“Supreme Court of Canada orders new trial in child porn case; Donny Barabash, Shane Rollison of Alberta were originally acquitted of making child pornography as videos were consensual and for private use”: The Toronto Star has this news update.

Sean Fine of The Toronto Globe and Mail has a news update headlined “Supreme Court ruling blocks adults from exploiting apparent teen consent.”

National Post has a news update headlined “Sex with 14-year-olds legal in 2008, but probably not while videotaping it in a crack house: top court.”

And The Canadian Press reports that “Supreme Court orders new trial for Alberta men who made sex tapes of 14-year-old runaways.”

You can access today’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada at this link.

“Crooks says Roggensack threatened to throw justices off cases”: Patrick Marley of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a news update that begins, “Days before three state Supreme Court justices skipped ceremonies to admit new lawyers to the bar, Justice N. Patrick Crooks accused newly elected Chief Justice Patience Roggensack of breaking court rules by threatening to throw him off a case without any authority.”

“We conclude that the content of New York’s custom license plates constitutes private speech and that the plates themselves are a nonpublic forum.” So holds the majority on a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a decision issued today.

Today’s ruling reverses a decision of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York holding that the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles violated the First Amendment rights of Children First Foundation when the agency refused to approve an application to issue a “Choose Life” custom license plate.

In early coverage, The New York Daily News reports that “New York DMV’s decision to reject ‘Choose Life’ license plates upheld by appeals court.”

The Second Circuit issued an earlier ruling in this case back in March 2006, and my coverage of that ruling can be accessed here.

“Tobacco Industry Picks Up Tailwind as Smoker Suits Dealt Setback”: Margaret Cronin Fisk and Bob Van Voris of Bloomberg News have a report that begins, “A little-noticed ruling by three federal judges may have tipped the scales in favor of the tobacco industry’s bid to put decades of smoker lawsuits behind it.”

My earlier coverage of last month’s Eleventh Circuit ruling appears here and here.

“U.S. court hands partial win to tobacco firms over judge-ordered disclosures”: Lawrence Hurley of Reuters has this report.

Sam Hananel of The Associated Press reports that “Tobacco firms get partial win over claims on smoking effects.”

And Bloomberg News reports that “Cigarette Packs Must Concede Addictive Intent, Not Deception.”

You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at this link.

“Actavis cannot drop old version of Alzheimer’s drug — appeals court”: Reuters has this report on an order that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued today.

Today’s order states that the three-judge panel has filed an opinion under seal explaining the basis for the affirmance and gives the parties until next Tuesday at 1 p.m. to advise whether the opinion should be unsealed in full or with portions redacted. Happy holiday weekend, counsel!

“Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings: Luis Restrepo Nomination Delay Leads to Backlog of Cases.” Latin Post has this report today.

And in related commentary, The Wisconsin State Journal has an editorial titled “Judicial vacancy highlights Washington dysfunction.”

“Banks hope to benefit from high court ruling on discrimination”: Lawrence Hurley of Reuters has this report.

“State Supreme Court upholds grandparents’ visitation rights”: Today’s edition of The Nashua (N.H.) Telegraph contains a front page article (subscription required for full access) that begins, “Grandparents don’t lose their right to visit their grandchildren even if the children’s parents die and somebody else adopts the child, the state supreme court has ruled.”

You can access last Tuesday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire at this link.

“Anti-Gay Groups Gear Up To Fight A 30-Year-Old Supreme Court Victory Over Racism”: Ian Millhiser has this essay online at ThinkProgress.