The legal blogosphere has been abuzz the last few days because of an annual right of spring: the U.S. News & World Report law school rankings. The 2010 report is scheduled for release Thursday, but leaked copies have been popping up on various blogs.

The University of Maryland remains in the Top 100 law schools, but falls one spot from a tie for 42nd last year to a tie for 43rd this year. The University of Baltimore keeps its spot on the third tier, according to Ron Miller’s Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog. UB Law moved up from the fourth tier last year.

Both schools scored highly in the magazine’s new rankings for part-time law schools, with UM placing sixth and UB sitting in a tie for 28th. (At least I think it’s 28th; the print is a bit difficult to read.) Maryland Law easily made the magazine’s list of the 100 most diverse schools, with a 2008-2009 student body that is 13 percent black.

I, like many others, religiously read newspaper comics. (Among my favorites: Pearls Before Swine, F Minus, Get Fuzzy and Speed Bump.) So while I never read Judge Parker, I was pleased to learn The Washington Post has returned the strip to its print edition after an uproar among the storyline’s loyal followers.

Judge Parker, initially about a man who is jurist by day, crime fighter by night, is a serial, soap opera-style strip that first appeared in 1952. The strip was cut in the Post’s print version along with several other comics a few weeks ago but was brought back this week after the paper received more than 750 complaints about the decision – a number “far more than any other topic,” ombudsman Andrew Alexander wrote in his Sunday column.

The lesson here is that while newspapers can trim and cut all they want, the comics section is a third rail that must be handled with extreme caution. Notice how The Baltimore Sun has apparently stopped printing its “You” section Mondays and Tuesdays but shifted its entire comics page elsewhere.

Incidentally, if there are local fans of The Phantom interested in starting Judge Parker-like movement to return the strip to The Sun, please let me know. My dad has been hoping for its return for years.