The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided to remove the gray wolf from the list in March, saying the species had recovered from near-extermination in the region. That transferred wolf management to Idaho, Wyoming and Montana, which are planning what would be the first public hunts in decades.

The lawsuit filed last week by 12 environmental and animal rights groups seeks to block the hunts, but the three states that filed paperwork with the court Monday and Tuesday hope to fend off the litigation so the hunts can proceed.

Officials from the states said Tuesday that they can be trusted to sustain wolves without federal oversight. The hunts, they said, are needed in part to control wolf packs that have been killing an increasing number of livestock.

"People have supported wolf recovery on the belief that being successful would mean a return of state authority over the animal," said Bob Lane, chief legal counsel for Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks.

At least 39 wolves already have been killed in the region since federal protection was lifted. Those deaths came under more relaxed rules for ranchers responding to livestock conflicts and a shoot-on-site designation for the predator across most of Wyoming.

An estimated 1,500 wolves now roam the three states. Federal biologists say that is much more than needed to sustain the species, but critics say only a larger population could prevent inbreeding and offset the impact of hunting.

Conservatives contend that federal judges have upset the constitutional balance of power among the courts, the Congress and the presidency by making far-reaching decisions, such as one in 2005 that let cities seize people's homes to make way for shopping malls.

"My nominees will understand that there are clear limits to the scope of judicial power, and clear limits to the scope of federal power," McCain said Tuesday in a speech at Wake Forest University.

McCain, the eventual GOP nominee, promised to appoint judges in the mold of Roberts and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, saying they would interpret the law strictly to curb the scope of their rulings. While McCain didn't mention abortion, the far right understands that such nominees would be likely to limit or perhaps overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

Obama, on the other hand, voted against Roberts and Alito. So did Obama's rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, but McCain focused on Obama.

William Earl Lynd was scheduled to die Tuesday evening. He would be the first person to be executed since the court ruled last month that lethal injection is constitutional.

No one has been put to death since September, when the justices agreed to rule on a challenge to lethal injection procedures in Kentucky, similar to practices in roughly three dozen states.

The justices did not comment on their action Tuesday. Lynd was convicted of kidnapping and killing his live-in girlfriend nearly 20 years ago.

Hunt reported that Woodard grabbed him first, and repeated the falsehood to an FBI agent almost a year later. On appeal, Hunt said the evidence was insufficient to convict him of deliberate falsehood and that the 10-month sentence was excessive. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed in an opinion filed Monday.

Microsoft Corp has come to the "end of the story" with Yahoo Inc and will now focus on its own, clear strategy of evolving as a leading provider of Internet services, the president of Microsoft International said.

Jean-Philippe Courtois told Reuters in an interview in London on Tuesday Microsoft had made a compelling offer but had decided to walk away after much discussion because the "stars just didn't align".

"We decided to move on and basically withdraw our offer and continue executing on our strategy to become and evolve as a leading provider of Internet services in the online advertising world, media, social networking etc," he said.

"So that is what the company is going to focus on."

Asked if that was the end of the story with Yahoo, he replied: "Absolutely, that's the end of the story. We are moving on because our strategy is very clear."

Yahoo chief Jerry Yang told Reuters in an interview on Monday he had "mixed feelings" about events at the weekend, when talks broke down, but said Yahoo would still be open and more than willing to listen if Microsoft had anything new to say.

Shares in Yahoo fell 15 percent on Monday and some analysts said the drop was cushioned by investors who were betting Microsoft would eventually come back to the table.

An Albany, N.Y., attorney investigated by the state for allegedly exaggerating his time sheets has stepped down from his post at Girvin & Ferlazzo P.C.

James McCarthy resigned from his "of counsel" position at the Albany law firm on the afternoon of May 2, according to a spokesman with Sawchuk Brown Associates, which is representing the law firm.

Generally, attorneys "of counsel" are part-time workers who are not partners or associates. McCarthy had been with the firm since 1992 and never earned a salary, according to the Sawchuk Brown spokesman.

Earlier on May 2, McCarthy resigned from his job with the state Department of Correctional Services after the state inspector general published a report saying that McCarthy exaggerated his time sheets and was often either at Girvin & Ferlazzo or at Wolferts Roost Country Club in Albany when he was allegedly on the clock.

McCarthy was in charge of preparing and processing paperwork for extraditions and renditions of fugitives or accused criminals. It was a part-time job, meaning he was supposed to work 18.75 hours per week, earning $60,867 a year.

In the resignation letter to the state, McCarthy said he stepped down "so as not to be a distraction" to the state corrections department.

"There are no shortage of opportunities for him. His talent as a lawyer allows him to walk away from those jobs with some confidence," said Karl Sleight, an attorney with Harris Beach PLLC and McCarthy's lawyer.

State investigators studied 12 weeks of McCarthy's work over the course of 2007. During those weeks, McCarthy was paid $6,000 for hours that he never logged, according to the inspector general's report.

On his time sheets, he claimed more than twice the hours that he actually worked, adding 120 hours of work onto the 98 hours he actually logged, the report said.

A White-Plains, N.Y.-based firm with a national reach has added an office in Jacksonville, making it the firm's 36th.

Former Akerman Senterfitt attorneys Richard N. Margulies and Benjamin D. Sharkey joined Jackson Lewis LLC as partners. Both attorneys practice labor and employment law.

"Ben and I were very familiar with Jackson Lewis and marveled at the expansion of their national footprint, especially in the last two years," said Margulies in a news release. "Their national network of offices gives us a real chance of expanding our client base outside of the Jacksonville region."

Jackson Lewis, founded in 1958, has more than 480 attorneys, whose expertise covers over 17 specialized practices of law.