A former state lawmaker who championed legislation fighting child pornography was sentenced Thursday to a five-year term for viewing nude images of underage girls.
Neil Cohen will serve the term either in prison or a mental hospital. The state Corrections Department will decide which venue. He could become eligible for release and be placed under intense supervision in several months.

Appearing pale and unsteady, Cohen did not speak during sentencing. His lawyer told the judge the former assemblyman has been suicidal and has several mental health issues, including chronic depression. He has been hospitalized for months, according to the lawyer, Mark Tuohey.

Judge Gerald Council imposed sentence in Mercer County Superior Court.

"This is a sad day," the judge said. "But for this incident, he had an unblemished record."

Cohen pleaded guilty in April.

He served 17 years in the state Legislature as a Democrat representing Union County. He resigned following his arrest in July 2008.

The former lawmaker admitted viewing images of underaged girls on computers in his legislative office and law office.

Anthony Picione, the deputy attorney general who prosecuted the case, said 34 images of girls in various stages of undress were found on the computers. He said authorities have been able to match some of the images to photos on the list of Missing and Exploited Children.

The Supreme Court appeared closely divided Wednesday about an Arizona tax-break program that provides millions of dollars in scholarships for students at private religious schools.

The conservative justices indicated they are likely to rule against a challenge to the Arizona program that says it amounts to an unconstitutional state endorsement of religion. The court's liberals suggested they have problems with the state's tax credit.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, often the decisive vote in ideologically divided cases, asked questions of both sides that did not tip his hand.

The Obama administration joined with the state in arguing in strong defense of the program, saying the Arizona residents who oppose it should not even be allowed to bring their lawsuit in federal court.

For the past 13 years, Arizona has allowed residents to send up to $500 to a tuition scholarship organization that they would have otherwise paid the state in taxes on their incomes.

The problem, in the view of the American Civil Liberties Union-backed challenge to the program, is that most of the money goes to groups that award scholarships on the basis of religion and require children to enroll in religious schools.

Ireland, currently the senior associate justice on the high court, would replace the retiring Chief Justice Margaret Marshall if he's confirmed by the Governor's Council, a process that could take as little as a month.

"We are making history again today," Patrick said, noting Marshall had been the court's first female chief justice.

Nonetheless, the governor insisted race was a "secondary or tertiary" consideration.

"The most important thing was to get a nominee who was going to be absolutely committed to the fair administration of justice, who could understand the issues that come before the court are issues that involve human beings, trying to sort out their problems and resolve their disputes, and that there are faces behind those concepts," Patrick said during a Statehouse news conference.

Ireland, a native of Springfield's racially mixed Hill neighborhood, said, "My nomination says that anything is possible no matter where you come from or what your background is."

Frederick Hurst, a black attorney and newspaper publisher who has been Ireland's friend since childhood, beamed as he watched, saying afterward he was proud of the high achievement by someone from "the 'hood." He described Ireland as both smart and funny.

Ireland was appointed to the SJC in 1997 by then-Republican Gov. William F. Weld, making him the first black justice in the 318-year history of the oldest appellate court in continuous operation in the Western Hemisphere. He previously served on the Massachusetts Appeals Court for seven years and the Boston Juvenile Court for almost 13 years.

Early returns show voters rejected Initiative 1098 being rejected with about 65 percent of the vote to 35 percent in unofficial returns.

Initiative 1098 would institute a new state tax on the top 1 percent of incomes to pay for education and health programs while trimming state property and business taxes. The campaign follows January’s overwhelming decision by Oregon voters to increase taxes for corporations and wealthier households.

"I'm particularly gratified the way Initiative 1098 is going down to defeat. I don't think we're going to see that kind of initiative back anytime soon," said former Senator Slade Gorton.

Initiative 1098 campaign was referred to as the "battle of the billionaires."

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his father are among the wealthy Washingtonians who joined labor unions and other traditional Democratic allies to support the tax-the-rich ballot measure. Opposing 1098 were Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Boeing, Russell Investments, Paccar Inc., software billionaire Charles Simonyi and members of the Nordstrom family.

And, big money was thrown into the fight. Supporters of the initiative spent more than $6.1 million, while the campaign against it spent more than $5 million of the $6.4 million raised.

California voters rejected a ballot measure on Tuesday that would have made it the first U.S. state to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

The "no" vote on Proposition 19 had 56 percent of the vote to 43 percent for "yes," with 20 percent of precincts counted. CNN projected the measure's failure.

The nation's eyes were on Prop 19 because legalization would have put the state at odds with federal drug laws and the Obama administration said it would continue to prosecute individuals in California for possession or growth of pot.

A maverick move by California could also have inspired other states, as has been the case with medical marijuana.

California in 1996 led the nation with a ballot measure approving cannabis for medical purposes and 13 other states have since followed suit.

Passage of Prop 19 would also have had a financial impact because it cleared the way for local governments to regulate the "business side" of pot, including commercial cultivation and taxation.

Prop 19 supporters argued that ending prosecutions of marijuana possession would free up strained law enforcement resources and strike a blow against drug cartels, much as repealing prohibition of alcohol in the 1930s crushed bootlegging by organized crime.

The Supreme Court expressed sympathy for a California law that aims to keep children away from ultra-violent video games, but several justices said the law faces a high constitutional hurdle.

The high court heard arguments Tuesday over a California ban that would make it illegal for retailers to sell or rent violent video games to anyone under 18. Parents would be able to buy the games and give them to their children, but retailers who sell directly to minors would face fines of up to $1,000 for each game sold.

Several justices, including Antonin Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anthony Kennedy, noted that entertainment forms like comic books, movies, rap music and even children's fairy tales can also be violent but are not regulated by the state.

Those justices said the law, which has never been enforced, could be considered vague. They suggested that it might encroach on First Amendment rights.

But other justices seemed to dislike the notion that state officials should be powerless to keep children from buying a "deviant, violent" video game. They included Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor.