A filmmaker who went to Nicaragua to make a documentary said Thursday he became an undercover operative for a Texas law firm that was suing Dole Foods on behalf of purported banana plantation workers who claim they were left sterile by pesticide exposure.

Jason Glaser testified about his transformation into a secret sleuth, saying he told none of the people he interviewed in Latin America about his dual role.

He was called to the witness stand by attorney Steve Condie, who represents six men claiming they were left sterile by pesticide exposure while working on Dole banana plantations from 1970 to 1980.

Dole investigators uncovered evidence that some Nicaraguans suing the company had lied, saying they were sterile when they had fathered children and vowing they worked on banana farms when they did not.

The first trial on the issue ended in 2007 with jurors awarding $2.3 million to Condie's clients. Dole is seeking to overturn the verdict. A second similar case was dismissed after testimony about fraud.

The U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights division will investigate a white Oakland police officer accused of killing an unarmed black man on a crowded train platform, a case reminiscent of the racially charged 1992 police beating of Rodney King.

The federal government said it will step in after officer Johannes Mehserle was convicted Thursday of a lesser involuntary manslaughter charge, touching off angry protests that damaged stores and netted dozens of arrests.

The justice department's civil rights division will conduct the review along with the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco and the FBI, said spokesman Alejandro Miyar, who declined further comment. The investigation will determine whether the case warrants federal prosecution

Federal officials planned to begin their review at the conclusion of the state's case against Mehserle, who still faces sentencing. The next hearing was set for Aug. 6.

The Los Angeles jury's verdict raised concerns of a repeat of the rioting that followed the shooting on New Year's Day in 2009 on an Oakland train platform. The trial was moved to Los Angeles following the riots.

Retirees and other residents from all over the country were among those who donated nearly $500,000 to help Arizona defend its immigration enforcement law, with most chipping in $100 or less, according to an analysis of documents obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

The donations, 88 percent of which came through the Arizona defense fund's website, surged this week after the federal government sued Tuesday to challenge the law. A document from Gov. Jan Brewer's office showed that 7,008 of the 9,057 online contributions submitted by Thursday morning were made in the days following the government's filing.

Website contributions came from all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, including nearly 2,000 from Arizona. Donations ranged from $5 to $2,000, with the vast majority between $10 and $100.

The AP examined about a quarter of the fund's total contributions, and found only two that came from businesses.

The willingness of thousands of individual Americans to contribute to the Arizona fund illustrates broad concern and frustration over border security and illegal immigration. The state's legislation has since renewed calls for broader immigration changes.

The Arizona law includes a requirement that police enforcing another law generally must investigate the immigration status of people if there is "reasonable suspicion" to believe the people are in the United States illegally.

American Bar Association witnesses will be lead-off witnesses today as the Senate Judiciary Committee resumes its confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.  

Kim Askew, chair of the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, and William J. Kayatta Jr., a committee member from Maine, are scheduled to testify at 4 p.m. ET about how and why the ABA reached its evaluation that Kagan is “well qualified” to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States, giving her the highest possible rating the committee can give.

Written copies of their testimony will be posted on the ABA website by 4 p.m. ET at http://www.abanet.org/scfedjud/statements.html 

The hearing is being televised, and the Senate Judiciary Committee is webcasting the testimony from its site, http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=4679

Also, below is a host of ABA produced materials to support your coverage. The ABA Standing Committee works independently of the association and has been evaluating nominees since the Eisenhower Administration. These materials provide a look behind the scenes at what it takes to issue an ABA SCOTUS rating. 

All digital resources below are available for embedding, linking use, social network sharing and website/blog reproduction purposes in part or in their entirety.

Based on the excellence she has displayed during a long career, if not her evasiveness during her hearings, she is well qualified for the court.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration has filed a new lawsuit to force the state controller to pay California government workers the federal minimum wage.

The Department of Personnel Administration filed the lawsuit Tuesday against Controller John Chiang in Sacramento County Superior Court.

The suit seeks a restraining order that would force Chiang to pay state employees $7.25 an hour, rather than their full salaries.

Last week, an appellate court ruled Schwarzenegger had the authority to order the minimum wage because the state has not passed a budget for the current fiscal year. His order would cover about 200,000 workers.

The controller said he doesn't have to follow the order because the state's computer payroll system can't handle the change. A telephone message left for the controller was not immediately returned.

A Montgomery law firm has filed a lawsuit against BP, Halliburton and Cameron International for a commercial landowner in Baldwin County.

Beasley Allen Crow Methvin Portis and Miles PC filed the suit on behalf of James E. Fisher and Kate C. Fisher, who own commercially zoned land in Baldwin County, according to a press release.

According to Beasley Allen, the Fishers have incurred damages to their property, earning capacity, business income and use of natural resources due to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

“Falling real estate values are just one more consequence of this environmental disaster,” said Rhon Jones, head of Beasley Allen’s Environmental Law section. “People who have purchased property as an investment, or who are simply trying to sell their home will be negatively affected by this oil spill. Even property that is not Gulf-front is impacted by the perception that the entire Gulf Coast has been ruined.”

Beasley Allen has filed several lawsuits in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. They filed a class action lawsuit in April to recoup losses for individuals and business owners on the Gulf Coast. They also filed a lawsuit in June on behalf of scuba company Adventure Sports II and cases for a commercial fisherman and fishing deckhand who work in the Gulf’s waters.

BP has set up a $20 billion compensation fund to cover claims from individuals and businesses impacted by the oil spill that has leaked oil into the Gulf of Mexico and reached the shoreline.

A federal appeals court is set to hear the Justice Department's bid to delay a judge's decision to overturn a six-month deepwater drilling moratorium.

A three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans is scheduled to hear arguments Thursday from lawyers on both sides of a lawsuit filed by companies that oppose the Obama administration's temporary drilling ban.

The Interior Department says it halted new permits for deepwater projects and suspended drilling on 33 exploratory wells to protect the Gulf of Mexico from another environmental disaster while it studies the risks of deepwater drilling.

The government is asking the 5th Circuit panel for an order that would keep the moratorium in place while they appeal last month's ruling.