There’s a touch of Robert Frost in Justice David H. Souter’s love of New Hampshire and the old farmhouse where he lived outside of Washington. The poet figured prominently in farewell letters marking Souter’s last day on the bench on Monday, the New York Times reports. The poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” was quoted first, in a letter (PDF posted by SCOTUSblog) from the justices read by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. “We understand your desire to trade white marble for White Mountains, and return to your land ‘of easy wind and downy flake,’ ” the…

More litigation is likely to follow Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision on behalf of white firefighters who sued over a decision to throw out a promotional exam. The decision in Ricci v. DeStefano “left things as muddled as ever for the nation’s employers,” the New York Times reports. The court said the city of New Haven, Conn., erred when it threw out a fire department promotional exam because no blacks got top scores. Lars Etzkorn, a program director with the National League of Cities, told the Times that courts will have to sort out the unanswered questions. “We don’t see…

Headlines proclaiming the reversal of a federal appeals court ruling by U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor are off the mark, according to a journalist who has covered the high court. In a New York Times op-ed, Linda Greenhouse writes that the Supreme Court changed course when it ruled Monday on behalf of white firefighters. In Ricci v. DeStefano, the court said the city of New Haven, Conn., erred when it threw out a fire department promotional exam because no blacks got top scores. “Like that decision or hate it, cheer Monday’s ruling or deplore it, one thing that is…

Siding with the world's biggest health care company, a federal jury in Texas awarded a record-breaking $1.67 billion today to a Johnson & Johnson unit after five hours of deliberation. In its verdict against Abbott Laboratories, the jury found that the Illinois-based drugmaker willfully violated an exclusive patent licensing agreement between J&J and New York University concerning the Centocor unit's Remicade autoimmune treatment, reports Bloomberg. The $1.67 billion verdict in the Eastern District of Texas case is the largest patent award ever in the U.S., according to the news agency, and one of the largest made this year in any…

For seven months, the New York Times managed to keep news that one of the paper's reporters had been kidnapped by the Taliban out of the headlines. But by far more difficult was keeping the information out of Wikipedia, the newspaper reports in a lengthy article that provides a fascinating glimpse into the inner workings of the free Internet encyclopedia compiled by individual users of the website. As part of a effort to free David Rohde, who was kidnapped in Afghanistan on Nov. 10, along with a driver and a local reporter who served as his translator, fellow Times reporter…

Partner Robin Maxwell of Goodwin Procter is the latest lateral lured to the rapidly growing New York City office of London-based Linklaters. The firm today announced the acquisition of Maxwell, who headed Goodwin Procter's financial services team, saying that her banking regulatory experience would be a much-needed skill as financial oversight tightens and standards change, reports the DealBook blog of the New York Times. “Given the changing U.S. regulatory regime and the increasing regulation of the financial markets and financial institutions globally, Robin’s regulatory expertise and strong client relationships will truly enhance our capabilities to meet our global clients’ growing…

The U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled a special September session to consider whether it should overturn earlier rulings upholding limits on corporate and union campaign contributions. The order delays a ruling in the case Citizens United v. FEC, the Associated Press reports. The issue before the justices was whether a documentary blasting Hillary Clinton is an electioneering communication subject to the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. The film, Hillary: The Movie, was critical of Clinton. Its backers wanted to show it on demand on cable television. The reargument order says the parties should address whether to overrule Austin v. Michigan Chamber…

Developing: Convicted swindler Bernard Madoff was sentenced to a 150-year prison term today for operating a massive Ponzi scheme under the guise of a hedge fund that may have bilked investors out of as much as $65 billion. The defense had sought a 12-year sentence, and a presentence investigation by the state probation department had recommended 50 years, the Associated Press reported. But U.S. District Judge Denny Chin gave the 71-year-old Madoff the maximum, saying that the sentence needed to send a message both to victims and to others who might be tempted to take the same path as the…

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that federal law does not preclude states from suing over discriminatory lending practices of national banks. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the majority opinion in the case, and was joined by liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David H. Souter, John Paul Stevens and Stephen G. Breyer, SCOTUSblog reports. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency had argued that the National Bank Act prevents states from examining lending practices of national banks suspected of charging higher mortgage interest rates to minorities. In an opinion turning on statutory construction and Supreme Court precedent, Scalia found no…

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on behalf of white firefighters challenging a decision to throw out a promotional exam because no blacks got top scores. The 5-4 ruling holds that a fear of disparate impact claims by minorities does not justify a decision to toss the test by the city of New Haven, Conn., SCOTUSblog reports in a live blog account. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote the majority opinion. "Fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer's reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions," Kennedy wrote, according to an account…