Gun store owners in southwestern border states argued in federal court Tuesday that the Obama administration cannot require them to report when customers buy multiple high-powered rifles.

The Justice Department responded to a lawsuit seeking to block the two-month-old requirement by asking a judge to uphold its legality, arguing the measure could help stop the flow of guns to Mexican drug cartels. It requires sellers in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to give the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives information about purchasers who buy two or more semi-automatic rifles greater than .22 caliber within five days.

Justice Department attorney Daniel Reiss said having a database of multiple purchasers gives ATF agents the power to trace gun sales within minutes, rather than a multi-day effort to trace the weapons back through the manufacturer, to the seller and eventually the buyer. He said two investigations have already been opened in the short time that the new reporting has been required.

Prosecutors are forced to ignore misdemeanor violations to pursue more serious crimes. Judges are delaying trials to cope with layoffs and strained staffing levels. And in some cases, those charged with violent crimes, even murder, are set free because caseloads are too heavy to ensure they receive a speedy trial.

Deep budget cuts to courts, public defenders, district attorney's and attorney general offices are testing the criminal justice system across the country. In the most extreme cases, public defenders are questioning whether their clients are getting a fair shake.

Exact figures on the extent of the cuts are hard to come by, but an American Bar Association report in August found that most states cut court funding 10 percent to 15 percent within the past three years. At least 26 states delayed filling open judgeships, while courts in 14 states were forced to lay off staff, said the report.

The National District Attorneys Association estimates that hundreds of millions of dollars in criminal justice funding and scores of positions have been cut amid the economic downturn, hampering the ability of authorities to investigate and prosecute cases.

A court released the names of the jurors in the Casey Anthony trial for the first time Tuesday since they acquitted the Florida woman of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

The "cooling off" period a judge cited in delaying the release for three months ended Tuesday, and the names of 12 jurors and three alternates were released by the Pinellas County Clerk of Court.

After the trial ended in July, Judge Belvin Perry said he wanted time to pass before the names were made public because some of the jurors had received death threats.

Jurors were selected from Pinellas County, along Florida's Gulf Coast, because of concerns about pretrial publicity in Orlando. The jurors were sequestered until the verdict was announced.

Associated Press reporters knocked on doors Tuesday at homes where the jurors were thought to live.

The husband of alternate juror Elizabeth Jones answered the door at their home. He said she was at work. "I'll leave your card with the pile here," Mike Jones said. "But I don't think she is going to want to talk." He added that since she didn't deliberate, "she doesn't have a whole lot to say."

In most cases, the blinds or drapes were closed and no one answered. Dogs could be heard barking inside some of the homes.

Attorneys for a British prisoner who lost more than 100 pounds during a hunger strike have asked Connecticut's Supreme Court to prevent prison officials from force-feeding him.

The prisoner, William Coleman, stopped eating in September 2007 over claims he was convicted on a fabricated rape charge. Authorities began feeding him by a tube inserted through his nose a year later when he stopped accepting fluids.

Coleman has since begun voluntarily accepting liquid nutrition but he argues that the force-feedings violate his right to free speech.

His lawyers argued before the seven-judge panel on Tuesday that a lower court was wrong to rule last year that the feedings by the state Department of Correction can be permitted.

Assistant Attorney General Lynn Wittenbrink says prison officials are obliged to protect inmates' lives.