“Justice delays health law’s birth control mandate”: Jesse J. Holland of The Associated Press has this updated report.

I have posted online at this link the order that Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued tonight.

“Catholic groups ask court to halt health care law”: Jesse J. Holland of The Associated Press has this report.

“Budget Cuts Imperil Speed and Safety of Court System, Roberts Says”: Adam Liptak will have this article in Wednesday’s edition of The New York Times.

Robert Barnes of The Washington Post reports that “Chief Justice John Roberts warns of a not-so-wonderful life for judiciary amid budget cuts.”

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times reports that “Budget cuts harming federal courts, Chief Justice Roberts warns.”

Richard Wolf of USA Today reports that “Chief justice warns Congress on federal court cutbacks; John Roberts uses year-end report to warn that cutbacks will have serious consequences.”

Jesse J. Holland of The Associated Press reports that “Roberts renews call for court funding.”

Lawrence Hurley of Reuters reports that “U.S. chief justice calls for end to judiciary funding cuts.”

Laurie Asseo of Bloomberg News reports that “Roberts Seeks to Boost Some Judiciary Spending After Cuts.”

And at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Tony Mauro has a post titled “Roberts Warns of Impact of Budget Cuts on Judiciary.”

You can access at this link the Chief Justice’s 2013 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary.

“Utah Asks Highest Court To Suspend Gay Marriage”: Jack Healy of The New York Times has this news update.

Robert Barnes of The Washington Post has a news update headlined “Utah asks Supreme Court to stay decision on same-sex marriage.”

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has a news update headlined “Utah asks Supreme Court to restore gay marriage ban.”

Brooke Adams of The Salt Lake Tribune has a news update headlined “Utah takes next step in effort to stop same-sex marriage; State filed stay application with U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday afternoon.”

And The Deseret News has an update headlined “Gay marriages are ‘affront’ to Utah, state argues in appeal to high court.”

Majority on divided three-judge D.C. Circuit panel grants contraceptive mandate-related injunction pending appeal: You can access today’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and the dissent therefrom, at this link.

According to the dissent of Circuit Judge David S. Tatel, the case challenges the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that certain religious organizations “self certify” their religious objections to the provision of contraceptive services as imposing a “substantial burden” under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The “Religion Clause” blog recently had this post reporting on a similar case pending in Colorado federal court in which a stay request is likely to be filed in the U.S. Supreme Court in the very near future.

Update: The stay request filed tonight in the U.S. Supreme Court in the Colorado case can be accessed here.

And the majority on a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit tonight also granted an injunction pending appeal in a similar contraceptive mandate challenge.

“Utah asks Supreme Court to block same-sex unions”: The Associated Press has this report.

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Utah seeks delay of same-sex marriages.”

You can access the stay application at this link (via Michelle Olsen’s Twitter feed).

“Federal judge upholds New York’s ban on assault weapons, rejects 7-round magazine limit”: The Buffalo News has this update.

And The New York Times has a news update headlined “Federal Judge Upholds Majority of New York Gun Law.”

I have posted online at this link today’s ruling (plus attachments) of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.

Supreme Court of California announces that it will issue its decision Thursday on the case of an undocumented immigrant seeking admission to the State Bar of California: You can access the Notice of Forthcoming Filing at this link. The court’s ruling will be available online via this link at 10 a.m. pacific time on Thursday, January 2, 2014.

“NY suit challenging laptop searches tossed”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “A Brooklyn judge has thrown out a lawsuit by a press photographers organization and others challenging searches of laptop computers at U.S. borders.”

You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York at this link.

In response to the ruling, the ACLU issued a news release headlined “Court Rules No Suspicion Needed for Laptop Searches at Border.”

Update: In other coverage, at Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog, David Kravets has a post titled “Court Upholds Willy-Nilly Gadget Searches Along U.S. Border.”

“Closing Shop”: Law professor Kyle Graham has this post today at his now-former blog, “noncuratlex.com.”

“Cheerleaders’ scripture banner fight could escalate to Texas Supreme Court”: The Beaumont Enterprise has this report today.

“Sotomayor Will Count Down to New Year in Times Square”: Tony Mauro has this post today at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.”

“The Supreme Court Logic That Could Destroy Privacy in America: It’s dangerous for courts to continue adhering to Smith v. Maryland, a decision that was made before the advent of big data.” Conor Friedersdorf has this essay online at The Atlantic.

And in somewhat related news, “Dangerous” from Big Data continues its climb up the alternative charts.

“Pink Pony case heads to Supreme Court”: The Dunwoody (Ga.) Crier has this report today.

“D.A. to appeal Superior Court decision to free Msgr. Lynn on bail”: This article appears today in The Philadelphia Daily News.

