The Supreme Court has another day of oral arguments today, and the star case is Hemi Group v. City of New York, a case examining whether state and local governments have standing under RICO to pursue noncommercial losses, such as unpaid taxes.  Governments around the country will be watching this one with keen interest.

Also on the Court's agenda are a case involving challenges to electricity rates, and a bankruptcy case.  Not the most, um, electrifying topics, but, as with all things Supreme, still important.

Last week, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a decision that promises to alter the environmental law landscape. 

In the decision, the court determined that plaintiffs could sue a power generator under federal nuisance law for releasing greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.  In making its ruling, the 2nd circuit overturned the district court, which had declined to hear the case after it held that the claims presented non-justiciable political questions.

Unless you haven't been watching the news lately (or unless you live in a country that doesn't have an 800-lb. health care problem in the room), you're probably aware that there's a health care debate raging in the United States right now.

Both sides of the debate have accused the other of spreading misinformation about what proposed reforms to the health care system actually entail.  As part of its effort to combat what it perceived as false claims about health care reform, the White House set up an email address where people could report any "fishy" information they came across.

After 9/11, federal buildings were supposed to become safer, right? Does that include: failing to detect bomb components, armed guards asleep on the job after taking Percocet^©, using government computers to manage a pornography website business, and not seeing a box of weapons at a federal facility's loading dock?

A new GAO report investigating security lapses by guards hired to protect federal buildings found all these security breaches, and more.

The DC Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a Marine's defamation case against Rep. John Murtha must be dismissed because the congressman made the allegedly defamatory comments in the course of his official duties.

The case arose after Murtha accused the squad that Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich commanded in Iraq of committing "cold-blooded murder and war crimes" in Haditha.  Wuterich sued and the district court made a ruling allowing limited discovery to determine whether Murtha's comments came during his official duties.