“Gaming Gay Marriage: Which case should the Supreme Court take?” Emily Bazelon has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Circuit Court Needs to Let the S.E.C. Do Its Job”: In today’s edition of The New York Times, financial columnist Floyd Norris has an essay that begins, “The second-most important court in the United States has three vacancies, one of which was created in 2005.”

“Facebook Beacon settlement gets OK”: Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle has a news update that begins, “A divided federal appeals court approved a $9.5 million settlement Thursday of a suit against Facebook for creating an information-sharing program in which millions of users’ online purchases could be disclosed to their entire network of ‘friends.'”

Bloomberg News reports that “Facebook’s ‘Beacon’ Settlement Upheld in Privacy Lawsuit.”

And Dan Levine of Reuters reports that “9th Circuit allows $9.5 mln Facebook deal over privacy claims.”

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.

“Leading judge hits back in dispute with U.S. Justice Scalia”: Terry Baynes of Reuters has this report.

“Justice Kagan describes workings of Supreme Court to University of Richmond audience”: The Associated Press has this report.

Wow, Justice Elena Kagan just mentioned the “How Appealing” blog during her remarks at the University of Richmond School of Law! You can access C-SPAN’s live coverage via this link.

Justice Kagan also mentioned “SCOTUSblog,” “The Volokh Conspiracy,” and “Balkinization.”

“Text of Judge Posner’s respose to Justice Scalia”: Today, Reuters has posted online at this link “the text of a response by Judge Richard Posner to comments by Justice Antonin Scalia in an interview with Reuters this week.”

“Lawyers go west as climate litigation warms up”: Lawrence Hurley of Greenwire has an article that begins, “Next month, the climate change litigation circus leaves Washington, D.C. First stop: the James R. Browning U.S. Courthouse.”

“Judges seem skeptical of CIA secrecy of drones”: The Associated Press has this report.

Update: In other coverage, Tom Schoenberg of Bloomberg News reports that “CIA Role in U.S. Drone Strikes Scrutinized by Appeals Court.”

David Ingram of Reuters reports that “U.S. court skeptical of Obama secrecy around drone killings.”

Michael Doyle of McClatchy Newspapers reports that “CIA balks at yielding details on drone strikes.”

And at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Mike Scarcella has a post titled “D.C. Circuit Questions Secrecy Over Drones in Records Dispute.”

“Why it matters: 1 new justice could change a lot.” Mark Sherman of The Associated Press has this report.

“Happy (Un)constitution(al) Day”: Linda Greenhouse has this post at the “Opinionator” blog of The New York Times.

“Conversation with Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan”: As detailed here, C-SPAN plans to provide live, online coverage beginning at 3 p.m. eastern time.

“Ruth Bader Ginsburg at CU-Boulder: Gay marriage likely to come before Supreme Court within a year.” This article appears today in The Boulder Daily Camera.

“Protecting Property Rights from the Army Corps of Engineers: The Supreme Court prepares to hear a major Takings Clause case.” Damon W. Root has this essay online at Reason.

“Appeals Court: Arizona man can’t sue Medtronic.” Back in April 2012, The Arizona Republic published an article that begins, “A federal appeals court said Monday that an Arizona man cannot sue a medical-device manufacturer under state law for injuries from a pain pump that he said left him paraplegic.” You can access the ruling that a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued on April 16, 2012 at this link.

Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit heard reargument en banc in Stengel v. Medtronic Inc. before an 11-judge panel. You can access the audio of yesterday’s en banc reargument via this link.

“Tax penalty to hit nearly 6M uninsured people”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “Nearly 6 million Americans — significantly more than first estimated — will face a tax penalty under President Barack Obama’s health overhaul for not getting insurance, congressional analysts said Wednesday. Most would be in the middle class.”

And today’s edition of The Oklahoman reports that “Oklahoma attorney general renews challenge to Obama administration’s health care act.”

“Justice to leave Supreme Court for private firm at end of month”: Chuck Lindell has this article today in The Austin American-Statesman.

“Illinois Supreme Court to hear arguments about long-dormant law on abortion notification”: The Associated Press has this report.

“California’s DNA law probed by judges”: Bob Egelko has this article today in The San Francisco Chronicle.

Scott Graham of The Recorder reports that “9th Circuit May Toss State’s DNA Collection Law.”

And at her “Trial Insider” blog, Pamela A. MacLean has a post titled “DNA Collection from Arrestees Challenged.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has posted the audio of yesterday’s reargument en banc in this case at this link.

