Kagan's Early Years: Elena Kagan's 28 months as an associate at Williams & Connolly gets scrutinized by The National Law Journal. At the firm, Kagan worked for a real-estate investment trust, a regional Toyota distributor and, among other clients, the Recording Industry Association of America. U.S. Supreme Court correspondent Tony Mauro of The National Law Journal examines a law review article Kagan wrote in 1995 in which she offered her thoughts on the confirmation process. The process, Kagan wrote, has taken on "an air of vacuity and farce." She described modern-day confirmation hearings as "vapid and hollow charade." The Washington Post writes here about the Ivy League dominance of the Supreme Court.
Case of the Stolen Cross: The seven-foot-tall cross in the Mojave Desert that was a centerpiece of a Supreme Court case has been stolen, The New York Times reports. The theft comes a little more than a week after the Supreme Court ruled the cross could remain in place while a lower court handled additional proceedings. The Los Angeles Times has this write-up on the stolen cross.
Morgan Stanley Inquiry: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that U.S. federal investigators are looking into whether Morgan Stanley misled investors about mortgage derivative products it helped create and sometimes bet against. The New York Times write-up is here.
Setback for Microsoft: The National Law Journal reports on a setback for Microsoft after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's confirmation of the validity of a patent that netted i4i Limited Partnership a $290 million infringement judgment. In a lawsuit, i4i claimed Microsoft Word 2007 infringed a patent for processing and storing information about electronic documents' structure. A Microsoft official said the company is considering its options, including a petition to the Supreme Court.
Police Officer Acquitted: A 39-year-old police sergeant in Bellaire, Texas, was acquitted this week in the shooting of an aspiring baseball player who was mistakenly believed to be a car theft suspect, The New York Times reports here. The family of the victim has accused the police department of racial profiling in a pending civil suit. The officer, Sgt. Jeffrey Cotton, had been charged with aggravated assault. The jury found the shooting was justified.
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