Joe Biden, Senate tiebreaker? [Politico, 8/18/14]: Republicans are rooting for Mitch McConnell to take the Senate gavel. Democrats want Harry Reid to hang on. But there’s one man who might benefit from a tie most of all: Joe Biden. 

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/joe-biden-senate-tiebreaker-110060.html?hp=t1

Vice Presidential Proxy Voting [Gerard Magliocca in Concurring Opinions, 8/18/14]:  While the practice has always been that a vice-presidents must cast his Senate vote in person, I wonder if that should be changed.

http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2014/08/vice-presidential-proxy-voting.html

SCOTUS ruling might handcuff school safety [Cincinnati Enquirer, 8/17/14]: It's been a longtime, informal practice in many schools: Principals -- on occasion and when warranted -- confiscate and search cellphones if students are suspected of wrongdoing.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2014/08/16/scotus-ruling-might-handcuff-school-safety/14183729/

Life with parole no longer means life term [San Diego U-T, 8/18/14]:  Not so long ago, the conventional wisdom in legal circles was that any violent criminal sentenced to life with the possibility of parole in California wasn’t likely to ever walk out of prison. 

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/aug/17/parole-life-california-prison-inmates-crime/

Supreme Court: Was gay marriage settled in 1972 case? [Wash Post, 8/18/14]: A whole lot of judges who are being asked to decide whether states may ban same-sex couples from marrying think the Supreme Court clearly gave them the answer last year: no. But a few judges think the Supreme Court provided the answer more than 40 years ago: yes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-was-gay-marriage-settled-in-1972-case/2014/08/17/1a5e41f8-23c6-11e4-86ca-6f03cbd15c1a_story.html