The high court agreed to hear a U.S. Justice Department appeal defending the 1999 animal cruelty law after it was struck down for infringing free-speech protections.

A U.S. appeals court declared the law unconstitutional and overturned the conviction of a Virginia man, Robert Stevens, who sold three videos of pit bulls fighting each other and attacking hogs and wild boars.

His conviction in 2005 was the first in the country under the law. Stevens had been sentenced to 37 months in prison.

By a 10-3 vote, the appeals court rejected the government's argument that, for the first time in more than 25 years, there was a new category of speech not covered by constitutional free-speech protections. Usually, videos and other depictions are protected as free speech, even if they show abhorrent conduct.

"I love you all. May the Lord be with you. Peace. I'm done," Michael Rosales said in his brief, final statement.

Three of his brothers were among the witnesses at the injection. No friends or relatives of his victim were present.

Rosales was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m., eight minutes after the lethal drugs began to flow.

Rosales, 35, confessed to the 1997 slaying of Mary Felder a day after her body was found by her grandson, who routinely checked on her. Rosales told police he was high on cocaine and looking for money when he broke into her home as she slept. She was attacked when she woke up.

Rosales was the 13th Texas prisoner executed this year in the nation's most active capital punishment state.

About 90 minutes before Rosales was scheduled to be taken to the death chamber, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals to delay the lethal injection so Rosales could have more time to assemble a state clemency petition and press claims he may be mentally retarded and therefore ineligible for execution.

Prosecutors argued that deadlines for clemency petitions had passed and that the mental retardation issue already had been reviewed and rejected by the appeals courts, including a federal appeals court which in 2004 had stopped Rosales' then-scheduled execution.

Felder, a grandmotherly presence in the neighborhood where she was known lovingly as "Miss Mary," was pummeled and stabbed with a two-pronged fork and a steak knife. Records show she had 113 wounds, including some from needle-nose pliers.

Gatlin had sued those groups in federal court, saying his rights were violated under the Americans with Disabilities Act. He said he was discriminated against because his first of two doping violations, in 2001, was for taking prescribed medication to treat attention deficit disorder.

Because that penalty was on the books, his second violation, in 2006, triggered a suspension that kept him from defending his 2004 Olympic gold medal at the Beijing Games. In June 2008, the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Gatlin's appeal of his doping ban, and he took the matter to U.S. court.

Both USADA CEO Travis Tygart and USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said Wednesday their groups would not enter into an agreement that would undermine the decision by CAS.

"The parties are actively engaged in discussions regarding a final, formal, out-of-court resolution of this matter, which we believe may soon be reached," Seibel wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

The civil clerk for the federal court in Pensacola said the case is considered closed but is still under the court's jurisdiction until May 10. The court is waiting for the attorneys to file final paperwork stating the case is completely closed under the terms of the agreement.

"The settlement documents are not final," Gatlin's lawyer, Joe Zarzaur, wrote the AP.

U.S. District Court Judge Lacey Collier issued an order in February dismissing the case after Gatlin informed the court there was a settlement.

Anti-abortion groups have won approval in at least 18 states for specialized license plates with the tagline "Choose Life," even as officials in New Jersey and other states fight the requests on various grounds.

The cases raise unresolved questions about whether license plates — or even portions of them — convey government or private speech. To raise revenues, many states let drivers buy specialty plates that recognize everything from military units and colleges to sports teams and nonprofit groups.

"Legislatures can say there might be certain controversies they do not want discussed on license plates," Assistant New Jersey Attorney General Andrea Silkowitz argued Tuesday in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court, referring to an Illinois case.

Silkowitz argued that her state rejected the "Choose Life" plate not to avoid controversy but because the relevant law limits designs to group names and logos, and does not permit slogans.

In 2003, the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission approved a request from the New York-based Children First Foundation, but later rejected the proposed design, which included a small graphic of a sun, two children's faces and the words "Choose Life."

The New Jersey agency also dismissed a later attempt to substitute a new domain name, "NJChoose-Life.Org," for the original "Fund-Adoption.Org" on the plate.

Coleman has 10 days to appeal to the state Supreme Court. Once the petition is filed, it could further delay the seating of Minnesota's second senator for weeks.

"It's time that Minnesota like every other state have two" senators, a jovial Franken said outside his Minneapolis townhouse with his wife Franni at his side. "I would call on Senator Coleman to allow me to get to work for the people of Minnesota as soon as possible."

After a statewide recount and seven-week trial, Franken stands 312 votes ahead. He gained more votes from the election challenge than Coleman, the candidate who brought the legal action.

The state law under which Coleman sued required three judges to determine who got the most votes and is therefore entitled to an election certificate, which is now on hold pending an appeal.

"The overwhelming weight of the evidence indicates that the November 4, 2008, election was conducted fairly, impartially and accurately," the judges wrote. "There is no evidence of a systematic problem of disenfranchisement in the state's election system, including in its absentee-balloting procedures."

Gay marriage supporters are particularly interested in the Iowa Supreme Court's ruling, which they hope will sway the California Supreme Court to overturn the ballot measure voters passed with 52 percent of the vote in November.

But opponents say the Iowa decision should have no bearing on the essential issue before the high court: Whether voters have the right to amend California's constitution at the polls.

California's Proposition 8, similar to laws in 29 other states that ban gay marriage, was the most expensive ballot measure in the nation, with $83 million poured into campaigns on either side.

The measure was introduced largely as a reaction to the California Supreme Court's decision in May to legalize same-sex unions. That ruling was extensively cited by Iowa justices in their decision released Friday.

California's highly anticipated ruling on Proposition 8 could come any time before June 3. Some 18,000 gay and lesbian couples were wed in the 4 1/2 months it was legal to do so in California.

Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, who led the challenge to Proposition 8 in oral arguments before the California court last month, was jubilant Tuesday after Vermont joined Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa as the fourth state to allow gay marriage.