A federal appeals court judge who was nominated by George W. Bush and clerked under Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made an embarrassing error today when he ruled that Barack Obama's health care reform law was constitutional.

The verdict is out in the second federal corruption trial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. His fortune wasn't as good this time around. The jury found him guilty on 17 of the 18 counts that it could reach an agreement on, including but not limited to his attempt to sell President Obama's old Senate seat.

The jury in the corruption (re-)trial of Illinois ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich has reached a verdict on 18 of 20 counts. It will be read around 2pm. Get on a plane to Mexico hella fast, Blags. (Too late now.)

The lawyers for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in his ongoing corruption retrial are already hated by the judge for wasting time with useless questions. But now they've found a new way to waste time and annoy the judge: By tattling on the prosecutors for "making faces" during the defense's question time. It's really mean!

Like a citified version of the story that inspired last year's James Franco rock-climbing movie, the tale of urban survivalist and litigant Jonathan Lynn involves a necessary act of arm-related self-harm. Luckily, no amputation was necessary.

Great news for the holiday weekend, everyone: One of the last broad federal bans on corporate political donations has been declared unconstitutional by a freedom-loving U.S. District Court judge in Virginia.

"What you have on your license plate is everything ... It's your message to the world," says Floridian anachronism John Adams, who's been trying for years to exercise his constitutional right to put a Confederate license plate on his car. Will this warrior for liberty and freedom prevail?

Remember the sex tape that Democratic pariah John Edwards made with the mother of his illegitimate child, the delightful Rielle Hunter? Hunter is still suing Edwards confidante-turned-enemy Andrew Young for possession of the tape. Edwards has already offered some testimony, and now the judge wants more. Gross.

If you're a lawyer for one of the 170 or so remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay, you're probably happy that Wikileaks has finally dropped the classified case files for each defendant showing just how spurious, thin, and ludicrous much of the evidence against them is. That sort of information could come in handy for a trial or tribunal. Too bad it's classified, and therefore, according to the Justice Department, can't be used in court unless we say so nanny-nanny-boo-boo.

After the Obama administration announced it wouldn't defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court, House Republicans decided to take charge instead. John Boehner hired lawyer and ex-Solicitor General Paul Clement of the firm King and Spaulding to defend it on behalf of the House Republicans at the taxpayer funded rate of $520 per hour. But this morning King and Spaulding dropped the terribly unpopular case, and Paul Clement quit the firm to defend DOMA on his own.

Judge Maryann Sumi of Dane County, Wisconsin has blocked the state's infamous bill eliminating most collective bargaining rights for public employees from taking effect, at least temporarily. The question is whether the Republican leaders violated the state's open meetings law when they sneakily passed an amended version of the bill in a matter of minutes last week.

Jared Lee Loughner, the man accused in the January shooting spree in Tucson, was indicted on additional federal murder charges by a grand jury yesterday for allegedly murdering "participants at a federally provided activity," the Justice Department announced Friday.

A Dane County, Wisc., judge has issued a temporary restraining order to reopen the Wisconsin Capitol building to the public. Capitol access was restricted over the weekend and again this morning, following days in which the building had been crowded with protesters. The Wisconsin State Employees Union, along with the AFL-CIO and AFSCME, filed the suit against the state of Wisconsin yesterday.

Shirley Sherrod, who was fired from her USDA job last year after Andrew Breitbart posted online an edited video of her, has filed a lawsuit for libel and slander against Breitbart in D.C. Superior Court. The suit was filed on Friday, and Breitbart was served with it this weekend, while attending the Conservative Political Action Conference, according to The New York Times.

A federal judge in Florida has found the new health care law's individual mandate unconstitutional in a 26-state lawsuit.

Good news for would-be Chicago mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel: Illinois' Supreme Court hasn't decided on reinstating his candidacy, but it has "ordered Chicago election officials not to print any ballots without his name." He can keep them as souvenirs, maybe?

An appellate court has kicked ex-White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel off the ballot for Chicago mayor over residency requirements. Wow. He'd been leading in polls and fundraising, and his case will likely hit the Illinois Supreme Court now.

Elena Kagan's act of civic responsibility last week has been overshadowed already: Joe Biden is showing up for local jury selection, too, in Delaware today. Hopefully he makes the jury and shouts "That guy is SO guilty!" throughout the trial.

Washingtonians were amazed to hear that one of its actual royals, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, bothered to show up for local jury duty today. Isn't that pain-in-the-ass civic duty for commoners and cats to perform? Fortunately, she wasn't selected.

A federal appeals court has asked the California Supreme Court to help answer a question about who has standing to fight same sex marriage in the courts.