Court in a second Obama term”: Tom Goldstein has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

“3rd Circuit ‘Strongly’ Disfavors Requests to Exceed Word Limits on Briefs”: Today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer — Philadelphia daily newspaper for lawyers — contains this month’s installment of my “Upon Further Review” column, in which I discuss an order discouraging motions to exceed the word limits applicable to briefs that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued last month.

“Held Hostage: Judicial Nominee Adalberto Jose Jordan; Rand Paul wants to send a message to his colleagues about U.S policy toward Egypt policy, but he’s doing it by adding one wrong to another.” Andrew Cohen has this essay online at The Atlantic.

Last night, Roll Call reported that “Rand Paul Holds Up Senate Action Over Detainees in Egypt.”

At at The Hill, former U.S. Representative Tom Davis (R-Va.) has a blog post titled “90-day up-or-down vote on presidential nominations.”

“[W]e remand this case for the district court to consider in the first instance whether the public has a First Amendment right of access to horse gathers, and, if so, whether the viewing restrictions are narrowly tailored to serve the government’s overriding interests.” Photojournalist Laura Leigh (whose blog you can access here) won this victory today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in her challenge to viewing restrictions that the Bureau of Land Management has imposed in connection with that agency’s horse roundups.

“If federal prosecutors receive public credit for their good works–as they should-they should not be able to hide behind the shield of anonymity when they make serious mistakes.” Last month, the Ninth Circuit issued a decision that condemned the actions of a particular federal prosecutor whom the decision identified by name. Thereafter, the prosecution filed a motion asking that the prosecutor’s name be removed from the opinion. Today, the Ninth Circuit denied the motion by means of an order that offers additional criticisms of the prosecution’s conduct in the matter.

In today’s mail: Just in time for Valentine’s Day, today’s mail contained The Green Bag‘s 2012 Almanac & Reader. You can access excerpts from the book via this link.

“In this appeal, we must determine whether the Government established that the public park near where Defendant Willie D. West engaged in illicit drug activity contained the three ‘separate apparatus’ necessary to constitute a ‘playground'”: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit today offers this addition (a three-judge panel’s decision consisting of a majority opinion and an opinion concurring in the judgment) to the growing body of federal appellate law addressing what constitutes a “playground” for purposes of federal criminal law.

“Supreme Court Cert Petition Spotlights Speech Limits on Securities Market”: Glenn Lammi has this post today at “The Legal Pulse” blog of the Washington Legal Foundation.

“Nevis official met with Judge Breyer after robbery”: The Associated Press has this report.

“Supreme Court Sluggers: Introducing the Scalia, Fortas, and Goldberg/Miller Trading Cards.” Ross E. Davies, Craig D. Rust, and Adam Aft have this paper online at SSRN.

“A Q&A With the Author of ‘The Last Justice’: Though he’s a lawyer at the Washington firm Arnold & Porter, Anthony J. Franze found time to write a riveting new thriller set in the secretive world of the Supreme Court.” Lawrence Hurley has this post at the “Capital Comment Blog” of Washingtonian magazine.

“Guantanamo mail screeners ordered to keep mum”: Reuters has this report.

“A High-Tech War on Leaks”: In the Sunday Review section of this past Sunday’s edition of The New York Times, Adam Liptak had a news analysis that begins, “Back in 2006, before the Obama administration made leak prosecutions routine, a panel of three federal appeals court judges in New York struggled to decide whether a prosecutor should be allowed to see the phone records of two New York Times reporters, Judith Miller and Philip Shenon, in an effort to determine their sources for articles about Islamic charities.”

“N.J. Supreme Court nominee Phillip H. Kwon’s intense privacy masks judicial leanings”: The Bergen Record contains this article today.

“Scenes From a Marriage That Segregationists Tried to Break Up”: This review of “The Loving Story” appears today in The New York Times.

Today’s edition of The Washington Post contains a review headlined “HBO’s ‘The Loving Story’: A resilient romance that changed history.”

And The Miami Herald contains a review headlined “HBO’s ‘The Loving Story’ victory on interracial marriage ban; On Valentine’s Day, a new HBO documentary celebrates the marriage of an interracial couple who went all the way to the Supreme Court to fight for the right to love.”

“Orie wants alleged leaks probed; Prosecution argues defense was source”: Paula Reed Ward has this article today in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

And The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports today that “Orie attorney asks for special prosecutor.”

“In challenge to Ottawa, judge refuses to impose mandatory sentence”: Today in The Toronto Globe and Mail, Kirk Makin has an article that begins, “An Ontario Superior Court judge has refused to impose a mandatory three-year sentence on a man caught with a loaded handgun, putting the courts on a collision course with the federal government’s belief in fixed sentences that provide judges with little discretion.”

“Congress looks for ways around Supreme Court”: Ben Pershing has this article today in The Washington Post.

“Judge Molloy: Supreme Court likely to strike down state spending ban.” Today’s edition of The Missoulian contains an article that begins, “The Montana Supreme Court decision reaffirming the state’s ban on direct corporate spending on political candidates is unlikely to stand, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy said Monday.”

And today’s edition of The New York Times contains an editorial entitled “Montana and the Supreme Court.”

“Judge Scalia makes up with University of Chicago”: Abdon M. Pallasch has this article today in The Chicago Sun-Times.

And The Chicago Tribune reports today that “Scalia defends his originalist view at U. of C.; Supreme Court justice sees Constitution as ‘static.’”