As a scholar, poet and abolitionist, George B. Vashon broke barriers in the 1800s: he was the first black to graduate from Oberlin College, the first black lawyer in New York state and the first black professor at Howard University.

But in his home state of Pennsylvania, where Vashon grew up and studied law, he was twice rejected from practicing law because he was black.

On Tuesday, more than 160 years after Vashon applied to be admitted to the Allegheny County bar, the state Supreme Court ordered that he be posthumously admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania. Vashon's relatives and a Pittsburgh attorney who heard about Vashon's story had asked the court earlier this year to do just that.

"I think it's very important not just as a family matter, it goes far beyond family," said Nolan N. Atkinson Jr., Vashon's great grandson and a lawyer in Philadelphia. "It's very important for all lawyers who are entering this profession to know that there were significant achievements made by African Americans in the 19th century."

Vashon was born in Carlisle in 1824, and his family later moved to Pittsburgh, where he grew up. At 16, he was admitted to Oberlin College and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 1844.

Prosecutors say they will ask a federal appeals court to quickly intervene and stop the release of nine jailed Michigan militia members accused of conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government.

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade says the conditions set by a judge will not ensure the public's safety. She says the appeals court will be asked to issue an emergency stay Thursday.

The nine were expected to be returned to court to be processed at 11 a.m. EDT before being released. But the appeals court could halt everything.

U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts on Monday said the militia members could be released until trial with electronic monitoring devices. She froze her order until Wednesday night.

They are charged with conspiracy to commit sedition, or rebellion, against the government and the attempted use of weapons of mass destruction.

Former Qwest Communications International Inc. CEO Joe Nacchio is set to appear in federal court in Denver to say whether he wants to waive his right to attend his re-sentencing hearings.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger wants to see Nacchio in person Tuesday before allowing him to skip hearings in June where she will recalculate his sentence for insider trading convictions.

An appeals court ruled that Nacchio's original sentence of six years in prison, plus $71 million in fines and forfeitures, was too harsh.

Nacchio has started serving his sentence at a prison in Pennsylvania. Online federal prison records show he was moved to a low-security facility in Englewood, Colo., before the hearing Tuesday.

New Jersey law firm Cole, Schotz, Meisel, Forman & Leonard has hired a trio of Fort Worth bankruptcy attorneys.

Michael Warner, Emily Chou and Rachel Obaldo have joined the firm. The three were formerly with the firm WarnerStevens LLP, which is dissolving.

They will open a new office for Cole Schotz in Fort Worth.

The move is the firm's first expansion into Texas. It also has offices New York, Delaware Maryland and Texas.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday it's not wise to speculate about what caused an explosion and massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and he defended his use of the term "act of God" to describe the disaster.

Perry said Tuesday the phrase — which he used in a speech in Washington, D.C., on Monday when discussing the spill — is a legal definition and that his point is "nobody knows what happened" at the oil rig off the Louisiana coast. The undersea well has been spewing 200,000 gallons of oil a day.

The giant oil slick is threatening the Gulf Coast from southeastern Louisiana to Florida. Rig operator BP PLC has been trying unsuccessfully to cap the leak, which began April 20.

"If you will go look up the definition of 'Act of God,' we've used it in legal terms for a long time in this state," Perry told reporters outside the Texas Capitol.

"It may be an accident and it may be something else," he said.

The Democratic group Lone Star Project criticized the Republican governor's remarks as "detached arrogance."

"Eleven men died when the drilling platform exploded. Hundreds of miles of coastland could be damaged for years and even decades. The families of those who died and the victims of the environmental damage deserve a full accounting for the human errors that caused the failure at the rig, the death of loved ones and the spoiling of our Gulf coastline," said Matt Angle, director of Lone Star Project.

A French court on Wednesday turned down a U.S. request for the extradition of an Iranian engineer who is accused of violating an export embargo by purchasing U.S. technology for military firms involved in Iran's nuclear program.

The United States says Majid Kakavand, 37, bought sensitive American electronics over the Internet and disguised that their final destination was Iran by routing them through Malaysia, where he had set up a front company.

Kakavand's case and several others have showcased how the United States is doggedly going after people accused of procuring technology or weapons for Iran's military, in many cases seeking help from foreign countries.

Yet the court's ruling shows that such cooperation is not simple. Kakavand's case has dragged on for 14 months since his arrest as officials tried to determine if his business dealings violated French law as well as U.S. law. The court could not hand him over merely for breaking U.S. laws that have no counterpart in France.

The case has sensitive diplomatic implications in three countries — especially in France, which has taken a tough stance on Iran's nuclear ambitions but nonetheless has business and oil interests there. Another source of diplomatic tension is the case of a young French academic in Iran who pleaded innocent to spying charges at a mass trial.