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PST SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge in San Francisco rejected the Bush administration's request today to speed up consideration of rules that would pressure employers to fire suspected illegal immigrants whose Social Security numbers didn't match records in the government's database. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer - who blocked the so-called no-match rule from taking effect in October 2007 - turned down a proposal by the Department of Homeland Security for an accelerated hearing schedule that might have allowed a new version to take effect before President Bush leaves office next month. Instead, Breyer set a standard schedule for...

Baton Rouge, La. (AP) -- A judge has ruled that a former Black Panther should be released on bail while he awaits a new trial on charges he killed a prison guard in April 1972. U.S. District Judge James Brady said Tuesday that Louisiana must release Albert Woodfox on bail until either it drop charges against him or retries him. The state is appealing Brady's previous ruling that Woodfox deserves a new trial because he had an ineffective defense lawyer. Woodfox is one of the inmates known as the "Angola Three."

Sacramento, CA (AP) -- A private prison company that has been lobbying the Schwarzenegger administration and is a campaign contributor to the governor's causes has made a bid to operate an overhauled inmate medical system, a move that could conflict with court-ordered reforms, according to a document obtained Monday by The Associated Press. The offer by The GEO Group Inc. of Florida caught the court-appointed receiver overseeing reform of California's inmate health care system by surprise. In the five-page internal memo obtained by the AP, the receiver's chief of staff repeatedly makes it clear that he believes the bid was...

Arizona’s Supreme Court Justice has agreed to enforce the Hispanic Bar Association’s demands of banning the terms “illegal” and “aliens” in all of the state’s courtrooms. Claiming that the terms are inflammatory, the president of Arizona’s Hispanic Bar Association, (known as Los Abogados) has asked state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor to stop using them at trials or hearings because they create perceptions of judicial bias. In a strongly worded letter to the chief justice, Los Abogados’ president says attaching an illegal status to a person establishes a brand of contemptibility, creates the appearance of anti-immigrant prejudice and tarnishes...

SAN FRANCISCO -- After a heated, divisive campaign fueled by a record $73 million of spending, California voters have approved Proposition 8, which would change the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Opponents promptly filed suit to try to block the measure from taking effect.With 96 percent of the vote counted, Prop. 8 was winning by a decisive 400,000-vote margin, 52.2 percent to 47.8 percent. It piled up huge margins in the Central Valley and carried some Democratic strongholds such as Los Angeles County. The measure lost in every Bay Area county but Solano.As the vote counting continued this morning,...

I just got home about 25 minutes ago from a frustrating afternoon to say the least. Long story short...my wife and I were leaving a restaurant late this afternoon after voting and as we were pulling out I noticed a very tall male between the ages of 18-20 yrs of age spray painting the huge McCain/Palin signs that were in front of the mall...he was putting the word "DON'T" in yellow spray paint with a nazi symbol on the bottom. He was doing this in broad daylight on a public road...so I turned my truck around and hauled it down...

State told to take care of legal fees from suit NASHVILLE -- A federal judge in Memphis has ordered the state to pay $117,263 in attorneys fees to the lawyers who represented state Sen. Ophelia Ford when the Senate voided her 2005 special election. That was $12,575 less than the attorneys sought. U.S. Dist. Judge Bernice Donald ordered the reduction on the grounds the state was not responsible for costs incurred by Ford in the early days of the proceeding, before the state Senate began its own proceedings to vacate the election. Prior to that, Ford was fighting an effort...

The conflict between California and federal judges over operation of the 170,000-inmate prison system could evolve into one of those epic legal struggles that involve bedrock constitutional principles and wind up in an historic Supreme Court decree. Or not. While some conservative Republicans contend that the state should strenuously resist the creeping judicial takeover of the prison system, even defying a judge's orders, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and most Democrats are just pleading for more time to comply. By the same token, federal Judge Thelton Henderson scolded state officials this week for not complying with demands from receiver J. Clark Kelso...

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge seemed ready to order Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Controller John Chiang to cough up $250 million in the next few weeks for prison health care construction. But Senior U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson isn't quite ready to hold the governor and controller in contempt of court, a move that could put California on the hook for millions of dollars in fines per day until state officials do the judge's bidding. Henderson said the $8 billion price tag that his appointed receiver, J. Clark Kelso, has placed on construction required to bring the state's long-addled...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge scolded California officials on Monday for failing to provide the billions of dollars a court-appointed receiver says is needed to upgrade the state's prison health care system. U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson made it clear he expects California to pay $8 billion for seven new inmate medical facilities. But he stopped short of immediately holding Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Controller John Chiang in contempt for failing to turn over the money. The judge says he is likely to order the state to pay $250 million as a first installment to demonstrate good faith....