And The Philadelphia Inquirer reports today that “Judge orders Lynn freed on bail.”

“The Biggest Law Stories of 2013: Ten decisions and developments that rocked the legal community this year.” Andrew Cohen has this essay online at Politico Magazine.

“New Utah AG says costs of defending same-sex marriage ban worth it; Founder of Marriage Law Foundation assisting state in appeal and stay filing, which is expected Tuesday”: Brooke Adams of The Salt Lake Tribune has this news update.

And The Deseret News has an update headlined “Attorney General Sean Reyes takes oath, poised to appeal gay marriage ruling.”

“The Strangely Sexless Sex Work Decision”: Marcus McCann has this post today at the “Impact Ethics” blog.

“ACLU sues for details of U.S. surveillance under executive order”: Nate Raymond of Reuters has this report.

And The Associated Press reports that “ACLU sues government over international calls.”

Alex Abdo of the ACLU has a blog post titled “The Most Important Surveillance Order We Know Almost Nothing About” that links to the complaint initiating suit.

“Jurist Prudence? Candid Judges Speak Out; Critics Question Wisdom of Justices Who Take Their Opinions Beyond the Courtroom; Dishing on a Blog and in a Book.” Joe Palazzolo will have this article in Tuesday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

“[T]he most surprising feature of the entire episode is the exceptional lenity with which a state university (in a state that does not allow medicinal, let alone recreational, use of marijuana) treated a brazen violator of its rules of conduct and of the criminal law.” So writes Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in an opinion issued today.

“Supreme Court To Take Up Campaign Finance, Abortion Protests In 2014”: This audio segment featuring Nina Totenberg appeared on this evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

“Justice Alito’s slam at Vaughn Walker for Prop. 8 ruling”: Bob Egelko has this blog post online today at The San Francisco Chronicle.

“Utah’s Gay-Marriage ‘Emergency'”: Richard Socarides has this blog post online today at The New Yorker.

“10th Circuit sets ‘expedited’ schedule for appeal of Amendment 3; Appellate attorney predicts resolution could be reached by spring”: The Deseret News has this update.

And Robert Gehrke of The Salt Lake Tribune has a news update headlined “Reyes tackles tall tasks as Utah’s new attorney general; He has to clean up after Swallow and lead Utah’s fight against same-sex marriage.”

“Obama Trails Bush in Shaping Federal Judiciary”: Todd Ruger has this post today at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.”

“Gov. Herbert has not signed off on $2 million price tag to defend Amendment 3”: This article appears today in The Deseret News.

And today’s edition of The Salt Lake Tribune contains a front page article headlined “Parents of newlywed same-sex couples share joy, pride; Many parents doubted they would ever see their LGBT children get married in their home state.” The Tribune also has a news update headlined “Another Utah amendment on marriage coming; Proposes to ensure churches need not participate in marriages that violate their views.”

“The NSA’s Metadata Program Is Perfectly Constitutional; Judge William Pauley, not Judge Richard Leon, got it right”: Law professor Eric Posner has this essay online today at Slate.

“What You Need to Know about the Third-Party Doctrine; And what it will likely mean as the NSA lawsuits work their way through the courts”: John Villasenor has this essay online today at The Atlantic.

In the January 2014 issue of ABA Journal magazine: Mark Walsh has an article headlined “SCOTUS ponders whether the president can make appointments while Congress is out.”

Steven Seidenberg has an article headlined “With the Supreme Court’s OK, states begin imposing new laws to limit the vote.”

David L. Hudson Jr. has an article headlined “1st Amendment at issue in ban on gay-conversion therapy for minors.”

Susan A. Berson’s cover story, headlined “Road to retirement: Ways to make retirement anything but resignation,” begins, “Deanell Reece Tacha has the characteristic enthusiasm of a 3L.”

Richard Acello has an article headlined “How two California solos helped take down ‘porn troll’ Prenda Law.”

And the new installment of Bryan A. Garner’s “On Words” column is headlined “4 vignettes lead to a single moral about writing better briefs.”

“Bobbleheads honor Supreme Court justices”: Jessica Gresko of The Associated Press has this report.

“Judicial Nominations and Confirmations: Fact and Fiction.” Russell Wheeler has this year-end report online today at The Brookings Institution.

“Laws Deserve More Than Cute Names”: Adam Liptak will have this new installment of his “Sidebar” column in Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times.

“Trial Lawyers Put Whirlpool Through the Wringer: The Supreme Court has a chance to bring more clarity to class actions.” John Engler has this op-ed today in The Wall Street Journal.

“Contrasting rulings could take the NSA to the Supreme Court”: This video segment featuring Adam Liptak appeared on today’s broadcast of The PBS NewsHour Weekend.