If you are arguing before the 1^st Circuit Court of Appeals, you may be surprised by who find sitting among the judges on the panel.

Justice David Souter may have retired from the U.S. Supreme Court, but he is not tired of the law. He travels from his New Hampshire home to the downtown Boston courthouse one of two days a month to hear appellate cases arising in the Northeast.

And he still takes judging very seriously, according to a report by the Associated Press. During recent oral arguments, Souter - using his trademark polite-but-to-the-point style - questioned New Hampshire attorney Sven Wiberg.

“May I ask you a question?” Souter began, sounding almost like his soon-to-be retired colleague. “I will tell you, you do not have to answer it as far as I’m concerned. Do you believe you have a good faith basis in law to make that argument?”

Souter is not the only former Supreme who is still working. Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor also continues to hear cases on lower courts. She also travels the country advocating for causes like boosting civics education and ending judicial elections.

Yesterday the White House gave us a few more details about the administration’s proposed state-level medical malpractice reform demonstration programs. People are reacting, but no one on either side of the debate seems particularly excited about it.

American Association of Justice President Anthony Tarricone said the programs could hurt victims of medical negligence. “Forty-six states have already enacted tort reform and health care costs continue to hurt the pocketbooks of American families,” he said in a statement yesterday.  “Because of these tort reforms, patients injured through no fault of their own are often unable to seek justice.”

The Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform, which was strongly pushed for the health care reform package to include some tort reform measure such as health courts, also doesn’t like the plan all that much. “While we are encouraged that the Obama Administration has made medical liability reform part of their overall health care package, the $25 million state grant program announced today amounts to about 1-40,000th of one percent of the cost of a one trillion dollar health care bill,” said Lisa A. Rickard, ILR’s president. “Studies have shown that meaningful medical malpractice reform can save from $120 billion to as much as $500 billion over a decade. But a small medical liability grant program will not be effective, and will preserve the status quo when it comes to medical malpractice lawsuits.”

Meanwhile, one potential method of med-mal reform - requiring a malpractice lawsuits to be accompanied by a certificate of merit by a medical professional - was thrown out in one state yesterday. The Washington Supreme Court held that the requirement impedes access to the courts and violates the state constitution’s separation of powers clause.

In other news,

Senate’s med-mal plan: Sen. Max Baucus’ health care reform plan contains no concrete tort reform mandates, but the proposal would encourage Congress to “consider establishing a state … program to evaluate alternatives to the current civil litigation system.” (Lawyers USA)

If you don’t do the crime, you don’t have to do the time: Violent crimes in the United States fell in 2008, and so did incarceration rates. The Federal Bureau of Investigation sees a connection there. (Lawyers USA)

One less legal problem for former AG: A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, rejecting job applicants’ claim of being blacklisted from the Bush administration’s Justice Department based on their ideology. (WaPo)

Constitution Day trip. Retired Justice David Souter celebrated Constitution Day - which was also his birthday - talking constitutional law at a Harvard panel. (Harvard Crimson) (See the archived webcast of the event here)

Filling a vacancy: The Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a measure that will allow Gov. Deval Patrick to temporarily fill the seat left vacant by Sen. Edward Kennedy’s death. It could become law as early as next week. (Boston Herald)

Birther defeat: A lawsuit by a vocal leader of a group claiming President Obama wasn’t born in the U.S. was thrown out of court this week. (KCAL, CBS News)

Less money, more problems: A federal judge in California is resigning to go into private practice, saying his judicial salary is too low to let him support his seven children. The move draws attention to an issue that has been a priority for Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., who has urged an increase in judicial salaries each year since being seated on the High Court. (Reuters)

The last time a former Supreme Court justice celebrated his 70^th birthday after leaving the bench was on June 19, 1980, when Abe Fortas was the birthday boy.

Now, nearly three decades later, it has happened again. Today retired Justice David Souter turns 70.

And now the new septuagenarian is spending much of his time focused on civics education. After giving a speech on the topic at the ABA’s annual meeting this summer, Souter is now urging the New Hampshire Supreme Court Society to come up with more specific ideas about increasing civics education in grade schools.

Outgoing Supreme Court Justice David Souter won’t be spending his retirement days in his storied New Hampshire farmhouse after all.

It seems that his old rustic pad in Weare, which has no phone lines, but plenty of peeling paint and rotting support beams, can’t hold the huge library of books that the jurist has amassed, according to The New York Times. So Souter will trade it for a “swanky” half-million-dollar home just a few miles away in Hopkinton, N.H.

Instead of rickety wood, Souter will have a quant, white Cape Cod-style house with attached garage. Instead of the rustic wilderness, Souter will enjoy over two acres of manicured lawn and trimmed hedges. Instead of quiet wilderness, he’ll have a gym and spa.

His neighbors are sad to see Souter leave his old home. “It was quite a shock to us to learn that he’s moving,” Betty Straw, Souter’s sixth grade teacher, told the Times. “While we’re sorry - we had hoped he would come back to Weare - we understand the circumstances. It seems more desirable to make a move, and we have to abide by his decision.”

Even for the most uncontroversial candidate, Supreme Court confirmation hearings are not for the faint of heart - just ask Justice Stephen Breyer.

Breyer, whose nomination by President Clinton was not fiercely opposed, said the experience is still unnerving.

“There are 17 senators on one side of the table, and I’m on the other side. And people are watching me on television, and I’m not used to that,” Breyer said in an interview with TheAtlantic.com.

Breyer also spoke of retiring Justice David Souter, noting that during the 15 years they were bench mates, they were often confused for one another. “I don’t know [why] - maybe because we are both from New England.”

