An embattled Texas judge who closed her court before a death-row inmate could file his final appeal should not lose her job or receive any further punishment beyond the "public humiliation" she has faced, a judge presiding over her ethics trial said in a report released Wednesday.

Judge Sharon Keller still faces five judicial misconduct charges for refusing to keep her court open past 5 p.m., and the state commission that will ultimately decide Keller's fate is not bound by the recommendations in Wednesday's report.

Former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said he’s joining the New York-based law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

Morgenthau, 90, left office last month after 34 years as New York City’s top prosecutor. At Wachtell, the firm known for advising Wall Street clients on merger advice, he will be of counsel, a non-partner position.

“I have long admired Wachtell Lipton for not only its outstanding reputation as a law firm, but also for its devotion to and support for advancing the law and the legal profession, education and service to New York and the nation,” Morgenthau said in a statement.

Morgenthau began his prosecutorial career when President John F. Kennedy appointed him U.S. Attorney in 1961. As district attorney he prosecuted money-laundering, securities-fraud and tax-evasion cases, including one against former Tyco International Ltd.’s former chief L. Dennis Kozlowski, who was convicted in 2005 of looting the company.

Wachtell has its sole office in New York. It advised Bank of America Corp. in its purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. in its purchase of Bear Stearns Cos. and Wells Fargo & Co. in its acquisition of Wachovia Corp. A co- founder, Martin Lipton, created the “poison-pill” takeover defense.

A judge is expected to rule how much ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick should be paying each month toward his $1 million court-ordered restitution to the city of Detroit.

Kilpatrick is required to appear in the afternoon hearing before Wayne County Circuit Court Judge David Groner.

Kilpatrick says he has lowered his restitution payments from $6,000 to $3,000 because his pay as a salesman for Dallas-based Covisint has decreased.

Prosecutors say he has been untruthful about his finances and want Groner to order Kilpatrick to pay a $225,000 lump sum. They also accuse him of violating his probation.

Groner has said he won't address the probation violation issue, which could land Kilpatrick back in jail where he spent 99 days as part of pleas in two criminal cases.

A federal court order to release 40,000 inmates to relieve prison crowding in California was delayed for up to a year on Tuesday, pending a final review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Justices turned down a challenge by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration to the court order that forces the state to reduce its prison population. The action opens the door for another appeal by the state.

A three-judge federal panel last summer ordered the state Department of Corrections to reduce the prison population by about 40,000 inmates over two years in order to provide inmates with a constitutional level of health care. At issue for the Schwarzenegger administration is whether the judicial panel exceeded its authority in ordering the release of inmates.

"The U.S. Supreme Court's decision today is a win for the state because it guarantees there will be no early release of prisoners while the three-judge panel's latest order is appealed," said Andrea Hoch, the governor's legal affairs secretary.

A federal judge has opted not to impose a finding of prosecutorial misconduct on Justice Department lawyers for their handling of a case against Blackwater security guards involved in a 2007 shooting in Baghdad.

In Federal District Court here last month, Judge Ricardo M. Urbina threw out all charges against the five involved in the shootings, which left 17 Iraqis dead and about 20 wounded.

In that decision, Judge Urbina wrote that in a “reckless violation of the defendants’ constitutional rights,” investigators, prosecutors and government witnesses had inappropriately relied on statements the guards had been compelled to make in debriefings by the State Department shortly after the shootings. The State Department had hired the guards to protect its officials.

The high court's decision to dismiss the appeals for lack of jurisdiction occurred as part of a long-running legal battle over California's 33 adult prisons and their often-criticized medical care for inmates.

A panel of three federal judges in August ordered the state's prison population be reduced in stages over two years to relieve the overcrowding that has caused inadequate medical and mental health care.

California's prisons have been filled to nearly twice their designed capacity of 80,000, according to the ruling.

The Supreme Court noted the state has come up with a plan to comply with the lower court's order but the three-judge panel earlier this month put it on hold pending the outcome of the appeals to the high court. With the appeals dismissed, the plan can go forward.

Improving conditions in the nation's largest state prison system has become a major legal, political and budget issue in view of California's budget crisis and high unemployment.