“Under the U.S. Supreme Court: Prisoners at the mercy of abusive guards?” Michael Kirkland of UPI has this report.

“Ted Cruz Responds: Harvard Law Was Full of Communists.” Jane Mayer has this blog post online today at The New Yorker.

“Melvin conviction may reignite talk of reform in Pennsylvania”: Sunday’s edition of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review will contain an article that begins, “As lawmakers and court officials assess how suspended Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin will leave the bench, others are pondering whether her corruption conviction will stop the pervasive use of tax dollars in Pennsylvania political campaigns.”

“Supreme Court considers South’s legacy and progress on voting rights”: Robert Barnes will have this article Sunday in The Washington Post.

“The Miami Herald‘s Carol Rosenberg on How to Report From Guantanamo Bay”: Petra Bartosiewicz has this blog post at New York magazine’s web site.

“States Take Sides As Court Revisits Voting Rights Act”: Nina Totenberg and Angela Chang have this blog post at NPR.org.

“Former Justice O’Connor visits Watsonville”: The Register-Pajaronian of Watsonville, California has this report.

“Kansas Supreme Court upholds lesbian mother’s rights”: Tony Rizzo has this front page article today in The Kansas City Star.

And The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that “Parental rights upheld for same-sex partner.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Kansas at this link.

“Supreme Court to weigh divisive voting rights case”: Bill Mears of CNN.com has this report.

“Iowa court: Estranged husband can disregard dead wife’s burial plan; Mary Whalen will be buried in Iowa rather than Montana — against her wishes.” This article appears today in The Des Moines Register.

And at “On Brief: Iowa’s Appellate Blog,” Jay Syverson has a post titled “Bury Me in Satin, Pretty Please.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Iowa at this link.

“Measure drafted for impeachment of judge”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “A legislator has drafted a resolution that would be the first step in the possible impeachment of Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin following her conviction on six counts of corruption, the lawmaker said Friday.”

KDKA-2, Pittsburgh’s CBS affiliate, reports that “House Judiciary Committee Leader Begins Impeachment Process Against Justice Melvin.”

And in related news, The Express-Times of Easton, Pennsylvania reports today that “Judge Jack Panella, of Palmer Township, unlikely to be appointed to state Supreme Court.”

“Supreme Court justices: The case for hanging it up; Justices can be independent of the elected branches and of the people without serving for life.” Law professor Eric J. Segall will have this op-ed Sunday in The Los Angeles Times.

“Argument preview: Crime, technology, and privacy.” Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

“Federal court: No Second Amendment guarantee for concealed carry.” The Denver Post has a news update that begins, “The Second Amendment’s guarantee of a right to bear arms does not extend to the right to carry a concealed weapon in public, a federal appeals court in Denver has ruled.”

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

“DOMA: U.S. takes tough line on marriage denial.” Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

And Howard Mintz of The San Jose Mercury News has an update headlined “President Obama opposes federal gay marriage ban in U.S. Supreme Court argument.”

Update: Josh Gerstein of Politico.com reports that “Obama brief fuels marriage fight.”

“Are some civil rights era protections still relevant? Supreme Court will decide.” Michael Doyle of McClatchy Newspapers has this report, along with an article headlined “Landmark Supreme Court voting rights debate will have California impact.”

“Federal Circuit Discusses Judicial Takings . . . In A Disbarment Case?” Robert H. Thomas has this blog post at “inversecondemnation.com” about a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued today.

“Pendent Appellate Bootstrapping”: Law professor Stephen I. Vladeck has this article in the Winter 2013 issue of The Green Bag.

“Feds Focused on Aaron Swartz’s Manifesto to Unshackle ‘Privatization of Knowledge'”: David Kravets has this post today at Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog.

“Cherokee National Supreme Court Museum offering free admission this weekend”: The Cherokee Nation issued this news release yesterday. You can learn more about the museum at this link.

“Trade-Worker Funds Can’t Recover Madoff Losses Says Court”: Bloomberg News has a report that begins, “Building-trade worker benefit funds that invested in feeder funds to Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC won’t be able to recover money from the Ponzi schemer’s estate, a federal appeals court ruled.”

