“US court: Coast Guard boater rescues not required.” The Associated Press has a report that begins, “A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected a North Carolina widow’s lawsuit blaming the Coast Guard for failing to save her husband’s life, saying the agency does not have a legal obligation to launch life-saving rescues.”

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

“Warrantless Surveillance Continues to Cause Fallout”: Charlie Savage will have this article in Thursday’s edition of The New York Times.

“Henry C. Lind, U.S. Supreme Court’s reporter of decisions”: This obituary appears online at The Washington Post.

He was a bullfrog: First Circuit nominee David Jeremiah Barron was the focus of today’s U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. You can access online the video of today’s hearing by clicking here.

“Judge Fay vs. Judge Martin”: David Oscar Markus has this post today at the “Southern District of Florida Blog” about a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued last Friday.

“Senate Democrats Poised to Block Filibusters of Presidential Picks”: Jeremy W. Peters will have this article in Thursday’s edition of The New York Times. In addition, columnist Gail Collins will have an op-ed titled “The Public Needs a Nap” that begins, “One of the many problems with the Senate filibuster rule is that it requires us to think about the Senate filibuster rule.”

And Thursday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal will contain an article headlined “Democrats Expected to Curb Filibuster Rules Soon.” You can freely access the full text of the article via Google.

“Why D.C. Circuit, at Center of Nominee Fight, Is So Important; Court’s Location in Capital Means It Serves as Crucible for Regulatory State; Status Second Only to Supreme Court”: Jess Bravin will have this article in Thursday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

“Free Speech Advocates File Brief Supporting ‘The Dirty’ Defamation Appeal; EFF: Appeals Court Must Uphold Immunity for Websites That Host Third-Party Content.” The Electronic Frontier Foundation issued this news release today. You can access the amicus brief at this link.

“Is the judicial confirmation impasse impacting American justice?” This segment appeared on yesterday evening’s broadcast of The PBS NewsHour.

Jennifer Bendery of The Huffington Post reports that “AGs Reject Chuck Grassley Effort To Shrink D.C. Circuit Court.”

And this evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered” contained audio segments titled “With Nominees Stalled, Democrats Reprise Filibuster Threat” and “Sen. Harkin On Filibuster: ‘We’ve Got To Change These Rules.’”

“Mike Lee steps out of Ted Cruz’s shadow”: Manu Raju of Politico.com has this report.

“Alabama killer case: When a jury says ‘life’ and a judge says ‘death.'” Michael McGough has this essay online at The Los Angeles Times.

“A Secret Court Judge Warned The NSA It Was Close To Breaking The Law — Then Gave It More Power”: Matt Sledge of The Huffington Post has this report.

“Lawyers’ nightmare: When 9th Circuit Chief Judge Kozinski is class objector.” Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has this report. The objectors’ Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Final Approval of Class Action Settlement can be accessed here.

And a related post from two days ago at the “Public Justice Blog” is titled “Super Conservative Judge Alex Kozinski Inadvertantly Undercuts Rationale For Corporate Proposals to Narrow Discovery Under Federal Rules.”

“An Interview of Judge Richard A. Posner on Patent Litigation”: This interview (available in both HTML and PDF) appears in the Fall 2013 issue of The SRR Journal published by Stout Risius Ross.

“State high court to consider two voter ID cases”: Patrick Marley of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this news update.

“Surveillance court chafes at Obama administration secrecy”: Josh Gerstein of Politico.com has a blog post that begins, “The largely-secret court that oversees many federal surveillance programs is chafing at the Obama Administration’s reluctance to declassify one of the court’s rulings.”

“How America’s Model Prison Became the Most Horrific Facility in the Federal System”: Online today at Slate, Justin Peters has this blog post about USP Lewisburg.

The blog post focuses on this recent article (PDF) by professor Karen M. Morin.

“Gay-marriage momentum comes to a sudden halt after Illinois”: Cheryl Wetzstein of The Washington Times has this report.

“NRA sues S.F. to kill law on gun magazines”: In today’s edition of The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “The National Rifle Association sued San Francisco on Tuesday, claiming the city violated the constitutional right to possess guns for self-defense with a new ordinance banning possession of magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition.”

“Gun ban law for domestic violence offenders upheld”: Bob Egelko had this article yesterday in The San Francisco Chronicle.

And at her “Trial Insider” blog, Pamela A. MacLean has a post titled “Lifetime Gun Ban Constitutional in Spousal Abuse Cases.”

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

Announcing the “Appellate Advocacy Blog,” a new addition to the Law Professor Blogs Network: Looks like I now have competition for the appellate sex toy beat.

“Harry Reid Leaning Toward Filibuster Reform Vote This Week”: Jennifer Bendery of The Huffington Post has this report.

Access online the contents of the November 2013 issue of the Harvard Law Review, focusing on the U.S. Supreme Court‘s October 2012 Term: Via this link.

The issue also includes “Essays in Honor of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”

“Sotomayor Says Lack of Diversity is ‘Huge Danger’ for Judiciary”: Tony Mauro has this post today at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.”

“Sobriety Checkpoints Paved Path to NSA Email Spying”: David Kravets has this post at Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog.

“The Supreme Court Loves Juries, Except When It Doesn’t; In Alabama, an elected official imposed the death penalty after a jury asked for life in prison; Why did the highest court in the land refuse to hear this case — and address an insidious problem in the justice system?” Andrew Cohen has this essay online at The Atlantic.

“Senate paralyzed on what to do about Guantanamo”: The Associated Press has this report.

“Current List of TTAB Ex Parte Decisions on Appeal to the CAFC”: John L. Welch has this post today at “The TTABlog.”

“Broader meaning of the Supreme Court’s abortion order”: Lyle Denniston has this post today at the “Constitution Daily” blog of the National Constitution Center.

Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Supreme Court Lets Texas Abortion Law Take Effect; Justices Vote to Not Block Measure While State Appeals.”

And at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Marcia Coyle has a post titled “Justices, Voting 5-4, Refuse to Block Texas Abortion Law.”