DNA. The New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously rejected an ACLU challenge to the state's collection of DNA samples from convicts as reported in a piece by Gregory Volpe of Gannet News in Trenton. The Court's decision in New Jersey v. O'Hagen, follows a January 12, Ninth Circuit ruling in U. S. v. Reynard which upheld the DNA Backlog Elimination Act of 2000. That case was brought by the Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc.

Colder Case: It is apparently a good week for closing old cases of killings by racist terrorist organizations. Reputed Klansman James Ford Seale, 71, was arrested in connection with the deaths of two black hitchhikers in 1964, Emily Wagster Pettus and Lara Jakes Jordan of AP report.