“In effect, the jury both convicted and acquitted Mr. Shippley of the charged conspiracy. What to do? In this appeal we wrestle with the question as the district court did before us.” Circuit Judge Neil M. Gorsuch issued this interesting opinion today on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

“Gossip magazine’s celebrity wedding photos broke law, court says”: Maura Dolan of The Los Angeles Times has a blog post that begins, “A federal appeals court decided Tuesday that a gossip magazine violated copyright law by publishing photographs of a secret celebrity wedding.”

And Courthouse News Service reports that “9th Circuit Rejects Tabloid’s Fair-Use Claim.”

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

“Asian-American rift over Supreme Court affirmative action case”: Terry Baynes of Reuters has this report.

“Justice Kennedy Stands by Circuit Conference”: Today. the Public Information Office of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a news release that begins, “Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy stood by the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference Monday, saying that the gathering here of the federal bench and bar from the western states was ‘a prudent and a proper exercise of the judicial function.'”

The Ninth Circuit has also posted the prepared text of Justice Kennedy’s remarks today at the judicial conference in Maui.

“Falsely identifying oneself as a policeman in order to get out of a speeding ticket is simply not the kind of expressive conduct the Framers of our first and one of our greatest amendments had in mind.” So holds the majority on a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in a decision issued today.

“Appeals Court OKs Warrantless, Real-Time Mobile Phone Tracking”: At Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog, David Kravets has this post reporting on a ruling that a partially divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued today.

“Houseboat case may be moot”: Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

“Why Don’t the Justices Ever Visit Military Hospitals?” Andrew Cohen has this essay online at The Atlantic.

“Circuit Conference Opens with Supreme Court Review”: The Public Information Office of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued this news release yesterday.

“Senate should not invoke ‘Thurmond Rule’ to block Kayatta nomination”: Law professor Carl Tobias has this blog post online at The Hill.

“Judges for Sale”: Jeffrey Toobin has this post online today at The New Yorker.

“Obama administration urges justices to uphold affirmative action; In October, the Supreme Court will hear an appeal on the issue, over which it has been closely split for decades”: David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has this report.

And The Boston Globe reports today that “Harvard, MIT file brief in affirmative action suit.”

“Justice race no easy win for GOP; Democrats’ rare advantage: Candidate is an incumbent.” Today in The Cincinnati Enquirer, Dan Horn has an article that begins, “Sharon Kennedy had one big advantage last year when she launched her campaign to become the first Butler County resident elected to the Ohio Supreme Court in almost 150 years. She’s a Republican. A GOP majority has dominated the court for more than a decade, and no Democrat has been elected since 2000. This time around, though, party affiliation alone might not be enough.”

“Retired Supreme Court justice to visit Anchorage; Sandra Day O’Connor will promote online civics program”: The Associated Press has this report.

“Gov. Bobby Jindal, at last minute, enters legal battle over Louisiana Supreme Court”: This article appears today in The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.

And today’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition” contained an audio segment entitled “La. Court In Racially Charged Power Struggle, Again.”

“State Supreme Court has been downsized. That’s a problem.” The Philadelphia Daily News contains this editorial today.

“Democrats could oust chief justice candidate; Lyon under fire over comments, ‘bizarre behavior'”: This article appears today in The Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser.

“Sanders, McCloud advance in Supreme Court race”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “Former Washington Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders has a chance to get his old job back.”