National Post: When an Ontario judge struck down three sections of the country's prostitution laws last month as unconstitutional, the reaction from Ottawa was very familiar to those with long memories. The Justice Minister, Rob Nicholson, declared himself "very concerned," and federal lawyers moved swiftly to salvage the law.

The Globe: The Supreme Court of Canada has granted journalists in Quebec the right to protect confidential sources provided they can show it is in the public interest. The decision was a partial victory for The Globe and Mail and journalist Daniel Leblanc, who has now been ordered to return to a Quebec trial court for a final determination on his ability to conceal the identity of a key source in the federal sponsorship scandal.
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Macleans: If hard criminals do soft time in Canada, as the federal Conservative government insists, then John Virgil Punko seems a poster boy for all that’s wrong with the judicial system. In police jargon, Punko was “a low-level mope”—a full-patch member of the Vancouver East End Hells Angels with a healthy dose of greed and a bad addiction to Percocet. Such vulnerabilities made him a useful target in 2003 when the RCMP launched E-Pandora, a $10-million sting operation aiming at netting the big fish in the East End Angels.

NY Times: A federal judge’s forceful opinion Wednesday in favor of same-sex marriage is only the beginning of a process that is likely to go all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The ultimate outcome of the California case cannot be predicted, but appeals court judges and the justices at the highest court in the land could find themselves boxed in by the careful logic and structure of Judge Vaughn R. Walker’s opinion, legal experts said. In his ruling, Judge Walker found that California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage irrationally discriminates against gay men and women.

The Globe: U.S. President Barack Obama has nominated Solicitor-General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. The move positions the court to have three female justices for the first time in history. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been made public. Mr. Obama will announce his choice at 10 a.m. Monday in the East Room of the White House. Known as sharp and politically savvy, Ms. Kagan has led a blazing legal career: first female dean of Harvard Law School, first woman to serve as the top Supreme Court lawyer for any administration, and now first in Mr.

The Globe: For the second day in a row, Omar Khadr refused to appear Friday for pre-trial hearing on murder and terrorism charges, claiming he was being subjected to unnecessary and humiliating searches by military guards. On Thursday, Mr. Khadr refused to attend the morning session after refusing to wear the sensory-depriving goggles and earmuffs that U.S. soldiers require prisoners to put on - even while they are in a windowless vehicle being transported from the camps to the converted air terminal used as a courtroom on the leased naval base in Cuba. Today’s refusal came after Mr.

The Globe: Make them pay! Lock them in jail and throw away the key! Punish the criminals! Getting tough on crime has become a Canadian obsession. The Conservative government has made introducing ever harsher crime legislation core to its brand. The opposition NDP and Liberals, trying to side-step a wedge issue and not wanting to be branded as being "soft on crime," have (with a couple of notable exceptions) supported the Conservative crime legislation every step of the way (Conservative rhetoric about Liberal senators aside).

The Globe: An Afghan-Canadian who served as an interpreter for Canada’s military has breathed new life into the detainee controversy with troubling allegations that this country’s soldiers deliberately transferred prisoners to torture. Ahmadshah Malgarai also told a Commons committee yesterday that he came across evidence troops killed an innocent Afghan teen in 2007 and then tried to cover it up.

The Globe: The Victoria Police Department is investigating its own officers after a violent arrest was caught on camera and posted to YouTube. Police spokesman Sgt. Grant Hamilton says officers responded to a fight involving eight males early Sunday morning. He says when police arrived on the scene, they found one man being kicked in the head and ended up taking six others into custody. But the 56-second YouTube clip appears to show one officer repeatedly kicking a man who's already been restrained.

CNews: The federal Justice Department pays to help publicize leading criminal justice research that frequently discredits the Conservative government’s “tough-on-crime” agenda. And while the goal of the government-funded project is to “focus . . . on research that is policy relevant,” and provide a “general education” to those interested in criminal justice policy, the Harper government doesn’t appear to be listening.