Private: Tuesday News Roundup

A Florida appeals court has declared that state's school voucher system unconstitutional. While the law allowed taxpayer money to fund religious school tuition, the Florida Constitution states "no revenue . . . shall be taken from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution." Governor Jeb Bush plans to appeal the ruling. Voters in Ohio, a key battleground state, will vote on old fashioned, Florida-style voting machines. "We are headed for a train wreck because the state has not done its job," said Scott Greenwood, general counsel for the Ohio ACLU, who are suing the state over the continued use of the old-fashioned ballots
A small San Francisco civil rights firm is challenging "stop-loss" orders keeping reservists on active duty in Iraq in a suit against the Pentagon. "We are asking the federal court to uphold their lawful rights and not allow the Army to create a new category of indentured servitude," said Marguerite Hiken, co-chair of the National Lawyers Guild's Military Law Task Force.
In Britain, ministers have unveiled a new plan to "track" children of convicts from an early age and target them for special services designed to keep them oout of jail.
Mark Tushnet argues in Legal Affairs that in the current political climate, a Supreme Court nominee from either party will be substantively the same. "A justice nominated by George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate will be somewhat more conservative than a justice nominated by John Kerry and confirmed by the Senate. Beyond that, there's not much to say." The issue includes three other stories on the Court.
A California inmate died after having a tooth pulled, according to a coroner's report released Monday. TalkLeft calls the incident "Another glaring example of inept and inadequate medical care provided to America's prisoners."
The Bush administration's changes in environmental regulations have allowed "mountaintop removal" mining, the Washington Post reports. Through the process, "miners target a green peak, scrape it bare of trees and topsoil, and then blast away layer after layer of rock until the mountaintop is gone."
CNN.com has an article on celebrities in the courtroom and why the public likes to watch. "They are all going through our worst nightmares, the worst things you can think of," said psychologist Joyce Brothers. "There's a part of us that says `See, they have money and look at them."'