“DA responds to former state Supreme Court Justice’s conviction appeal”: Adam Brandolph of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has a news update that begins, “The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office on Friday responded to former state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin’s claims that prosecutors and a judge mishandled of her trial on public corruption charges last year.”

“High Court Asked to Review California Gay-Conversion Law”: Bloomberg News has this report. You can view the petition for writ of certiorari at this link.

“Seattle judge will join super-secret spy court”: Michael Doyle of McClatchy Washington Bureau has an article that begins, “A Washington state-based federal appellate judge who once represented the Seattle Mariners baseball team has now joined the roster of one of the nation’s most unique and secretive courts.”

At Politico.com, Tal Kopan has a blog post titled “Roberts names 2 new FISA court judges.”

And Michael McGough of The Los Angeles Times has an essay titled “Is Chief Justice John Roberts ‘unpacking’ the FISA courts?”

“Attorney general says North Carolina will appeal abortion ultrasound ruling”: The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina has this update.

“A Missing Argument on Contraceptives”: Yesterday’s edition of The New York Times contained an editorial that begins, “One of the most anticipated showdowns of the Supreme Court’s current term will take place March 25, when the justices are scheduled to hear two cases brought by secular, for-profit corporations whose owners want an exemption, based on their religious beliefs, from the requirement that employers’ health plans cover the full range of contraceptive services without a co-payment.”

Programming note: Due to a meeting out of the office this afternoon with co-counsel in two cases I am working on, additional posts will appear here this evening.

“Diocese fights judge’s ruling; Rape victim of Albany priest seeks 40 years of clergy abuse files”: This article appeared last month in The Times Union of Albany, New York.

Today, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a decision granting the petition for writ of mandamus filed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany and ordering the case filed in Vermont federal court dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction.

“Why a Railroad Merger May Get the Supreme Court to Rule on NSA Spying”: David Kravets has this post today at Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog.

In “How Appealing” power outage-related news from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania: Yesterday ended up delivering good news on the power outage front, as power at home was restored mid-afternoon, and power at work was restored at some point last night.

For those who are still not as fortunate, I hope that today will bring good news.

“ACLU fights Easton Area School District’s ‘boobies’ appeal; School district’s bracelets case doesn’t merit top court’s review, group says”: Peter Hall has this article today in The Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania.

“America Is Terrible at Killing People Legally: Even if you support the death penalty, you should be outraged.” Andrew Cohen has this essay online today at Politico Magazine.

“The Homogeneous Federal Bench”: This editorial appears today in The New York Times.