Over the last six years, the Supreme Court has allowed business owners in two separate cases to refuse to design wedding cakes for gay and lesbian couples. A California case takes those religious protections even further, by testing whether a business owner can refuse to allow a same-sex couple to simply purchase a standard product – with no customization – because of the owner’s religious views.

(Subscription required) “This is our second year doing this, and it just keeps getting better,” said Daniel K. Kramer, chair of the chapter’s committee in charge of the LAUSD Mock Trial Program. The program covered the key elements of a trial, from jury selection and opening statements to hearing a plaintiff witness, a defense witness, and then closing arguments.

The rule is the first in the nation to specifically target the heavy metal, known as chromium-6, and is expected to reduce the number of cancer and kidney disease cases from long-term ingestion, state officials say

(Subscription required) The veteran jurist, an appointee of President George W. Bush, has struck down several California gun laws – including the state’s ban on large capacity magazines and semi-automatic rifles – as unconstitutional, and similar complaints were reassigned to him as related cases. But new challenges in the Southern District of California are not going to Benitez, in part due to changes adopted by judges last summer.