Nevada's Sex Offender Law is being challenged in federal court, as reported in this AP story by Ken Ritter. Lawyers representing 27 unnamed plaintiffs in a federal civil rights lawsuit claim that a law which creates an internet accessible state registry of 4,941 people convicted of sex crimes since 1956 in unconstitutional. The plaintiffs argue that minor offenders such as those convicted of theft of pornographic magazines would be unfairly included.

Obama on Thomas: At a religious forum last weekend, attended by presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, the moderator asked which Supreme Court Justices they would not nominate. McCain replied that he would not have chosen any of the four more liberal justices, because of their judicial philosophy. Obama initially focused on Justice Clarence Thomas, saying that he is not a "strong enough jurist or legal thinker," and then took the typical liberal tack of implying that any black with a conservative judicial philosophy must be stupid. A piece in today's The Wall Street Journal discusses this approach.

Helping immigrant felons: "A San Francisco city commission has taken a defiant stand against Mayor Gavin Newsom's directive on young immigrant felons by urging officials to permit the offenders to remain in the city and help pay for their housing, job placement services and immigration lawyers," reports Jason Van Derbeken in the SF Chron.