He also acknowledged that the Court splits 5-4 more often now than it used to - and more often than he wishes it did. “It was not so high if you go back three or four years,” he said of the number of 5-4 opinions, “and I would prefer it was not so high.”

See video of the whole TheAtlantic.com interview here.

Today the U.S. Supreme Court meets for the last time this term, making it Justice David Souter’s last day at the office. Among the items on today’s agenda is the release of the decision stemming from a ruling joined by the judge nominated to replace him, 2^nd Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

That opinion in Ricci v. DeStefano, which considers whether the decision by New Haven city officials to throw out results of a civil service test for firefighters to prevent minorities from being denied promotions was in itself discriminatory. Ricci is one of three remaining cases to be decided by the Court today.

Meanwhile,

Supreme confrontation:  The Supreme Court ruling requiring criminal lab report analysts to be available at trial for cross-examination was hailed by defense attorneys who say it will help protect against wrongful convictions. But prosecutors say that the decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts will tax their already strapped resources. (Lawyers USA)

GM liability compromise: After a host of campaigns my consumer advocates and trial attorney groups who said the bankruptcies of U.S. automakers would leave car owners without legal recourse for product failures, General Motors has agreed to take on responsibility for future product liability claims. Other claims would still be processed through bankruptcy proceedings.  (Lawyers USA)

Will Court take up Sotomayor’s Second Amendment case? Several petitions for certiorari have been filed challenging a 2^nd Circuit ruling, joined by Sotomayor, that the right to keep nunchucks was not protected by the Second Amendment. (SCOTUSblog)

GOP leaders ask for more time on Sotomayor: After more than 300 boxes of documents related to Sotomayor’s nomination landed in his office in recent days, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said lawmakers need more time to vet the candidate. Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings are set to begin in two weeks. (AP)

President Barack Obama has begun the process of sitting down with the candidates he is considering for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Yesterday White House officials said 7^th Circuit Judge Diane Wood has been interviewed by the president. Wood as in Washington for a conference at Georgetown University. Other participants in the Gerogetown event included Justice Stephen Breyer, retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and retiring Justice David Souter, who holds the seat for which Wood is being considered.

When asked at the event if a trip to the White House was on the agenda, Wood said: “No, no, I’m not answering any questions on that.”

Meanwhile the guessing game over when the president will announce his choice continues. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said Obama told him a decision would not come before next week.

In one of the last opinions to be authored by Justice David Souter, the Supreme Court held today that an employer does not violate the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act when, in calculating retirement benefits, it fails to award full credit for pregnancy leave taken before the effective date of the Act. The ruling came in the case AT&T Corp. v. Hulteen.

Also the Court ruled today in Ashcroft v. Iqbal that a complaint filed by a post-Sept. 11 detainee alleging Bush administration detention policies violated his First and Fifth Amendment rights did not plead sufficient facts to state a claim under the Rule 8 standard set in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly.

The Court also added four cases to next term’s docket, including Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOBI, which will test the constitutionality of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and Black v. U.S., a review of the mail fraud conviction of former newspaper magnate Conrad Black. The Court will consider whether his conviction should be reversed because the jury was not instructed that they had to find that Black’s fraudulent scheme “reasonably contemplated identifiable economic harm” to the company.

Today the U.S. Supreme Court is set to release some of the many decisions that are still pending this term, as well as orders that could include cert grants for next term. And over about two miles west of the Court, President Barack Obama continues to work out his choice to replace outgoing Justice David Souter - and has already tapped a seasoned political operative to guide the ultimate nominee through the confirmation process. White House officials say they expect Obama’s decision to be announced the end of the month.

Meanwhile,

Supreme battle cry: While GOP members of the Senate know they don’t have the votes to derail Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, conservative groups are preparing a game plan aimed at raising ire - and money - by dissecting the eventual nominee’s record on the issues of abortion, same-sex marriage and judicial activism. (NYT)

High cost of doing time: The cost of imprisoning a federal defendant awaiting trial far exceeds the cost of supervision by federal probation and pretrial services officers, according to figures recently released by the Judicial Conference of the United States. (Lawyers USA)

Republicans Gitmo support: At least one Democrat - Virginia Sen. Jim Webb - is joining Republicans in questioning Obama’s plan to shut down the Guantánamo Bay detention center. (NYT’s The Caucus)

Groups want former AGs disbarred: Today two groups will file complaints seeking the disbarment of Bush administration Justice Department lawyers linked to memos on harsh interrogation techniques - including former attorneys general Alberto Gonzales and John Ashcroft. (AP)

Tasked with picking his first Supreme Court nominee, President Barack Obama is making a list and checking it twice this weekend - leading some to believe that an announcement could come as early as next week.

During yesterday’s White House sit down between Obama and top ranking Senate members, Obama didn’t discuss any potential nominees by name. He did, however, stress to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, Republican leader Mitch McConnell, Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions the importance of a swift confirmation process, The Washington Post reports.

The ultimate goal, Reid said according to senate aides, is to get the nominee confirmed before the Senate adjourns for summer recess.

And although Obama didn’t divulge his short list to the lawmakers, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said later that the president told them he “would choose a nominee who respects the Constitution and judicial precedent and also has the good judgment and common sense to reach fair decisions.”

Meanwhile departing Supreme Court Justice David Souter and the other justices of the Court are scheduled to conference this morning after a 10-day recess. We’ll bring you any newsworthy developments on this blog and on LawyersUSAOnline.com.