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court upheld San Francisco's pioneering health coverage program today, saying the city has the legal authority to require employers to help pay for health care for uninsured workers and residents. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected challenges by restaurant owners and the Bush administration to the ordinance, the first of its kind in the nation. The 2-year-old program, when fully implemented, will offer care at a network of hospitals and clinics for 73,000 uninsured adults not covered by the Medi-Cal program for the poor or Medicare for the elderly. More than 80...

A former Army Special Forces commander passed over for a job as a terrorism analyst at the Library of Congress because he was in the process of becoming a she won a discrimination lawsuit on Friday. More News * Radical rescue: Hundreds of billions for bailout 09.19.08 * Q&A on cleaning up the financial crisis mess 09.19.08 * Light rail train hits bus in LA; 14 injured 09.19.08 * CHP warns of 'star 72' phone scam 09.19.08 U.S. District Judge James Robinson ruled that the Library of Congress discriminated against Diane Schroer of Alexandria, Va., by not giving her the...

Sacramento, CA (AP) -- The state attorney general's office is fighting an attempt to hold Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in contempt of court for not releasing $8 billion for new inmate medical facilities. The court-appointed receiver who runs the prison medical system has asked a federal judge in San Francisco to force Schwarzenegger and Controller John Chiang to turn over the money. But Attorney General Jerry Brown said in a filing Monday that the federal court does not have the authority to require state prison construction.

A federal judge has ordered a temporary halt in the state's 10 percent cut in Medi-Cal reimbursement rates, improving access to care for 6.5 million low-income patients but throwing a new wrench in already difficult state budget negotiations. The U.S. District Court decision forces the state to reimburse most Medi-Cal providers at rates prior to the 10 percent cut, which lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made effective July 1 as a cost-cutting measure to help resolve a $15.2 billion budget shortfall this year. The move effects reimbursement rates the state pays to doctors, dentists, pharmacists, adult day-care centers and other...

The federal receiver in charge of California's inmate health care system is asking a judge to seize $8 billion from the state's treasury over the next five years. Court-appointed receiver Clark Kelso on Wednesday said he needs the money to build new medical units for 10,000 sick or mentally ill inmates.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge says the University of California can deny course credit to applicants from Christian high schools whose textbooks declare the Bible infallible and reject evolution. Rejecting claims of religious discrimination and stifling of free expression, U.S. District Judge James Otero of Los Angeles said UC's review committees cited legitimate reasons for rejecting the texts - not because they contained religious viewpoints, but because they omitted important topics in science and history and failed to teach critical thinking. Otero's ruling Friday, which focused on specific courses and texts, followed his decision in March that found no...

San Francisco (AP) -- California Chief Justice Ronald George has spent more than half his life cultivating an image of a cautious jurist and earning a reputation as a politically skilled court administrator. But his unlikely legacy as gay rights pioneer was sealed May 15, when he heard the roar of a crowd gathered below his office as his majority decision legalizing same-sex marriage was announced. Now, the law-and-order supporter of capital punishment is enduring from gay marriage foes the very complaints of "judicial activism" he has worked so hard to avoid during his 17 years on the high court...

In a setback for opponents of gay marriage, a Sacramento judge Friday left intact a ballot title that states Proposition 8 eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry. Sponsors of the proposal had argued Attorney General Jerry Brown was prejudicial when he changed the ballot title – "Limit on Marriage" – that was on petitions circulated last year to qualify the Nov. 4 ballot measure. But Sacramento County Judge Timothy Frawley, who heard arguments in the case on Thursday, disagreed. "Petitioner has failed to explain why the term 'eliminates' is inherently argumentative, while the term 'limit' is not," Frawley...

Sacramento, CA (AP) -- The court-appointed receiver who oversees medical care in California's prisons is asking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to invoke emergency powers and borrow $7 billion. Court-appointed receiver Clark Kelso wants Schwarzenegger to bypass the state Legislature and issue bonds to build seven inmate health care centers around the state. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter Kelso sent Monday to Schwarzenegger's legal affairs office. The receiver's request comes after the state Senate blocked his borrowing twice last month. Kelso has been given broad authority by federal courts to fix the prison system's medical and mental health...

SAN FRANCISCO—A federal court referee is recommending that California's prison population be cut by nearly 40,000 inmates over the next four years. There is little agreement over how to accomplish that, leading a special judicial panel on Friday to grant more time for settlement talks. The three-judge panel says it will set a trial in November if the state, inmate advocacy groups, law enforcement organizations and others fail to agree on ways to solve prison crowding. They have 30 days to reach a settlement. The federal courts could order an immediate release of inmates or cap the prison population, actions...