Immigration, Terrorism, Health Care: Hot Issues Pack Fall Court Docket

As the vacations of August give way to the business of September, the legal beat this week is beginning to heat up. Here, in no specific order, are a few of the higher-profile legal stories that are going to pop in one direction or another before too long.

1. Don't Ask Don't Tell. Last week, a federal judge in California declared unconstitutional the Pentagon's controversial "don't ask don't tell" policy toward gay and lesbian service members. Next week, the Senate is expected to take up the issue. Will the judge's ruling give the lawmakers legal cover? Or will the decision -- and the looming mid-term elections -- prompt a congressional backlash?

2. The so-called "underwear bomber," Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, charged with trying to take down Flight 253 last Christmas, fired his attorneys in federal court Monday and asked his judge: "If I want to plead guilty to some counts . . . basically, how would that go?" There is plenty of precedent for recent terror suspects to short-cut the legal process in this fashion. Richard Reid, the so-called "shoe bomber," did so in 2003. Zacarias Moussaoui did so as well when he was charged with terror conspiracy in the 9/11 attacks. Will Abdulmutallab follow suit?

3. In an excellent piece in last week's issue of the New Yorker, Terry McDermott wrote about the letters sent from confinement by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, 9/11 mastermind, whose trial is on hold -- 10 months and counting -- pending a decision by the White House as to a venue (New York or Washington or Pennsylvania? Federal or civilian?). McDermott writes: "Insofar as we know Mohammed, we see him as a brilliant behind-the-scenes tactician and a resolute ideologue. As it turns out, he is earthy, slick in a way, but naïve, and seemingly motivated as much by pathology as ideology." (Emphasis added). The presence of ideology helps distinguish terrorists from common criminals. And what is crime if not the manifestation of a social pathology? Will McDermott's piece help change the debate over what to do with Mohammed?

4. A federal judge in Florida heard arguments Tuesday on the latest state-infused challenge to the federal government's new health care measures. The feds are trying to kick out the cases now. The plaintiffs -- no fewer than 20 states -- are trying to get to the merits of their claims. Early last month in Virginia, another federal judge permitted a similar challenge to move forward to the next step of litigation. It is likely that the Florida judge will rule before the mid-term elections.

5. We are now fewer than 10 days away from the deadline for the filing of the Justice Department's appellate brief in the case of United States v. Arizona. The feds are defending a July ruling by a trial judge in Arizona who declared unconstitutional some of the most controversial provisions of Arizona's new immigration statute. Late last month, Arizona asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton's ruling.

6. As John Grisham reminds us, Virginia is poised next Thursday to execute its first female inmate in nearly 100 years. The case is unusual because death-row inmate Teresa Lewis is going to be executed even though she was not the trigger woman in the crime in question -- and the trigger man who actually murdered the victim received life in prison without the possibility of parole. Here is what Grisham wrote: "There have been other cases with similar facts -- a wife and her lover scheme to kill her husband for his money or for life insurance proceeds. But there is no precedent for the wife being sentenced to death. Such inconsistencies mock the idea that ours is a system grounded in equality before the law."

7. Remember Proposition 8, the anti-same-sex marriage ballot initiative which was declared unconstitutional last month in California? The pro-Prop 8 side has a Sept. 17 deadline to file a very important opening brief that includes the gateway issue of standing -- whether individuals or groups may challenge U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling in the absence of any official state challenge. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown have refused to defend the measure.

8. We are now just three weeks away from the first Monday in October, the United States Supreme Court debut for the newest Justice, Elena Kagan. She joins a court that her new colleague, Justice Stephen Breyer, wants you to know is not the "junior varsity" for wannabe politicians.