Cooper Argument. The notorious Kevin Cooper case was argued in the Ninth Circuit yesterday. David Kravets reports for AP; Heny Weinstein for LA Times.

Death Penalty. The South Dakota legislature plans to revise the state's execution protocol in light of legal challenges to lethal injection, according to an Associated Press story in today's Sioux City Journal. Responding to the suggestion that anti-death penalty advocates might use the opportunity to pass a bill abolishing capital punishment, one newly elected Democrat said "It's something people want, reserved for heinous crimes. I don't see much support for getting rid of it."

Retardation: Allen "Bridgers, sentenced to lethal injection for the 1997 capital murder of 53-year-old Mary Amie in Tyler, [Texas] told his apparent girlfriend on New Year's Day that he knew he was not mentally retarded but that claiming it would buy him a 'couple more years.'" Casey Knaupp reports in the Tyler Morning Telegraph.

Cunningham: SCOTUS-watcher Aaron Streett of Baker Botts informs us that Cunningham v. California, the California Blakely case, is one of only two undecided cases from the October arguments and that Justices Breyer and Ginsburg are the only Justices who have not yet authored opinions from that session. It is arguably a ray of hope for California if none of the Justices who have been leading the charge on Apprendi issues is writing the opinion, but it's very speculative.