High Court

Asserting that a Supreme Court decision last month had created "a wave of instability in the federal sentencing system," the Justice Department asked the court yesterday to review as soon as possible two federal drug cases that call into question sentencing guidelines. Justice Department lawyers asked the high court to hear the cases as early as September. The Supreme Court gave attorneys for the defendants in the two cases a week to file responses to the government's motions. Meanwhile, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned the sentence of a Montana methamphetamine dealer, which had been enhanced by a federal trial judge.

WASHINGTON - Doug Hattaway, a spokesman for Vice President Al Gore, was sitting down for a haircut in Tallahassee yesterday morning - anything to distract him from the agonizing wait for word from the U.S. Supreme Court - when his cell phone rang with news that a ruling was imminent. Hattaway jumped from the chair and rushed to the campaign's headquarters in the Florida capital. It was just a rumor, but Hattaway had learned his lesson, refusing to leave the office the rest of the day. "Fortunately," he said, "I didn't get my hair half-cut."

WASHINGTON - Yvonne Gor says she is "talented and capable," but without affirmative action she probably would have been overlooked when she applied to New York University. Yesterday, Gor, an NYU sophomore, joined several thousand demonstrators who assembled outside the U.S. Supreme Court in a show of support for affirmative action in college admissions. Gor, who is majoring in finance and international business, says that without affirmative action, many of the nation's most select schools will become enclaves for rich white students.

MONTREAL -- Louise Arbour, the United Nations' chief war crimes prosecutor who made history Thursday with the indictment of Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, faces an agonizing personal and professional decision -- one the world is watching. Next month, the 52-year-old Quebec-born judge, on leave from Ontario's Court of Appeals to serve with the United Nations tribunal, is likely to be offered a seat on Canada's Supreme Court. Appointment to the nine-member high court is the honor of a lifetime, the greatest professional achievement to which any Canadian judge can aspire.

First Among Equals: The Supreme Court in American Life, by Kenneth W. Starr. Warner Books. 320 pages. $26.95. Ken Starr has a written a new book, which for him is a high-risk activity, since his last book arguably cost him a seat on the Supreme Court. Consider: Until 1994, Starr was a consensus favorite for eventual appointment to the court. After Duke Law School, he clerked on the contentious Fifth Circuit, then won a coveted Supreme Court clerkship. In 1981, Starr became counselor to the U.S. attorney general, and in 1983, at the venerable age of 37, he was appointed to be a judge on the prestigious U.S. Court of Appeals.

There are outrages in life so horrible that choking someone might be a reasonable response. For instance, a chokehold might be appropriate for an extremely bad dancer at a nightclub or that annoying woman who keeps talking too loudly on her Bluetooth on the bus. One outrage that does not necessitate choking, however, is disagreement over arcane, technical legal points.  Hilariously, at the Wisconsin Supreme Court they do not see it this...

Organizations like ours are jumping for joy this week as theU.S. Supreme Courthas sided with our criminal justice efforts on two issues - ending both prison gerrymandering and juvenile life without parole rulings ("High court affirms redistricting map," and "Mandatory life terms for youth struck down," June 26). Having worked alongside impacted families and individuals that are affected by these two decisions, it is times like this that remind us our work is not in vain. Our work really does impact people - and reform can happen.

WEATHER Today's forecast calls for partly sunny skies and a high temperature around 53 degrees. The low temperature is expected to be around 33 degrees with partly cloudy skies tonight. TRAFFIC Here are today's morning traffic issues . FROM LAST NIGHT... State House dome dazzles after restoration work : The last of the scaffolding that enclosed the dome of the State House since summer will come down Friday -- leaving Annapolis with an uncluttered view of its most famous landmark just in time for Christmas.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -The symposium on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's life on and before the Supreme Court had all the trappings of a grand finale: laudatory tributes, scholarly evaluations of her jurisprudence, a running theme about her love of opera and her unfulfilled desire to be a great diva. Absent was any mention of an exit from the stage. If anything, Ginsburg's appearance at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law - and at a host of other events since the 76-year-old justice had surgery in February to remove a cancerous pancreatic tumor - seemed intended to send a contrary message.

Constellation Energy Group has agreed to buy CPower, an energy management and demand response provider, the Baltimore company announced Friday. The deal, whose terms were not disclosed, adds about 850 megawatts of demand response capacity to Constellation's portfolio, bringing the total to 1,500 megawatts. The New York-based, privately-held CPower designs and manages programs for commercial, utility and public sector clients to reduce electricity demand during peak times.