Morning Wrap

Sweet Suit: The makers of the blue and yellow packets you dump into your morning latte are set to rumble in court next week. On Monday a lawsuit filed by Merisant, the maker of Equal, against Splenda owned by Johnson & Johnson, will go before a jury in a federal district court in Philadelphia.  Merisant is being represented by a team of Kirkland & Ellis lawyers, led by D.C.-based IP partner Gregg LoCascio.  Merisant claims that Splenda’s tagline “Made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar” is misleading because any sugar used disappears during the manufacturing process. At stake is leadership of the $1.5 billion artificial sweetener market, which Splenda now controls with 62 percent U.S. market share. We wonder whether there will be any Diet Coke allowed in the jury room.

Nature v. Nurture: Talk about desecrating a great American myth ... According to this AP article, the long-running feud between the Hatfield and McCoy families dating back to the Civil War era may be partly explained by a rare, genetic disease that can lead to hair-trigger rage and violent outbursts.  Dozens of the McCoy family descendants have the disease, which causes high blood pressure, racing hearts, severe headaches, too much adrenaline and other "fight or flight" stress hormones. Then again how does that make them different from many of D.C.’s denizens? 

Florida Felons: Florida Governor Charlie Crist persuaded the state’s clemency board to pass a measure that will allow most felons to easily regain their voting rights after finishing their prison terms.  The change is a major shift in policy in a state that bans more people from the polls and has more disenfranchised ex-offenders than any other state.  Now, that ex-cons can go to the voting booth, what remains to be seen is if Florida will count all votes cast in elections.

AG Watch: The Justice Department is refusing to release hundreds of pages of additional documents related to the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to issue a round of subpoenas next week for all the documents DOJ has related to the firings.