“Affirmative Action: Factious Past, Uncertain Future.” This audio segment appeared on this evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

“Senate filibuster challenged in court”: Pete Williams, NBC News justice correspondent, has this report.

“Ordinary drivers are disgusted by report on ticket-fixing in Philadelphia”: This article appears today in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Today’s newspaper also contains an editorial titled “Reforming Traffic Court is Supreme Court’s job.”

“Why Judges Can’t Hear Each Other on Affirmative Action: The law says such programs benefit society as a whole; But the judges — on both sides — think of it as a favor that ‘we’ do for ‘them.'” Garrett Epps has this essay online at The Atlantic.

“Gay marriage pressure back on Obama”: Josh Gerstein of Politico.com has this report.

At “NYRblog,” the blog of The New York Review of Books, law professor David Cole has a post titled “Laws Not Fit to be Defended.”

And online at The American Prospect, E.J. Graff has an essay titled “Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid: SCOTUS Takes on Same-Sex Marriage; With the broad questions being placed before it, the Court has the opportunity to do significant damage.”

“Sequestration will mean thousands of furloughs, possibly layoffs, at federal courts”: Federal Times has this report.

“Filling the First Circuit vacancy”: Law professor Carl Tobias had this op-ed Friday in The Boston Globe.

“Supreme Court showdown expected over gay rights decisions; Conservative giants Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia are likely to be on opposing sides when the justices rule on marriage and federal benefits”: David G. Savage has this front page article today in The Los Angeles Times.

Today’s edition of The New York Times contains an article headlined “Worry Tempers Joy Over Gay Marriage’s Moment in Court.”

And The San Francisco Chronicle contains articles headlined “Jitters as Prop. 8 goes to high court” and “Gays walk to altar to take a bit longer.”

“Under the U.S. Supreme Court: Spying on the American public.” Michael Kirkland of UPI has this report.

A “small but influential Washington, D.C. based conservative think tank.” The Onion Book Of Known Knowledge has posted online this entry for the U.S. Supreme Court.

“‘Pay For Delay’ Drug Accords Get U.S. High Court Scrutiny”: Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News has this report.

Jonathan Stempel of Reuters reports that “U.S. Supreme Court to hear ‘pay-for-delay’ drug case.”

And Mark Sherman of The Associated Press reports that “Drug makers’ settlements get high court review.”

“Court to rule on same-sex marriage: What’s at stake.” Lyle Denniston has this post at the “Constitution Daily” blog of the National Constitution Center.

And online at Slate, Emily Bazelon has a jurisprudence essay titled “The Civil Rights Case of Our Generation: The Supreme Court has agreed to consider the constitutionality of gay marriage; This is gonna be big.”

“Supreme Court to Take Up Gay Marriage”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this news update.

Robert Barnes of The Washington Post has a news update headlined “Supreme Court to hear same-sex marriage cases.”

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has a news update headlined “Supreme Court to rule on California’s Prop. 8 ban on gay marriage.”

Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal has a news update headlined “Supreme Court to Hear Gay-Marriage Cases.”

Richard Wolf of USA Today has a news update headlined “Supreme Court to take up same-sex marriage.”

Warren Richey of The Christian Science Monitor reports that “Gay marriage reaches Supreme Court: Justices to review Prop 8., DOMA; The two cases being taken up by the Supreme Court involve a challenge to California’s Prop. 8 ban on gay marriage and a suit from New York City testing the federal Defense of Marriage Act.”

Michael Doyle of McClatchy Newspapers reports that “Supreme Court will review gay marriage cases.”

Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle has a news update headlined “Supreme Court to decide same-sex marriage.”

Howard Mintz of The San Jose Mercury News has an update headlined “U.S. Supreme Court to review Proposition 8 case.”

Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Gay Marriage Gets Supreme Court Review for the First Time.”

Terry Baynes of Reuters reports that “Supreme court to review same-sex marriage cases.”

At “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “On same-sex marriage, options open.”

And at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Marcia Coyle has a post titled “Supreme Court to Hear Historic Same-Sex Marriage Cases.”

