Monday Morning Happenings.

First, courtesy of Jurist, today is the day John Jay was born. Jay was the first chief judge of the State of New York, was a co-author of the Federalist Papers, and was the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Probably the biggest item in legal news today is the continuing saga of Stanley "Tookie" Williams. The California Supreme Court has denied Williams' last appeal. Williams is scheduled to be exectued by lethal injection around midnight tonight, Pacific Time. Everyone is still awaiting Governor Schwarzenegger's decision on clemency. Copies of the various pleadings seeking clemency are available online. Various links courtesy of TalkLeft. There's more over at How Appealing.

Richard Pryor died over the weekend. RIP. He was definitely a pioneer and a big influence on comics and entertainers the world over. It's worth spending a little time reflecting on his influence.

Supporters of Judge Alito are apparently starting to "fight back." Link (with more links after the link) courtesy of How Appealing. Meanwhile, there's this post over at Prawfs Blawg contemplating some questions that maybe should be asked when the confirmation hearings start.

Sentencing Law & Policy has this post pondering the future of sentencing for juvenile offenders. Interesting questions.

Over the weekend, Ann Althouse had this post on the "Democrats hostility to Joe Lieberman." From the New York Times article linked in the post:

"The positive and negative reactions may have less to do with the substance of what I said than with the fact that a Democrat is saying it," Mr. Lieberman said. "It reflects the terribly divisive state of our politics."

Indeed.

Over at Legal Ethics Forum is this post considering ethical (anti-competition) considerations about California's bar exam. This refers to the story earlier posted here about former Stanford law dean Kathleen Sullivan failing the California bar.

There's a good example of the importance of careful drafting in legal documents over at Plain Legal Writing. The example concerns some very unclear language in an arbitration clause and the many possible interpretations of the clause's meaning. Careful writing is always worth thinking about, especially in legal drafting.

Finally, I notice in reviewing my sitemeter reports that one of the biggest referrers over the past several days has been technorati searches about Jennifer Aniston and the topless photos referenced in this earlier post. Although I still think the legal issues involved are fascinating, I question whether those searching on technorati were similarly contemplating the nuances of privacy, free speech, public domain, etc. Perhaps I am too cynical.