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

Update: In other coverage, Jonathan Stempel of Reuters reports that “Madoff indirect investors lose U.S. court appeal.”

“Court to Lisa Madigan: No rehearing on concealed-carry guns ruling.” The Chicago Tribune has this news update.

Bloomberg News reports that “Illinois Bid for Rehearing of Gun-Carry Appeal Rejected.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Court won’t reconsider Ill. concealed carry ruling.”

My earlier coverage of today’s Seventh Circuit order appears at this link.

“Andre Thomas: Services Scarce for Troubled Youths.” Part three of Brandi Grissom’s six-part series “Trouble in Mind” appears online at this link at The Texas Tribune. My earlier coverage of the series can be accessed here and here.

“VAWA Renewal Could Spell Change”: Today’s edition of The Harvard Crimson contains an article that begins, “To some, the ‘preponderance of the evidence’ standard is ‘crucial to the fair and equal treatment of women.’ To others, it is a ‘fatally flawed’ path to ‘injustice’ that erodes the rights of students. In recent months, an expired piece of legislation has placed a few words of legal jargon, tucked away in the disciplinary codes of colleges and universities all over the country, at the forefront of a polarizing national debate.”

“Is Senator Ted Cruz our new McCarthy?” Jane Mayer has this blog post, containing an interesting discussion of Harvard Law School, online today at The New Yorker.

Update: Online at The New Republic, Alec MacGillis has an essay headlined “Washington Is Wrong About Cruz and Warren: The freshmen senators are exactly who they promised to be.”

“D.C. Circuit Presentation: Deleted Scenes.” Michelle Olsen has this post today at her “Appellate Daily” blog.

“The Other Crisis Facing the Federal Judiciary”: At Bloomberg View, law professor Stephen L. Carter has an essay that begins, “Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement that he will step down at the end of this month has prompted some commentators to wonder why we don’t encourage U.S. federal judges to retire early, too. Actually, we do — and too many are.”

“Obama: Keep key Voting Rights Act provision.” The Associated Press has this report.

By a vote of 5-to-4, Seventh Circuit denies rehearing en banc of divided three-judge panel ruling that invalidated under the Second Amendment an Illinois law forbidding most people from carrying a loaded gun in public: You can access today’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit denying rehearing en banc, and the dissent therefrom, at this link.

My earlier coverage of the original three-judge panel’s ruling in the case, which survives undisturbed, can be accessed here.

In today’s mail: Today I received a review copy of Jess Bravin’s new book, “The Terror Courts: Rough Justice at Guantanamo Bay.”

On Wednesday, Bravin appeared on American University Radio’s “The Diane Rehm Show” to discuss the book. You can now access both the audio and the transcript of that interview.

“Aaron Swartz Prosecutors Weighed ‘Guerilla’ Manifesto, Justice Official Tells Congressional Committee”: Ryan J. Reilly of The Huffington Post has this report.

“Split 5th Circuit Denies En Banc Review In Prisoner Kosher Food Case”: Howard Friedman has this post today at his “Religion Clause” blog.

You can access Wednesday’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, denying rehearing en banc by the vote of 8-to-7, and the dissent therefrom at this link.

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania reaches mandatory retirement age and will step down from that post: The Examiner of Launceston, Tasmania, Australia has an article headlined “Rule over for Chief Justice.”

“Gwen’s Take: Inside the Supreme Court with Sonia Sotomayor.” Gwen Ifill of PBS NewsHour has this essay at that program’s web site.

“Supreme Court could gut key protection for minority voters”: Zachary Roth of msnbc has this report.

At TPM DC, Sahil Kapur has an article headlined “How The Voting Rights Act, Now In Danger, Came To Pass And Shaped History.”

And online at The Atlantic, Andrew Cohen has an essay titled “The Supreme Court’s Threat to the Voting Rights Act: A History; One of the most popular and successful federal laws in America survived decades of partisan congresses and administrations; Next week, the justices may finally dismantle it.”