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Elena Kagan has been conformed by the senate as the newest Supreme Court justice, approving President Barack Obama’s second pick as president and making her the fourth woman to serve in the 221-year history of the court.

Senate confirms Elana Kagan 63-37 as Supreme Court Justice.

Kagan, Obama’s solicitor general and the former dean of Harvard Law School, will join the high court after its summer recess ends later this year, replacing retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, 90. As expected, the 63-37 vote confirming Kagan, who also served in the Clinton administration, was largely along party lines, with just five Republicans voting with Democrats to confirm her – and one Democrat, Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), voting no.

Full Story: Politico

By Jacques Billeaud and Amanda Lee Myers, Associated Press Writers

PHOENIX — A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona’s immigration law from taking effect, delivering a last-minute victory to opponents of the crackdown.

The overall law will still take effect Thursday, but without the provisions that angered opponents — including sections that required officers to check a person’s immigration status while enforcing other laws. ... Read Full Story

The New York Times reports that Elena Kagan, President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, was involved in a number of issues concerning religious freedom according to documents released Friday.

President Bill Clinton’s library in Little Rock, Ark., released about 42,000 pages of documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which currently is considering the Kagan nomination. ... Read Full Story

WASHINGTON (May 17) – The Supreme Court ruled Monday that federal officials can indefinitely hold inmates considered “sexually dangerous” after their prison terms are complete. In case U.S. v. Comstock, 08-1224, the issue is may congress authorize the civil commitment of a “sexually dangerous” person even after that person has completed his or her prison sentence?

The Supreme Court Justices of the United States are John G. Roberts (Chief Justice), John Paul Stevens, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor. UPI/Gary Fabiano/PoolUPI/Gary Fabiano/Pool

The high court in a 7-2 judgment reversed a lower court decision that said Congress overstepped its authority in allowing indefinite detentions of considered “sexually dangerous.” ... Read Full Story

President Barack Obama plans to nominate Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. Kagan is slated to fill the postiton that Justice John Paul Stevens will vacate.

NBC News’s Pete Williams reports:

Kagan, 50, served as the Dean of Harvard Law School from 2003 to 2009. Obama nominated her to serve in her current post as solicitor general early in 2009, and she won Senate confirmation by a vote of 61-31. She is the first woman to serve as solicitor general of the United States.

She was widely viewed as a front-runner when Obama was considering candidates for a Supreme Court opening last year, but the president ultimately chose Sonia Sotomayor for the job.

Unlike the other Supreme Court justices, Kagan has never before served as a federal judge.

Kagan would be the fourth woman ever nominated to the high court and continue a trend of Ivy League-educated lawyers who sit on the bench.

The Louisiana Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill is an environmental nightmare of colossal proportion. BP is drilling a “relief well” to divert the oil, but it could take three months to complete. By then, the Exxon Valdez disaster that destroyed Prince William Sound, Alaska in 1989 is expected to pale in comparison to this disaster.

The Coast Guard said the growing slick is 45 miles wide at its broadest point and 100 miles long – about the length of New Jersey’s coastline… Read Full Story

HOUSTON, TX – Offshore injury lawyers, Gordon, Elias and Seely, LLP, have filed a lawsuit on behalf of the family of Karl Kleppinger, Jr, one of the missing 11 men, who to this date has not been found.

Initially, the law firm contemplated filing a possible Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) in the Transocean Deepwater Horizon explosion that took place on April 20, 2010. A TRO is filed for many reasons – one of which would be to preserve evidence or not to cause spoliation of evidence… ... Read Full Story

HOUSTON, TX – Eleven people are still missing after an oil rig explosion on April 20th in The Gulf of Mexico 41 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The families said that they were told by representatives early Friday morning that their loved ones are considered dead.

Transocean Deepwater Horizon sinking into The Gulf Of Mexico on April 22, 2010

Todd Elias, a Houston maritime lawyer, who is representing Tracy Kleppinger, the wife of worker Karl Kleppinger Jr. of Natchez, Miss., said his client was told by rig owner Transocean Ltd. that her husband Karl Kleppinger, Jr is considered deceased. Attorney, Steve Gordon, said the company has sent grievers to be with Tracy Kleppinger.  ... Read Full Story

PHOENIX, AZ – On Monday, April 19, 2010, lawmakers in Arizona passed a controversial immigration bill, a measure which critics say is open to racial profiling. The law requires that the police in the state that borders Mexico determine if people are in the United States illegally. Lawmakers in the AZ  Senate voted 17 to 11 to approve the bill, widely regarded as the toughest measure yet taken by any U.S. state to curb illegal immigration. Read Full Story

Virginia State Capitol

RICHMOND, VA – Virginia state law makers passed laws earlier this month that are intended to nullify proposed health-care legislation that carries with it mandates for individuals to purchase health insurance.

Virginia is the first state to pass a law that would allow its residents to opt out of the proposed federal requirement for individuals to purchase health insurance, which is one of the elements of the proposed health care bill currently pending in Congress. State legislatures in Idaho and Utah also approved similar measures this month that would limit the scope of the proposed legislation. Several other state legislatures also are considering similar laws and are promoting constitutional amendments that would limit federal requirements. Most are following Virginia’s lead in nullifying the mandate on health insurance… ... Read Full Story