Morning Docket 04.20.09

Ed. Note: Sorry for the delay. We’re having technical issues this morning. Please bear with us! (And, no, “technical” does not translate to “hungover.”)

* The Iranian court will consider the appeal of the Iranian-American journalist who was sentenced to eight years in prison for “spying on Iran for Washington.” [The New York Times]

* The Supreme Court will take up a case in Arizona “that could limit a federal court’s power to tell states to spend more money to educate students who aren’t proficient in English.” [The Associated Press]

* U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway from Missouri is leaving her job to start a law firm with former U.S. attorney general and Missouri governor John D. Ashcroft. Ashcroft’s apparent lack of ambition could pose a problem for the new firm. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

* Texas financier R. Allen Stanford, orchestrator of that other Ponzi scheme, has asked a judge to unlock $10 million in frozen assets so he can hire lawyers to save him from his inevitable demise. “It’s not fair,” said Houston criminal defense attorney Dick Deguerin, who is defending Stanford on the “hope” that he will have enough money to pay him. “We’re going to need lawyers all over the world.” Keep hoping, Deguerin–and dreaming of money. [Bloomberg]

* A South Korean blogger, Park Dae-sung, a.k.a. Minerva, a.k.a. “the prophet of doom,” who predicted sharp falls in the stock market and the collapse of Lehman brothers was acquitted Monday of spreading false information…because he was obviously right. [Reuters]

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