“Supreme Court will hear gay marriage cases”: Mark Sherman of The Associated Press has this report.

You can access today’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court at this link.

“Generic Drug Accords Face Review by U.S. Supreme Court”: Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News has this report.

“Justices Consider Same-Sex Marriage Cases for Docket”: The New York Times has this news update.

“Report from en banc Fourth Circuit oral argument in pregnancy center compelled speech cases”: Kevin C. Walsh has this post at his blog, “walshslaw.”

“Michigan affirmative action case delayed”: Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

“Appeals court upholds conviction in U.S. anthrax hoax”: Jonathan Stempel of Reuters has this report on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued today.

“Federal judges file class action demanding pay raise”: Erin Geiger Smith has this report today at Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight.

“U.S. Attorney Jim Letten resigns amid online commenting scandal in his office”: The Times-Picayune of New Orleans has this news update.

Programming note: I will be visiting with co-counsel in the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania area to prepare for the oral argument that I will be presenting next Wednesday to an en banc panel of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania in the third and final case described in this recent post, which provides access to my client’s appellate briefs and the trial court’s ruling.

Additional posts will appear here this afternoon.

“High court rejects abortion laws”: Today’s edition of The Tulsa World contains an article that begins, “The Oklahoma Supreme Court tossed out two laws Tuesday that slapped restrictions on abortions.”

And today’s edition of The Oklahoman contains an article headlined “Oklahoma Supreme Court strikes down 2 anti-abortion laws.”

You can access here and here the two abortion-related rulings that the Supreme Court of Oklahoma issued yesterday.

C-SPAN’s Book TV has posted online the video of a discussion about the U.S. Supreme Court featuring authors Clare Cushman, Anthony Franze, Todd Peppers, Jeffrey Toobin, and Artemus Ward: Tony Mauro, Supreme Court correspondent for The National Law Journal, served as the discussion‘s moderator. You can view the video by clicking here.

“Custody Case in Scotland Goes Before U.S. Justices”: Adam Liptak will have this article Thursday in The New York Times.

And Bill Mears of CNN.com reports that “Justices divided over international child custody dispute.”

“Courts to Weigh Free Speech Rights In Pharmaceutical Marketing Cases”: This article will appear Thursday in The Wall Street Journal.

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

“The Case Against Color-Blind Admissions”: Ronald Dworkin has this essay (subscription needed for full text) in the December 20, 2012 issue of The New York Review of Books.

“Court gets new, more basic marriage case”: At “SCOTUSbog,” Lyle Denniston has a post that begins, “Lawyers for a group defending Nevada’s ban on same-sex marriage asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon to decide the most basic constitutional question in that controversy: must a state allow gays and lesbians to get married.”

“The Opening for a Fresh ObamaCare Challenge: By defining the mandate as a tax, one that will not be uniformly applied, the Supreme Court ran afoul of the Constitution.” David B. Rivkin and Lee A. Casey will have this op-ed Thursday in The Wall Street Journal.

“Circuit Split Watch: Press Access Not a Slam Dunk.” Michelle Olsen has this post today at her “Appellate Daily” blog.

“Frustrating (and telling) myopia concerning criminal justice among SCOTUS elite”: Douglas A. Berman has this post today at his “Sentencing Law and Policy” blog.

“Justices struggle with international custody law”: Jesse J. Holland of The Associated Press has this report.

You can access at this link the transcript of today’s U.S. Supreme Court oral argument in Chafin v. Chafin, No. 11-1347.

Update: In other coverage, Terry Baynes of Reuters reports that “Supreme Court steps into international custody battle.”

“Michigan Supreme Court Campaign Credits Facebook Ads With Margin of Victory; Can Social-Media Ads Win An Election?” Ad Age has this blog post.

“Court denies rehearing on cigarette warnings”: The Associated Press has this report.

“Fast-track effort on new race case”: At “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post that begins, “Lawyers for Michigan, moving rapidly with a new case on the use of race in college admissions, have laid out a plan to get the Supreme Court to hear and decide the case in the current Term.” You can view the petition for writ of certiorari at this link.