Talking Baseball. And Steroids: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit is the talk of the sports world right now. The court, sitting en banc, has ruled that federal agents were wrong to seize drug test results from labs in Nevada and California, a blow to the Justice Department's investigation of steroid use in the big leagues, The Recorder reports. The government seized computer files that contained information about far more people than allowed by a search warrant. The en banc opinion split the conservatives on the court. The ruling was a win for the baseball players union, The New York Times reports.
High Court Praise: Front pages across the country today are dedicated to the life of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.). The Supreme Court issued two statements on the Kennedy's death, one from Chief Justice John Roberts and the other from Justice Stephen Breyer, reports The National Law Journal. Unrelated to Kennedy, but on the Supreme Court front: retired Justice David Souter has placed an unusually long restriction on public access to his papers, The BLT reports. The New Hampshire Historical Society will acquire the papers. But Souter placed a 50-year restriction on access to the documents—the longest seal on papers in recent memory.
Messing with Odometers: A ruling in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York was a win for a potential class action by customers who say Subaru sold or leased vehicles with defective odometers, The New York Law Journal reports. Judge George Daniels rejected argument from Subaru's lawyers at Herzfeld & Rubin that the Federal Odometer Act does not apply to the plaintiffs' allegations. The customers allege, among other things, defective odometers inflated mileage and thus shortened warranty periods and decreased resale values. A copy of the judge's opinion is here.
Bloodshed in Suburbia: The Washington Post looks at how drug-fueled violence in Mexico is spilling into suburbia in the United States, and at least one police chief in Texas is complaining about a lack of information sharing between local and federal law enforcement agencies. One police lieutenant in El Paso, Texas, told the Post: "We've never worked well with ICE," Lowe said. Earlier this month, the Justice Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced a plan to foster increased communication.
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