“Government spying challenge on the way”: Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

“Justice Kagan celebrates Justice Ginsburg”: The Associated Press has this report.

“Perceptions of U.S. Supreme Court differ from reality, Justice Samuel Alito says in West Palm Beach; Alito, 63, was nominated to nation’s highest court by President George W. Bush in 2005”: The South Florida Sun-Sentinel has this report.

“9th Circuit puts hold on ban of sexual-orientation therapy”: Maura Dolan of The Los Angeles Times has a news update that begins, “A federal appeals court agreed Monday to put on hold a ruling in favor of a California law that bans licensed therapists from trying to change a minor’s sexual orientation.”

You can access today’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granting the motion to stay the mandate at this link.

“Polygamy bill held up pending Utah legal case”: The Associated Press has this report.

“Court rejects intervention by 3 Utah couples in gay marriage appeal”: Brooke Adams of The Salt Lake Tribune has this news update.

“Scalia says internment ruling could happen again”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told law students at the University of Hawaii on Monday that the nation’s highest court was wrong to uphold the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the court issued a similar ruling during a future conflict.”

“‘This Court respectfully requests that the instant appeal be denied'”: Eugene Volokh has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy” about an interesting aspect of Pennsylvania state appellate practice that involves the trial court’s issuing an opinion justifying a decision being appealed after the appeal has been taken.

“So What If Corporations Aren’t People?” Today at Forbes.com, Ilya Shapiro has a post that begins, “Obamacare, both as written and as executed, violates the Constitution in so many ways.”

“ACLU lawsuit challenges Wisconsin same-sex marriage ban”: Patrick Marley of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this news update. The newspaper has posted at this link a copy of the complaint initiating suit.

In other coverage, The Wisconsin State Journal has a news update headlined “Lawsuit challenges legality of Wisconsin’s same-sex marriage ban.”

And Bloomberg News reports that “Wisconsin’s Criminal Gay Marriage Ban Challenged by ACLU.”

“Klayman asks Supreme Court to hear NSA case”: Josh Gerstein of Politico.com has this blog post.

“Justice Sotomayor describes navigating new worlds”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who grew up poor in New York City, described Monday how she navigated new worlds of Ivy League universities and the nation’s highest court.”

And The New Haven Register has a news update headlined “Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor returns to Yale to give lectures.” The newspaper has posted related photos at this link.

In posts of interest at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.” Tony Mauro has a post titled “Civil Liberties Group Backs Supreme Court Protester.”

And Todd Ruger has a post titled “Senate Unlikely to End Filibusters For Supreme Court, Professor Says.”

“Police Immunity Reopened in Handcuffing 11-Year-Old”: Pamela A. MacLean has this post at her “Trial Insider” blog reporting on an order granting rehearing en banc that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued today. You can access at this link the earlier ruling of a partially divided three-judge Ninth Circuit panel in the case.

Senior Federal Circuit judge dissents from his inability to dissent from the denial of rehearing en banc: Senior Federal Circuit Judge S. Jay Plager today issued a dissent from the denial of panel rehearing containing the following footnote:

The Chief Judge advises that the rule in this circuit, recently pronounced by a majority of the judges of the court in regular active service, is that judges in senior status, of which I am one, are prohibited from joining another judge’s dissent from a denial of en banc, or authoring their own dissent expressing on record a criticism of the judges in regular active service for the failure to take a case en banc. This apparently is the rule even in this case, though as a member of the original panel I am expressly authorized by law to have sat on the en banc panel if the court had agreed to have one, see 28 U.S.C. sec. 46(c), so that the failure to take the case en banc has denied me an opportunity to try to correct what I consider to be a miscarriage of justice. However, my compliance with this rule, prohibiting circuit judges, because they are in senior status, from expressing an opinion on this aspect of the decisional work of the court, should not be taken as agreement with this rule, its purpose, effect, or for that matter its constitutionality.

Back in March 2008, I had a post titled “Can you dissent from the denial of rehearing en banc if you’re a senior status circuit judge who thus can’t vote in favor of rehearing en banc?” For what it’s worth, a rule prohibiting federal appellate judges from dissenting from something that they are incapable of voting in favor of does appear to make quite a bit of sense. Any readers wishing to express their own dissenting views are invited to send along those views via email for possible publication.

“Justice Alito: Court can’t worry about popularity.” The Associated Press has this report.

“Supreme Court OT 2013 Mid-Term Preview”: You can access online at this link the video webcast of last Wednesday’s Georgetown Law event. Last Friday, the law school posted a report about the event titled “Supreme Court Institute Hosts Mid-Term Preview.”

“Was former teacher mandated to report student-coach sexual relationship?” Today at the “Get Schooled” blog of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Maureen Downey has a post that begins, “The state Supreme Court will hear arguments tomorrow on a case out of Cherokee: A Cherokee County high school teacher is appealing a trial court judge’s refusal to drop criminal charges against her for failing to report that the school wrestling coach was having sex with a 16-year-old student.”

“The Ninth Circuit Holds — Correctly — That a Blogger Has the Same Defamation Protection as a Journalist”: Julie Hilden has this essay online today at Justia’s Verdict.

“Top court to decide on release of records on patient harm”: Bob Egelko has this article today in The San Francisco Chronicle.

“NSW Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Bathurst urges debate on mandatory sentencing”: The Sydney Morning Herald has this report.

“Florida Chief Justice Ricky Polston has a case of reefer madness”: Columnist Marc Caputo has this essay in The Miami Herald.

Last Monday’s 4-to-3 ruling of the Supreme Court of Florida, which contains the dissent that is the subject of Captuo’s column, can be accessed here.

“Rohm and Haas appeals brain cancer ruling to Pa. Supreme Court; Appellate court grants plaintiff a new trial against Rohm and Haas”: This front page article appears today in The Northwest Herald of Crystal Lake, Illinois.

“Indiana Supreme Court take up home school discrimination case”: The Indianapolis Star has this report on a case scheduled for oral argument today in the Supreme Court of Indiana.

“Michigan Supreme Court hears case of Saginaw grandparents fighting to see grandchildren”: The Saginaw News has this report.

“Supreme Court Justice Alito speaking in Fla.” The Associated Press has this report. Justice Alito probably would not rather be in the Philadelphia area today, where we are in the midst of picking up another four to eight inches of snow today.

And speaking of U.S. Supreme Court Justices in tropical locations today, The Associated Press reports that “Justice Scalia to lecture at Univ. of Hawaii.”

Opting for a non-tropical destination, The New Haven Register reports that “Justice Sotomayor returns to Yale on Monday.”

“‘Stunning’ shift on gay marriage is changing political landscape”: Sean Cockerham of McClatchy Washington Bureau has this report today.