SG Vows Independence:  On Thursday, Solicitor General Elana Kagan told lawyers and judges at the annual meeting of the Ninth Circuit, that she will defend federal laws even if the President disagrees with them.  SF Chronicle writer Bob Egelko reports that while she did not refer to any specific law, she said that only if the federal law were unconstitutional or interfered with executive prerogatives would she not defend it.  The story brings up the Defense of Marriage Act and the law shielding telecommunications companies from liability for participation in the Bush Administration's electronic surveillance of suspected terrorists.

Obama Comment Angers Police:  The President's comment Wednesday, that the Cambridge police "acted stupidly" in a July 16 incident with a Harvard professor has sparked criticism from the Cambridge Police Commissioner and many officers across the country according to this story by AP writer Melissa Trujillo.  "I think [Obama] was way off base wading into a local issue without knowing all the facts...", said the arresting officer, Sgt.  James Crowley.  The incident occurred when Cambridge police responded to a 911 call from a woman who reported seeing two black men trying to force open the door of noted black history professor Henry Louis Gates' home.  When the officers arrived, they saw Gates in the house and Sgt. James Crowley ordered him present identification.  At that point, Chicago Tribune writer Bob Salsberg reports Gates flew into a verbal rage and accused Sgt. Crowley of racial bias. Sgt. Leon Lashley, a black officer at the scene, supports how his fellow officer handled the situation.  Lashley said that he supported his white colleague "100 percent."  See also our prior post here.