When she was up for confirmation, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan provided the Senate with a list of 11 pending cases in which she would recuse because of her participation as solicitor general. In a routine order list issued Friday, Kagan indicated she was not participating in an additional case -- the vaccine liability case of Bruesewitz v. Wyeth, set for argument Oct. 12. But the government's brief in the case is signed by Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal, so why would Kagan have recused?

A New Jersey judge who subjected a pro se litigant to a tirade that an ethics tribunal calls "disrespectful and insulting" has apologized, but says he acted out of "desire to do justice to children." The judge was hearing cross-complaints by a woman and her husband for restraining orders. According to the tribunal, when the woman expressed concern about a temporary visitation schedule set for the husband and their child, the judge became irate, screamed at her, called her a bad parent and threatened incarceration.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' monthly employment report for August was released Friday and the news was still a bit glum overall -- the U.S. economy lost a total of 54,000 jobs. But the news for lawyers and legal industry employees was a bit brighter. The legal sector handed out 1,000 jobs last month, marking the second straight month of improved numbers for the industry. The country's overall unemployment rate inched up, from 9.5 percent to 9.6 percent.