"When Justice Sotomayor put her hand on that Bible and took that oath ... we came yet another step to the more perfect union that we all seek," Obama told a White House reception for Sotomayor.

The ceremony was packed with family and friends of Sotomayor, who has become the first Hispanic and third woman on the high court bench. Lawmakers, issue advocates, Hispanic community leaders and others who helped shepherd her confirmation through the Senate came to watch as she appeared with the president for remarks.

"While this is Justice Sotomayor's achievement, the result of her ability and determination," Obama said, "this moment is not just about her. It's about every child who will grow up thinking to him- or herself, `If Sonia Sotomayor can make it, then maybe I can too.' "

Following Obama at the lectern, Sotomayor spoke emotionally about wending her way from a modest background to the highest court in the land. She grew up in public housing projects in South Bronx, N.Y., before getting an Ivy League education and starting her legal career.

"It is our nation's faith in a more perfect union that allows a Puerto Rican girl from the Bronx to stand here now," she said, a line that earned her huge applause and a standing ovation from the audience.

Judge William Q. Hayes of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California rejected plaintiff Christopher Lorenzo's arguments in his amended complaint, standing by his previous ruling that Lorenzo lacked standing on the antitrust allegations.

The court also manintained that Lorenzo's claims did not give him the right to be compensated by Qualcomm under California's unfair competition law.

Three of the country's largest animal welfare groups on Monday accused the trustees of Leona Helmsley's estate of a "scheme to deprive dog welfare charities" of their stake in the real estate baroness' fortune. They filed a petition in Manhattan Surrogate Court arguing that Helmsley, who died in 2007, specified in her will that her multibillion-dollar estate should be used to help dogs, and the trustees disregarded those wishes.

The groups — the Humane Society of the United States, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Maddie's Fund — want the court to throw out a judge's February decision that gave the trustees for the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust sole authority to determine which charities would benefit from her estate.

In April, the trustees gave away $136 million to hospitals, foundations and the homeless. They gave $1 million to animal charities, including $100,000 to the ASPCA and groups that train guide dogs for the blind.

The trust, in a statement posted on its Web site, said Helmsley never wanted her fortune just to go to dogs.

"Did Leona Helmsley intend for this charitable trust to focus on the care and help of dogs, rather than people? Absolutely not," the statement said. "Have the trustees of this vast fortune acted improperly and ignored Mrs. Helmsley's instructions? Again, absolutely not."

The hotel heiress, whose fortune had been estimated at $5 billion to $8 billion after her death at age 87, also named her dog as a beneficiary in her will, leaving a $12 million trust fund for the little white Maltese. But a judge whittled that amount down to $2 million.

Court documents unsealed this week show that Steven Topazio, DiMasi's former law associate, testified that he consulted DiMasi's lawyer, Thomas Kiley, as soon as questions surfaced about Topazio's relationship with the software company whose multimillion dollar state contracts are at the center of the case against the former speaker.

Prosecutors say Topazio was the conduit for monthly $4,000 payments from the company to DiMasi. Topazio is now a government witness.

The Boston Globe reports that prosecutors argue that Kiley has a conflict of interest by representing "two adversely positioned clients."

A Miami federal judge on Friday set a change of plea hearing for Tuesday for "Don" Diego Montoya, the alleged chief of Colombia's North Valley Cartel. Montoya was extradited to face U.S. charges in December and initially pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors say in court papers that Montoya will plead guilty to charges from two separate cases: one in Miami and one in Washington, D.C. Both accuse Montoya of drug racketeering and conspiracy charges.

Montoya's attorney did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

Three men are being retried for allegedly playing minor roles in Politkovskaya's 2006 slaying after the Supreme Court overturned their acquittal in June.

Politkovskaya's family had hoped the retrial, which started Wednesday, would spur a new inquiry to discover the masterminds of the killing. Prosecutors had backed the family's request for a new investigation.

But Friday's ruling dashed those hopes, and underpinned suspicion of official obstruction in the high-profile case.

Politkovskaya's daughter, Vera, said Friday's decision lessened the family's faith in the fairness of the proceedings.