“Judge Donald R. Ross is gone”: Senior U.S. District Judge Richard G. Kopf has this post today at his “Hercules and the Umpire” blog.

“Judge Leon’s NSA #Slatepitch: The wacky idea that giving away your data creates a greater expectation of privacy.” Law professor Barry Friedman and Dahlia Lithwick have this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Conversation with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg”: C-SPAN has posted online at this link the video of Justice Ginsburg’s remarks yesterday at the Northern Virginia Technology Council.

According to C-SPAN’s description, “Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg [sic] was interviewed by former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson about the Supreme Court’s role in society. Among the topics she addressed were lifetime tenure for justices, relationships among justices, public perceptions of the court, and the role of women on the court.”

“Update on United States v. Auernheimer“: Orin Kerr has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

The letter that Orin and his co-defense counsel filed today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit should get the case — a significant criminal appeal in which the defendant is serving a relatively short sentence of imprisonment — back onto that court’s radar screen.

“Patrick Leahy Threatens His Own Rules Change After GOP Blocks Hearing On Judicial Nominees”: Jennifer Bendery of The Huffington Post has this report.

And online at The Atlantic, Andrew Cohen has an essay titled “A New GOP Stall Tactic in the War Over Judicial Nominees: With the filibuster removed from their toolkit, Republican lawmakers forced the cancellation of confirmation hearings, even for candidates with home-state GOP support.”

“Stop Telling Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Retire: It’s counterproductive.” Emily Bazelon has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

And online at The New Republic, Marc Tracy has an essay titled “Justice Ginsburg Is Wrong: She Should Step Down.”

“NFL, Ravens can use old logo in historical videos, exhibits, court rules; Judges defend use of copyrighted material in historical works”: The Baltimore Sun has this report on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued yesterday.

In other coverage, The Associated Press reports that “Court rejects lawsuit over Ravens’ 1st logo.”

And at the “Hollywood, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter, Eriq Gardner has a post titled “Appeals Court Won’t Penalize NFL Network for Use of Artist’s Logo; The MPAA gets its desired ruling in a case that examined the use of copyrighted logos in historical videos and pictures.”

“Judge Leon’s ruling in NSA case is another example of his impartiality and independence”: This article appears today in the Style section of The Washington Post. Of course, if we are at the point where a judge must be singled out for impartiality and independence, then larger concerns should arise.

And in related coverage, Michael Doyle of McClatchy Washington Bureau has an article headlined “Fights over NSA surveillance could be as intriguing as any good spy story.”

“Supreme Court Dismisses HRT Punitive Damages Appeal”: P.J. D’Annunzio has this front page article, in which I am quoted, in today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer.

My earlier coverage of the dismissal of the defendant’s appeal, in this case in which I served as appellate counsel for plaintiffs at the Pa. Supreme Court, can be accessed here.

“NSA Phone Plan May Reach Supreme Court on 1979 Precedent”: Andrew Zajac and Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News have this report.

“After Ruling Critical of N.S.A., Uncertain Terrain for Appeal”: Adam Liptak will have this article in Wednesday’s edition of The New York Times.

“Judge in Pa. gay marriage suit nixes state appeal”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “A federal judge hearing a challenge to Pennsylvania’s law banning recognition of same-sex marriages is keeping the case on track for trial by preventing an appellate review at this stage.”

I have posted online at this link today’s memorandum and order of the U.S .District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania refusing to certify the case for immediate appellate review.

“The Case That Could Topple Obamacare”: Pema Levy has this article online today at Newsweek.

According to the article, “It all started in 2011, when Jonathan H. Adler, a conservative law professor at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, shot an email to his friend Michael Cannon, a health policy expert at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, D.C.”

“Appeals court says smokers can’t sue to get monitoring for future illness”: The Buffalo News has this update.

You can access today’s ruling of the New York State Court of Appeals — that state’s highest court — at this link. The issue was before that court on certified question from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

In response to the ruling, Philip Morris USA issued a news release headlined “New York Court of Appeals Rejects Claim for Medical Monitoring.”

