May a federal magistrate judge try, convict, and sentence a defendant for a petty offense committed on a federal enclave over the defendant’s objection and insistence on an Article III judicial officer? The majority on a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit answered “yes” in a decision issued today.

Circuit Judge Stephen A Higginson issued an interesting dissenting opinion that you can access here.

“Guam attorney general directs Public Health to immediately begin processing gay marriage applications”: The Pacific Daily News of Guam has this update.

And The Associated Press reports that “Guam to process gay marriage license applications.”

“Posner Mania — Two New Books Coming this January: One by Posner, the other on Posner.” Ronald K.L. Collins has this post today at “Concurring Opinions.”

“Sandra Day O’Connor’s post-court legacy: Civics games.” Greg Toppo of USA Today has this report.

“Same-sex marriage: Join the club.” Steven Mazie has this post today at the “Democracy in America” blog of The Economist.

“Feds: Judge ‘misconstrued’ Obama on immigration.” Josh Gerstein of Politico.com has a blog post that begins, “A federal judge got it wrong last week when he claimed President Barack Obama indicated that the changes he ordered to immigration policy late last year left immigration officials without discretion about how to handle specific cases, the Justice Department argued in a federal appeals court filing Tuesday.”

“Battery charge against U.S. judge dropped, angering congresswoman”: Reuters has this report.

“Sealed Tsarnaev Court Records: ‘An Epidemic of Secrecy.'” Boston.com has this report.

“Wal-Mart Wins Appeals Court Ruling on Gun Oversight Vote”: Bloomberg News has this report on an order (with opinion to follow) that a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued today.

“This year’s fight for the tech industry: Patent trolls.” The Associated Press has this report.

“Gay mentor, belief in dignity at roots of Kennedy’s views”: Mark Sherman of The Associated Press has a report that begins, “The Irish Catholic boy who came of age in Sacramento after World War II is an unlikely candidate to be the author of the Supreme Court’s major gay rights rulings.”

“Wisconsin Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson should drop her lawsuit”: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has published this editorial.

“Alabama blogger ordered to pay $3.5 million in defamation lawsuit”: Kent Faulk of The Birmingham News has this report.

“The Legal War Over Net Neutrality Has Begun: Groups representing all the major cable and phone companies have filed lawsuits against the FCC’s rules.” Brendan Sasso of National Journal has this report.

According to the article, “The National Cable and Telecommunications Association, which lobbies for Comcast and other major cable companies, is being represented by former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson and former U.S. Assistant to the Solicitor General Miguel Estrada.”

“Appeals court affirms dismissal of Ron Johnson’s Obamacare lawsuit”: Patrick Marley of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this news update reporting on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued today.

In today’s ruling, the Seventh Circuit decides to take the side of the Tenth Circuit in a split with the D.C. Circuit concerning whether “a political figure’s assertion, without more, that the receipt (or option of receiving) a benefit will hurt his or her reputation or electoral prospects is [ ]sufficient to establish standing.”

“‘Leave the Ohio Democratic Party immediately,’ Justice O’Neill tells fellow Dems; Ohio Supreme Court justice makes Facebook post after party endorses Strickland for U.S. Senate”: Jessica Wehrman of The Columbus Dispatch has this report.

“Tsarnaev jurors can’t watch Marathon, bombing anniversary coverage”: Patricia Wen and Milton J. Valencia of The Boston Globe have a news update that begins, “The judge in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told jurors Tuesday that the sentencing phase of the Boston Marathon bombing trial could last about four weeks.”

Laurel J. Sweet of The Boston Herald has a news update headlined “Judge tells Tsarnaev jurors to avoid marathon, memorial events.”

Reuters reports that “Boston bomb trial jurors barred from this year’s marathon.”

And The Associated Press has a report headlined “Judge: Jurors in Tsarnaev trial can’t attend Boston Marathon.”

“In N.D., Church Ceremonies Push Town To Grapple With Gay Rights”: This audio segment appeared on today’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

And yesterday’s broadcast contained a related audio segment titled “What We Talk About When We Talk About Gay Marriage.”

“Constitution Check: Can Congress step in and decide how a court case should come out?” Lyle Denniston has this post today at the “Constitution Daily” blog of the National Constitution Center.

“Civil rights case filed to stop Florida boy’s circumcision”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “The battle over a Florida boy’s circumcision has moved to federal court.”

“A ‘thank you’ to Ann Fessenden”: Today at his “Hercules and the umpire” blog, Senior U.S. District Judge Richard G. Kopf has a post that begins, “Ann Fessenden will soon retire as the Eighth Circuit Librarian and Secretary to the Historical Society for the United States Courts in the Eighth Circuit.”

Despite my not having made an appearance at a law librarians’ convention during my Ninth Circuit-related visit to Seattle in July 2013, this blog certainly has great admiration for law librarians, especially since so many of them seem to enjoy this blog. (In a eerie coincidence, the 2015 law librarians’ convention will be occurring in Philadelphia, Pa., making it so very easy for me to make an appearance at this year’s convention.)

“‘Bust a Moot’ (ft. Elena Kagan and Eliot Spitzer)”: “Harvard Parody: The totally unofficial blog of the Harvard Law School Drama Society” has posted this video on YouTube. And you can access the lyrics via this blog post.

“Professor Bibas makes argument for Supreme Court Clinic to help homeowners trying to save their homes”: Penn Law has this report.

“Could the Supreme Court screw up Obamacare even worse than we thought?” Sarah Kliff of Vox has this report on a post titled “Could new state exchanges qualify for subsidies?” that Nicholas Bagley had yesterday at “The Incidental Economist” blog.

“Gay marriage case before Supreme Court is a battle over one word: single.” Timothy M. Phelps of The Los Angeles Times has this report.

And Time magazine reports that “New Strategy Against Gay Marriage Divides GOP 2016 Field.”

“How Not to Protect Pregnant Women”: Law professor Deborah Tuerkheimer had this op-ed in yesterday’s edition of The New York Times.

“Strip searches in Burlco may be costly; Judge’s ruling that the county violated the law could end up costing millions”: Yesterday’s edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer contained an article that begins, “Burlington County has violated a New Jersey law that prohibits strip searches in minor-offense cases unless there is a reasonable suspicion that weapons, drugs, or other contraband are being concealed, a federal judge decided last month in a case filed seven years ago, before the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on the issue.”

“Overseer in water wars case orders that records be kept secret”: Greg Bluestein of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has this report.

“Preview on same-sex marriage — Part II, The states’ views”: Lyle Denniston has this post — the second in a four-part series — today at “SCOTUSblog.”