“Dumping judges at the polls emerges as a high-stakes political drama”: Brad Cooper of The Kansas City Star has this report.

“High court justice still unsure about violent video game ruling”: Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle has this report.

In the January 2015 issue of ABA Journal magazine: Mark Walsh has an article headlined “Does the First Amendment allow church to violate town’s sign code? SCOTUS to decide.”

Lorelei Laird has an article headlined “American Indians challenging eagle feather rules get a boost from ‘Hobby Lobby.’”

William C. Smith has an article headlined “International law bar takes aim at overbroad bans on Shariah law.”

And the new installment of Bryan A. Garner’s “On Words” consists of a Magna Carta style guide.

“[W]e conclude that SORNA’s registration requirements violate juvenile offenders’ due process rights by utilizing the irrebuttable presumption that all juvenile offenders ‘pose a high risk of committing additional sexual offenses'”: Today’s 5-to-1 ruling of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania consists of a majority opinion and a dissenting opinion.

Update: In early news coverage, Matt Miller of The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania reports that “Lifetime registration mandate for juvenile sex offenders is unconstitutional, Pa. Supreme Court says.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Pa. court upholds York County ruling sparing juveniles from Megan’s Law registration.”

“Ultrasound issue headed to the Court”: Lyle Denniston has this post today at “SCOTUSblog.”

“Court panel a blow to Texas abortion providers”: Chuck Lindell of The Austin American-Statesman has this news update.

“The Promethean Posner — An Interview with the Judge’s Biographer”: Ronald K.L. Collins has this post today at “Concurring Opinions.”

“The peril of sounding manly: A look at vocal characteristics of lawyers before the United States Supreme Court.” Daniel Chen, Yosh Halberstam, and Alan Yu have written this preliminary draft article (via New Scientist, which links to this abstract of the article).

“Emailed porn shakes up state courts as marriage equality sweeps Pennsylvania”: Peter Hall has this article in today’s edition of The Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania.

“Southern Honeymoon: Will Same-Sex Marriage Conquer the Deep South?” Amy Davidson has this Comment in the Talk of the Town section of the January 5, 2015 issue of The New Yorker.

“Supreme Court To Hear Case Against Obamacare In 2015”: This audio segment featuring Nina Totenberg appeared on today’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

“Federal Antidrug Law Goes Up in Smoke: Irate about harmful spillover from Colorado’s marijuana legalization, two neighboring states sue to overturn it.” David B. Rivkin Jr. and Elizabeth Price Foley will have this op-ed in Monday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

You can freely access the full text of the op-ed via Google.

“Ex-trooper’s case could come back to Amarillo”: The Amarillo Globe-News has this report on a revised ruling that a two-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued earlier this month.

The third judge who was originally a part of the three-judge panel in this case — Senior Circuit Judge Carolyn Dineen King — appears either to have been dismissed from the panel by the other two judges or to have quit the panel in protest. When the panel issued its original decision in the case back on August 28, 2013, Judge King issued a dissent. When the panel issued a revised opinion earlier this month, a footnote to the decision stated that the opinion was being issued by a two-judge quorum.

Lest anyone fear that Judge King became ill, unavailable, or otherwise indisposed, on the same day that the panel issued its revised decision, the Fifth Circuit issued an unpublished order denying rehearing en banc. Although Judge King, as a senior circuit judge, does not get to vote for rehearing en banc, Judge King is noted as joining the dissent from the denial of rehearing en banc, and she also issued her own separate opinion joining that dissent.

If any of this blog’s readers have seen anything similar to this happen before on a federal appellate court — where a judge who disagrees with the outcome of a case is either dismissed from a three-judge panel or quits the panel in protest — I would be interested in hearing the details via email.

“ACA faces key court test over its future”: Holly Fletcher will have this article in Monday’s edition of The Tennessean.

“Plea Bargaining and the Innocent — A response to Judge Kane and Judge Rakoff”: Senior U.S. District Judge Richard G. Kopf has this post today at his “Hercules and the Umpire” blog.

“Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s 2014 Was Better Than Your 2014”: Abby Johnston has this post online at Bustle.

“Age restriction forces Justice Cavanagh’s retirement”: Paul Egan has this article in today’s edition of The Detroit Free Press.

And The Lansing State Journal recently reported that “Retiring Supreme Court justice began career in Lansing.”

“Poll: Omaha bucks state’s prevailing sentiment on same-sex marriage.” This front page article appears in today’s edition of The Omaha Sunday World-Herald.

“Gay marriage dynamic in U.S. shifted dramatically in 2014”: The Los Angeles Times has an article that begins, “For the first time, a majority of Americans are living in a state that allows gay marriage. After a year of cascading court opinions tossing out many remaining restrictions, the dynamic in 2014 changed from how many states allow same-sex marriage to how many states don’t.”

Another Justice is blind: The Associated Press reports that “Blind judge making history on Michigan’s top court.”

“‘Heartbeat bills’ likely to come up in 2015 Legislature”: The Wichita Eagle has this report.

“Death penalty states unmoved by botched execution”: The Associated Press has this report.

“Pennsylvania ’15 judicial races could be complicated if retirement age extended to 75”: The Associated Press has this report.

“As U.S. executions decline, Missouri bucks the trend”: Tony Rizzo has this front page article in today’s edition of The Kansas City Star.

“A Split View On Obamacare’s Past And Future”: This audio segment appeared on today’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

“How Sonia Sotomayor became the Supreme Court’s preeminent defender of civil liberties: The trailblazing justice has carved out an important niche on the high court in just a few short years.” Scott Lemieux has this report online today at The Week.

“Justices rock on the road, if you can find them”: Richard Wolf of USA Today has this report.

“Plea Bargaining and the Innocent: It’s up to judges to restore balance.” Senior U.S. District Judge John L. Kane (D. Colo.) has this essay online today at The Marshall Project.

“Audit uncovers accounting issues with Alabama Supreme Court”: Earlier this week, WSFA 12 News had an article that begins, “A state audit finds accounting issues at the Alabama Supreme Court and also uncovered that justices were being underpaid.”

You can access the audit report via this link.

“NC attorney general to seek US Supreme Court review of ultrasound ruling”: This article appears in today’s edition of The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina.

“Why Liberals Should Fear the Supreme Court in 2015: Obamacare, religious freedom, and same-sex marriage equality are all on the judicial agenda.” Sam Baker of National Journal has this report today.

“Obamacare, Gay Marriage Face Supreme Court in 2015”: Pete Williams of NBC News has this report.

“The Best Lawyers Money Can Buy”: Friday’s edition of The New York Times will contain an editorial that begins, “The United States Supreme Court decides cases involving the nation’s most pressing legal issues, affecting the daily lives of hundreds of millions of Americans — and yet so much about its functioning is shrouded in mystique and exclusivity.”

“Jerry Brown, Governor of California, Takes Second Chance to Shape Court”: Adam Nagourney will have this front page article in Friday’s edition of The New York Times.

“A New York Court Celebrates Its Status as the Nation’s Oldest, but Others Aren’t So Sure”: Benjamin Weiser will have this article in Friday’s edition of The New York Times.