“NSA Case: Where Do We Go From Here?” Joe Palazzolo and Jacob Gershman have this post today at WSJ.com’s “Law Blog.”

In today’s mail: I received a review copy of Fifth Circuit Judge Leslie H. Southwick‘s memoir, “The Nominee: A Political and Spiritual Journey.”

Thanks to the folks at University Press of Mississippi for noticing my earlier post about the book.

“Appeals court upholds life sentence in terror case”: The Associated Press has this report on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued today.

“Snap Out of It: If this judge doesn’t buy the legal basis for the NSA’s intrusive phone snooping, no one should.” Emily Bazelon has this essay online at Slate.

“Ginsburg: justices should stay if able to work.” The Associated Press has this report.

“Justice Ginsburg happy to no longer be confused with Sandra Day O’Connor”: The Washington Post has this news update.

The contents of the December 2013 issue of The Yale Law Journal can now be accessed online: Via this link.

In the issue, law professor Michael W. McConnell has a book review titled “Why Protect Religious Freedom?”

“Justice Department Defends Law Banning Protests at Supreme Court”: Tony Mauro has this post today at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.”

“Congratulations To The 2014 Bristow Fellows”: David Lat has this post today at “Above the Law.”

“The Constitution’s Vanishing Act: For decades, Supreme Court justices have been rewriting key parts of our governing document.” Law professor Richard A. Epstein has this essay online at the Defining Ideas site of the Hoover Institution.

“Will The Supreme Court Finally Decide How Much Information Is Too Much?” Daniel Fisher has this post online today at Forbes.com.

“‘A Mistake Has Been Made Here, and No One Wants to Correct It’; Without DNA evidence, how could we challenge the eyewitness testimony that sent our client to prison for 34 years?” Law professor Lara Bazelon (yes, she’s one of Emily’s younger sisters) has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

“Why Google, Twitter and Tumblr Are Backing the ‘Dancing Baby’; A six-year-old viral video sparks an important battle over copyright law”: Sam Gustin has this report online at Time magazine.

How hellish is your judicial hole? Via Daniel Fisher writing online at Forbes, I see that the American Tort Reform Association has issued the latest installment of its pro-business annual survey titled “Judicial Hellholes 2013/2014.”

As noted in this news report from 2012, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania referenced the “judicial hellhole” designation, apparently in jest, during my opposing counsel’s presentation at an oral argument of mine (you can access the oral argument video online via this link). As I first noted in this post, yesterday my clients (the plaintiffs) won that case.

The Wall Street Journal’s “Law Blog” has emerged from behind that publication’s online paywall: A reporter for The WSJ who contributes to that blog from time to time emailed me this morning to convey the news. Before this change took place, the full contents of certain posts were hidden behind the paywall, while other posts were freely accessible in their entirety.

“FIRE and Broad Coalition File Brief Defending Free Speech in Student ‘Facebook Collage’ Case”: The organization Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) issued this news release yesterday about an amicus brief that FIRE and 11 other organizations sought leave to file yesterday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

FIRE has posted additional information about the case at this link.

“‘Passionate’ Judge Has Record of Wrestling With Thorny Issues, and the U.S. Government”: This article appears today in The New York Times.

At Politico.com, Josh Gerstein has articles headlined “NSA ruling fallout hits White House” and “Larry Klayman crows on NSA win: ‘We hit the mother lode.’”

And online at The Atlantic, Andrew Cohen has an essay titled “Judge’s Ruling Could Jeopardize NSA Surveillance; A D.C. trial judge says the government’s ‘bulk metadata’ program relies on a 34-year-old precedent obviated by current technologies.”

“Laughtergate: The Day the Laughter Died at SCOTUS.” Michelle Olsen has this post today at her “Appellate Daily” blog.

“Republicans Warn Supreme Court That EPA Program ‘Threatens Liberty'”: National Journal has this report.

“Report: Nevada Supreme Court, Clark County justices carry heavy caseloads; Compared with other counties and states, Nevada judges see a lot of cases.” The Las Vegas Sun has this article.

“U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear Beaver County family’s appeal on school bullying claim”: The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has this report.