In a 5-4 decision Tuesday, the court says environmental groups cannot pursue a lawsuit against forest regulations that limit public input when environmental impact on a U.S. Forest Service project is expected to be small.

The case concerned a proposal to salvage timber from 238 acres in the Sequoia National Forest in California. A fire in the summer of 2002 burned 150,000 acres. Even though the Forest Service withdrew the proposal, the federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld a nationwide injunction against the regulations.

The government argued that a challenge to the regulations must be tied to a specific project and the court agreed in an opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia.

The case is Summers v. Earth Island Institute, 07-463.

The emerald is one of the largest ever found and a judge conceded Tuesday it will take awhile to sort out all of the competing interests. The lawyer for one of the purported owners suggested outside court the gem may be a curse for his client. And the man who first reported it stolen said he was giving up his claims because "I have been threatened."

Larry Biegler, who refused to elaborate on the threats, told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge John A. Kronstadt he was bowing out of the case. But it was his call to sheriff's deputies reporting that the emerald had been stolen that led to a multi-state caper in which two deputies trucked the mammoth object from Las Vegas.

Another of the claimants, Todd Armstrong of Eagle, Idaho, said outside court that he moved the emerald to Las Vegas after a gem dealer gave it to him as collateral for a shipment of diamonds he paid for but never received. He was trying to sell it when the law arrived.

The parties told the judge that the huge object is worth about $400 million. Lawyers said that museums including the Smithsonian and the Getty have expressed interest in obtaining it for their collections. Its value is as an art object and it can't be broken down to make jewelry, they said.

The emerald was dug up in Brazil in 2001 and became known as the Bahia Emerald. Its first owner was a Brazilian gem trader who made the first sale of it. But after that, its route became muddled. At one point, it wound up in a warehouse in New Orleans that was flooded during Hurricane Katrina.

The justices are expected to issue at least one ruling Tuesday morning, then consider a West Virginia case about when elected judges should step aside from cases that involve their campaign supporters.

At the heart of the dispute is $3 million that coal company executive Don Blankenship spent to help elect a state Supreme Court justice. Later, that justice — Brent Benjamin — sided with the coal company in a multimillion-dollar dispute with another mining firm.

The losing party, Harman Mining Corp., argues that Benjamin's refusal to step aside in the 3-2 decision violated the company's constitutional right to due process.

In an order Monday, the justices ended Marcus Borden's fight against the East Brunswick, N.J., school district's policy that forbids him and other staff members from joining in student-led prayer. The federal appeals court in Philadelphia sided with the district.

The high court declined to weigh in on whether Borden's desire to bow his head silently and "take a knee" with his football players violates the Constitution's prohibition on government endorsement of religion. Borden says such gestures are secular.

The school district says Borden, the East Brunswick coach since 1983, had a long history of leading prayers before he was ordered to stop after complaints from some parents. The district says the issue is whether its policy is constitutional, not Borden's actions.

Messages left for Borden and lawyer Ronald Riccio were not immediately returned Monday.

"Coaches are not supposed to be promoting religion; that's up to students and parents and pastors," said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which represented the school district.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia agreed that the school district policy is constitutional, but the judges differed on what exactly the coach should do if his team prays.

The Supreme Court ended school-sponsored prayer in 1962 when it said directing that a prayer be said at the beginning of each school day was a violation of the First Amendment. The justices reaffirmed the decision in 2000 by saying a Texas school district was giving the impression of prayer sponsorship by letting students use loudspeakers under the direction of a faculty member for prayers before sports events.

The justices offer no comment on their action Monday, rejecting appeals in three separate cases, in favor of Dow Chemical, Monsanto and other companies that made Agent Orange and other herbicides used by the military in Vietnam.

Agent Orange has been linked to cancer, diabetes and birth defects among Vietnamese soldiers and civilians and American veterans.

The American plaintiffs blame their cancer on exposure to Agent Orange during the military service in Vietnam. The Vietnamese said the U.S.' sustained program to prevent the enemy from using vegetation for cover and sustenance caused miscarriages, birth defects, breast cancer, ovarian tumors, lung cancer, Hodgkin's disease and prostate tumors.

All three cases had been dismissed by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.

The appeals court said that lawsuit brought by the Vietnamese plaintiffs could not go forward because Agent Orange was used to protect U.S. troops against ambush and not as a weapon of war against human populations.

The other two suits were filed by U.S. veterans who got sick too late to claim a piece of the $180 million settlement with makers of the chemical in 1984. In 2006, the Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4 on whether those lawsuits could proceed.

Spansion Inc., the U.S. maker of memory chips for mobile phones, filed for bankruptcy protection to restructure its debt after failing to make an interest payment on $266 million of bonds.


The company listed debt of $2.4 billion and assets of $3.8 billion as of the end of the third quarter of 2008 in Chapter 11 documents filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.

Spansion announced plans to cut 35 percent of its workforce on Feb. 23, after missing a second payment deadline on the notes. The Sunnyvale, California-based company hasn’t made a profit since it was spun off by Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in 2005, and has been hurt by slackening demand for semiconductors.

Spansion continues to explore strategic opportunities while attempting to restructure debt and focusing on operations with profit-generating potential, the company said yesterday.

“Chapter 11 provides the most effective means for Spansion to preserve its business,” Chief Executive Officer John Kispert said in a statement. Four subsidiaries also sought protection.

The shares slumped 60 percent to 2 cents in Nasdaq Stock Market trading at 9:56 a.m. New York time. They have fallen 99 percent since reaching a 52-week high of $3.70 in May.

The 65 largest unsecured consolidated creditors are owed $951.1 million, court papers show.

In an order Monday, the justices are ending Marcus Borden's fight against the East Brunswick, N.J., school district's policy that forbids him and other staff members from joining in student-led prayer. The federal appeals court in Philadelphia sided with the district.

The high court declined to weigh in on whether Borden's desire to bow his head silently and "take a knee" with his football players violates the Constitution's prohibition on government endorsement of religion. Borden says such gestures are secular.

The school district says Borden, the East Brunswick coach since 1983, had a long history of leading prayers before he was ordered to stop. The district says the issue is whether its policy is constitutional, not Borden's actions.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia agreed that the school district policy is constitutional, but the judges differed on what exactly the coach should do when his team prays.

The case is Borden v. School District of the Township of East Brunswick, 08-482.