When President Obama released the so-called torture memos from the Bush administration, there was an immediate call to indict the lawyers responsible for the memos.  It doesn't look like that will happen, but the authors of the memos might end up in court anyway as defendants in civil lawsuits rather than criminal trials.

District Court Judge Jeffrey White of the Northern District of California allowed most of Jose Padilla's suit against John Yoo, one of the authors of the memos, to go forward on Friday, despite Yoo's motion to dismiss the case.  Padilla, who is serving a 17 year sentence for a dirty bomb plot, alleges that Yoo, by drafting memos meant to act as a legal shield for constitutional violations, became personally responsible for those violations.

Judge White's decision represents the first judicial opinion holding that goverment lawyers are potentially responsible for detainee abuse.

While oral arguments are an imperfect method for determining how the Supreme Court will rule on a particular case, after arguments in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Eric Holder, Jr, Attorney General, et al., things aren't looking too good for Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

That section of the historic act requires some, primarily Southern, states to receive preapproval from federal authorities before enacting any change in their election laws.  Other states still have to follow the law, but don't have to receive clearance from the federal government before modifying their voting laws.