PHOENIX — A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the suspect in the Tucson shooting rampage can be returned to a Missouri prison facility where he will undergo more treatment to try to make him mentally fit to stand trial. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request by Jared Lee Loughner’s attorneys to keep him in Tucson. Loughner’s lawyers want him to stay in Arizona while they appeal a lower court’s ruling that extends their mentally ill client’s stay at a Springfield, Mo., prison by another four months. Read full article > >

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Appeals court OKs Tucson shooting rampage suspect’s return to Missouri facility for treatment

MIAMI — The 17-year prison sentence imposed on convicted terrorism plotter Jose Padilla is far too lenient for someone who trained to kill at an al-Qaida camp and also has a long, violent criminal history, a federal appeals court ruled Monday as it threw out the sentence. A divided three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a new sentencing hearing for Padilla, a U.S. citizen and Muslim convert convicted in 2007 along with two co-conspirators of several terrorism-related charges. Padilla, 40, was held for more than three years without charge as an enemy combatant before he was added to the Miami terror support case. Read full article > >

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Appeals court throws out Padilla terror sentence, rules 17 years is far too lenient

A judge in Jackson, Miss., has dismissed the lawsuit against Kathryn Stockett , author of “The Help.” The Associated Press reports that on Tuesday morning Circuit Court Judge Tomie Greene granted Stockett’s motion for summary judgment, i.e., dismissal of the case, because the lawsuit was filed after a one-year statute of limitations had elapsed. Ablene Cooper, a housekeeper for the family of Stockett’s brother, filed the suit last February, more than two years after the popular novel was published and more than a year after Stockett reportedly gave Cooper a copy of the book. Cooper claimed that a key character in the book — Aibileen Clark, played by Viola Davis in the recently released movie adaptation — used her image and likeness without permission. Read full article > >

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‘The Help’ lawsuit against Kathryn Stockett is dismissed

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday blocked a massive sex discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart on behalf of female employees in a decision that makes it harder to mount large-scale bias claims against the nation’s biggest companies. The justices all agreed that the lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. cannot proceed as a class action in its current form, reversing a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. By a 5-4 vote along ideological lines, the court said there too many women in too many jobs to wrap into one lawsuit. Read full article > >

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Supreme Court blocks huge sex bias lawsuit by women who work at Wal-Mart

Lawsuits after car crashes are beyond common. But in the Fairfax County courthouse, a lawsuit about a crash on the Beltway last year is dropping a few jaws as it makes the rounds and heads toward trial next week. Among the latest allegations in the lawsuit pending in Fairfax County Circuit Court: Paragraph 10. “At the time of the collision, Defendant was going 85 miles per hour.” Paragraph 12. “At the time of the collision, Defendant was having sex with a female.” Read full article > >

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On the Beltway, a claim of drunken sex at 85 mph

This doesn’t make things any less murky. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a 43-foot cross on San Diego’s Mt. Soledad-public property-unconstitutional, but they stopped short of having it removed completely. Instead, they sent it back to…

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Court: CA Cross Unconstitutional

The Obama administration has appealed a federal judge’s injunction against the enforcement of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate the ban. On Tuesday, District Court Judge Virginia Phillips refused to grant…

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Obama Seeks Stay on DADT Ruling