"I'm confident that the Commonwealth Court decision does not affect the authority of the city of Philadelphia to enact a smoking ban," City Solicitor Romulo L. Diaz Jr. said.

Fraudster Schabir Shaik was convicted unfairly and was used as a "dry run" by the State ahead of charges being laid against ex-deputy president Jacob Zuma, his lawyer told the Constitutional Court. "It was thoroughly, completely unfair for one man to be used as a dry run by the State while his co-conspirators were available to stand trial," Shaik’s defence counsel Martin Brassey argued yesterday.

His bone of contention was that Shaik stood trial and is serving a 15-year-jail sentence in the absence of his co-conspirators — former deputy president Zuma and French Arms deal boss Alain Thetard, of Thint Companies. "Can you imagine the quality of the trial if the country’s deputy president Jacob Zuma entered the dock and said I want to tell you that Shaik helped me comrade to comrade and that he was my best friend?" asked Brassey. Shaik is applying for leave to appeal against his convictions on two counts of corruption and one of fraud.

The charges related to payments that Shaik made to former deputy president Jacob Zuma in order to secure political influence.

"None of you will leave this Bench without knowing that what happened to Shaik was unfair," said a visibly emotional Brassey. "It was thoroughly, completely unfair for one man to be used as a dry run by the State when his co-conspirators were available," he said while banging his hands on the podium.

Last Week, US Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) predicted that Gonzales would resign soon as a result of the US Attorney firings, and said over the weekend that he believed the resignation would come before the no-confidence vote. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) has also called for Gonzales' resignation after hearing testimony from former US Deputy Attorney General James Comey regarding an attempt by Gonzales to persuade former Attorney General John Ashcroft to authorize the warrantless domestic surveillance program while he was incapacitated in the hospital, critically ill with pancreatitis. Although the event did not relate to the US Attorney firings, Hagel said that it showed Gonzales lacked the "moral authority to lead" the DOJ.

California will resume sending an estimated 8,000 prisoners to other states next month after an appeals court ruled that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger can do so while he challenges a prior ruling that halted the transfers.

Schwarzenegger praised the decision by the Third District Appellate Court, which was filed late last week and announced Monday, saying it would let the state take a critical step toward reducing prison overcrowding. Critics, however, warned that shipping inmates against their will could be dangerous for guards, prisoners and the public.

For the governor, the decision couldn't have come soon enough. Three judges have scheduled separate hearings next month to consider appointing a panel that could cap the state's inmate population—which could potentially order the release of thousands of prisoners. The state now has 172,000 prisoners living in space designed for fewer than 100,000.

Schwarzenegger issued a statement saying the transfers will help California avoid the court-ordered release of dangerous felons and even increase safety for overburdened guards.

"Out of state transfers will improve the safety of California's institutions for our correctional officers and staff as well as the inmates, and will provide much needed space for rehabilitation programs," Schwarzenegger said. "Transferring of inmates out of state is a critical component of the state's overall plan to relieve overcrowding."

The decision follows the Legislature's approval in April of a $7.8 billion plan also designed to help stave off a federal takeover. The plan calls for heavy state borrowing to pay for adding 53,000 new beds, as well as boosting education, job training and other rehabilitation programs. The plan also authorizes the governor to continue transferring inmates out of state until 2011 to relieve overcrowding.

Lance Corcoran, spokesman for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which sued the state over the transfers and prevailed in a Sacramento County Superior Court in February, said the transfers will expose guards to serious dangers.

He pointed to a riot in an Indiana prison last month as evidence. That riot, involving about 500 inmates, apparently began after prisoners recently transferred from Arizona refused to return to their living quarters.

"Inmates who are forced to leave the jurisdictions in which their families have the opportunity to visit them creates a very volatile situation that's unsafe for the inmates, unsafe for the guards, and unsafe for the public," Corcoran said.

California transferred 353 inmates out of state before Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian ruled in February that the transfers appeared to violate the state's emergency act and a provision in the state constitution.

Those inmates are in Tennessee and Arizona.

According to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, inmates sent in June could go to facilities in Tallahatchie, Mississippi or near Oklahoma City.

Corrections plans to send 300 in June and ramp up shipments of 400 to 500 inmates a month by the fall.

Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, chairman of the Assembly Select Committee on Prison Construction and Operations, said he plans to hold hearings next month on the safety of the transfers.

"I have some concerns about Corrections being able to do this without officer injuries."

But Spitzer said Monday's ruling was great news because out-of-state transfers are the only way to prevent early releases.

"We hold that such a complaint should be dismissed," Justice David Souter wrote for the court majority.

At issue is a class action lawsuit against Bell Atlantic, which contends that lack of competition for local telephone service and "parallel conduct" of the regional Bells were evidence of an antitrust conspiracy.

More than a decade after the court-ordered breakup of AT&T into seven regional Bells, Congress passed a landmark legislation in 1996 designed to foster competition among carriers. It required regional Bells such as Verizon to make their networks available to rivals in exchange for gaining access to the lucrative long-distance voice and data markets.

The case was dismissed by a district court judge, who said the plaintiffs could not sue based only on a "bare-bones" allegation of conspiracy.

But that decision was reversed by a federal appeals court in New York, which ruled the case should not be dismissed unless the charges were implausible.

The U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division has sided with the telephone companies, arguing that "parallel action and inaction" alone was not enough to provide a basis for an antitrust lawsuit.

The Supreme Court's majority opinion agreed, ruling that an allegation of parallel conduct and a bare assertion of conspiracy is not enough. There must be enough facts to suggest an agreement was made, Souter said.