“Longtime Faculty Member Diane Wood is New Chief Judge of Seventh Circuit”: The University of Chicago Law School’s The Record Online has this report.

“Enough is enough. I want my government back; The supreme court’s campaign finance rulings have made Congress responsive to rich funders, not the public.” Zephyr Teachout has this essay online at The Guardian (UK).

“Sibling Rivalry Over Parenting Not a Federal Case, Court Says”: Mark Walsh has this post at the “School Law” blog of Education Week.

My earlier coverage of yesterday’s Seventh Circuit ruling appears at this link.

“Nicholas Stephanopoulos, ‘The South After Shelby County'”: The University of Chicago Law School has posted online this podcast.

“Obama’s Lawyer Should Have Used Originalism to Sway Originalist Justices; If he had met a conservative Court on its own ground, the solicitor general could have notched a victory for liberalism — and helped safeguard campaign-finance protections”: Law professor Lawrence Lessig has this essay online at The Atlantic.

“Lavabit Files Opening Brief in Landmark Privacy Case”: Kevin Poulsen has this post at Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog.

And at Politico.com, Josh Gerstein has a post titled “Lavabit decries prosecution tactics.”

In posts from Jess Bravin at WSJ.com’s “Law Blog”: Today he has posts titled “Justice Kennedy On Choosing Cases, ‘Empathy,’ And Diversity” and “Justice Kennedy On Law School, Blogging, And Popular Culture.”

“Supreme Court will tackle affirmative action once again”: Michael Doyle of McClatchy Washington Bureau has this report.

“Google Seeks to Appeal U.S. Judge’s Gmail Wiretap Ruling”: Bloomberg News has this report.

“Business groups to SCOTUS: Protect us from whistleblowers!” Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has this report.

“Federal Judiciary Says Funds Will Last Through October 17”: Todd Ruger has this post at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.”

“Baby Veronica case: Dusten Brown to stop custody fight for Veronica; The girl’s biological father spoke for the first time since he gave up custody Sept. 23.” The Tulsa World has this news update.

“Justice Kennedy Offers Views on Shutdown, Congress and Gay Marriage; Comments Come in Address to Students at University of California Washington Center”: Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal has this news update.

“Can Public Elementary School Require Students to Wear Shirts With Mottoes?” Eugene Volokh has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has posted on YouTube the video of Professor Volokh’s oral argument of the appeal, which occurred on Monday. I can’t wait to see if Circuit Judge N. Randy Smith (who chaired the three-judge panel) was at his feisty best during the proceedings.

“Judge Nygaard being honored in Erie today”: This article appears today in The Erie Times-News.

“What motivates Gratz in U-M fight?” Columnist Ingrid Jacques of The Detroit News has an op-ed that begins, “During U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in December 2006, Jennifer Gratz recalls sitting in the courtroom and hearing justices refer to her name.”

“Grand Rapids panhandlers share $13,000, ACLU receives rest of $48,000 settlement”: The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press contains this article today.

“Battle over local bans on medical marijuana set for Michigan Supreme Court”: This article appears today in The Detroit Free Press.

“Fantasyland at the Supreme Court : It’s time to reassert the primacy of political speech in the First Amendment.” Bradley A. Smith has this essay at National Review Online.

“Supreme Court Justice Helen Hoens’ graceful goodbye”: The Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger has this editorial.

“UT law professor argues before U.S. Supreme Court”: The Daily Texan contains this article today.

“Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor offers lessons via videogame in Providence visit”: This article appears today in The Providence (R.I.) Journal.

“Society is Coarser — but Better: Yes, pop culture is crude, but who gives an F-word? By virtually every measure, we’re a safer, nicer, kinder country.” Online at Time magazine, Nick Gillespie has an essay that begins, “‘I am glad that I’m not raising kids today,’ Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia recently told New York magazine.”

“Madoff Trustee Asks Supreme Court to Let Him Sue Banks”: Peter Lattman has this article today in The New York Times.

And Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Madoff Trustee Appeals to U.S. Supreme Court in Bank Suit.”

You can view the petition for writ of certiorari at this link.