Supreme Court Grants 3rd Hearing to TN Death Row Inmate: According to Adam Liptak's article in the New York Times, the US Supreme Court has granted a third hearing to Gary B. Cone, who was sentenced to death for double murder, to determine if he still has an opportunity to argue that prosecutors did not fully disclose evidence that might have helped his defense. Prosecutors are accused of having withheld evidence of drug use, the precise explanation Cone used to excuse his behavior.

Can Court Rule Inmate Too Dangerous for Psychiatric Facility? Ruben Casteneda reports for the Washington Post that a Circuit Court judge has ruled that an inmate is too dangerous to both himself and to others to be allowed outside of Baltimore's Supermax despite his ruling that the inmate was not criminally responsible for his crimes. The judge committed the inmate to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene based on his ruling, but has now said that the DHMH can provide treatment within the confines of Supermax based the agency's recommendations.

Georgia Sex Offenders Challenge Movement Restrictions: Georgia has the most restrictive laws for registered sex offenders in the country, including bans on living within a certain radius of school bus stops and volunteering at church. Greg Bluestein writes for the Associated Press that, through a human rights group, 5 Georgia sex offenders argue that the restrictions limit their ability to practice their faith under the First Amendment.

L.A. Gang Violence Shuts Down Summer Sanctuaries: Public pools have long been many citizen's only refuge from the sweltering summer heat, but when violence erupted at a Watts public pool, officials shut the pool down indefinitely. John Mitchell details for the LA Times just how gang violence is affecting another aspect of daily life.

Supreme Court Won't Interfere with Border Fence Plans: When the Secretary of Homeland Security invoked the right, granted by Congress, to exempt the border fence from certain environmental regulations, the environmental lobby and some of their sympathetic legislators protested the constitutionality of the exemptions all the way to the Supreme Court. But according to Dave Montgomery's story in the Sacramento Bee, officials have the right to use the legislative exemption for laws passed by Congress. Go figure.