“U.S. must show anti-prostitution pledge memo for HIV groups: court.” Reuters has a report that begins, “U.S. officials must hand over a 2004 legal memorandum on the constitutionality of requiring non-governmental, U.S.-based HIV/AIDS groups to make a pledge opposing prostitution when they work abroad, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday.”

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

“State Supreme Court: Fraternity Can Be Sued In Fatal Yale Crash.” The Associated Press has this report.

Today’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Connecticut consists of a majority opinion and an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.

“Documentary highlights Rubashkin’s fraud conviction, Supreme Court appeal”: The Des Moines Register has a blog post that begins, “A documentary short released today that examines the power U.S. federal prosecutors wield in the U.S. criminal justice system features former Agriprocessors executive Sholom Rubashkin. The 10-minute film, ‘Unjustified,’ includes interviews with a variety of legal experts, among them former Solicitor General Paul Clement, the lead lawyer on Rubashkin’s appeal that asks the U.S. Supreme Court to shorten a 27-year sentence or order a new trial.”

The video can be accessed at YouTube via this link.

“Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Gay Marriage Likely To Go Before Supreme Court Within The Next Year.” The Associated Press has this report.

“Words from the ‘Funniest Justice'”: Today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal contains an article that begins, “While waiting for the elevator in the lobby of the New York Athletic Club on Central Park South on Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia stood thumbing the leaves of a potted shrub, trying to judge whether it was real or plastic.”

You can freely access the full text of the article via Google News.

“In GPS Surveillance Case, Dispute Over Evidence Flares Up”: At “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Mike Scarcella has a post that begins, “The Washington-area man at the center of the government surveillance dispute that reached the U.S. Supreme Court is fighting to convince a judge not to allow jurors to hear about the tens of thousands of dollars of cocaine federal agents seized in 2005.”

“Scalia wages war of words with federal appeals judge in Chicago; Public spat between 2 legal ‘titans’ not surprising to some experts”: Annie Sweeney has this article today in The Chicago Tribune.

“So long, Justice Dale Wainwright”: At the “Tex Parte Blog” of Texas Lawyer, John Council has a post that begins, “Texas Supreme Court Justice Dale Wainwright announced today that he will resign from the court effective Sept. 30 to join Bracewell & Giuliani’s Austin office. Wainwright was first elected to the court in 2002 and is currently its third most senior member.”

And the Supreme Court of Texas today issued this news release.

The video of the oral argument that I presented on Tuesday of last week in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania can now be accessed online from the web site of the Pennsylvania Cable Network: To view the video, click here and then scroll down to the heading “Philadelphia session: September 11-12, 2012.” The case that I argued is the very first case shown on the video containing “Part Two” of the September 11 argument date.

Because I was representing the appellees, I was the third attorney to address the court in this oral argument. The first two attorneys to argue were Robert C. Heim and Sheila L. Birnbaum, who both argued on behalf of appellant Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

My previous coverage of the oral argument can be accessed in posts that appear here, here, and here. The Brief for Appellees that I filed on my clients’ behalf in the Pa. Supreme Court can be accessed here.

“Court upholds death sentence in bawdy chocolate gift case”: Bill Rankin of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a news update that begins, “The federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence against Cobb County killer Marcus Wellons, rejecting claims his case was unfairly prejudiced when his jurors gave erotic chocolate ‘gag gifts’ to the trial judge and bailiff.”

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

“DNA sampling of arrestees draws skepticism in federal court hearing”: Howard Mintz of The San Jose Mercury News has an update that begins, “A California law that allows law enforcement to collect DNA samples from anyone arrested for a felony appears to be on shaky legal ground. During an hour of arguments Wednesday, an 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was largely skeptical of the state’s argument that government’s public safety interest in collecting DNA from arrestees outweighs constitutional protections against unreasonable searches.”

Programming note: Due to meetings with appellate clients this morning and this afternoon, additional posts will not appear here until later today.

“Cato Institute Reviews Supreme Court’s Recent Term”: Thanks to C-SPAN, you can access the video of today’s event via this link.

“How Rakoff may have changed judicial elections — and Montana’s Supreme Court”: Nate Raymond has this report at Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight.

“Scalia: Judiciary suffers when private lawyers stay off the bench.” Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has this report.

“The Right Strikes Back: A New Legal Challenge for Obamacare; The fight over health care reform is still going strong: A conservative group now argues that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional because it started in the wrong House of Congress.” Law professor Jack M. Balkin has this post online at The Atlantic.