A Proposed New National Sex Offender Registry Bill:
The proposed bill will require states to share information on sex offenders who move to new states and would make it a crime, not a misdemeanor, if sex offenders did not register with their state. Senator Orrin Hatch, Elizabeth Smart and Ed Smart are supporting this bill that the House and Senate may vote on today. The story published by ABC News—Good Morning America is available here. The text of S. 1086 is here.

Impeachment. Henry Weinstein of the L.A. Times has this article on House Judiciary Chairman Sensenbrenner's tentative first step toward the possible impeachment of L.A. Federal District Judge Manuel Real. Mr. Sensenbrenner notes the case as a breakdown in the judicial self-policing mechanism that Congress set up in 1980. His statement is available here (thanks to "federalist" for this link). The Ninth Circuit decision is here.

Competency to Waive Appeals. Jack Elliott of the Associated Press has another article here on the case of Mississippi murderer Bobby Glen Wilcher and the question of his waiver of further appeals. The Supreme Court has scheduled the question of whether to take his case for its conference of Sept. 25.