Corliss' lawyer, Mark Jay Heller, says the stunt jumper had already promised to avoid the building unless invited back. An Empire State Building spokeswoman didn't immediately return a call for comment Tuesday evening.

Corliss was the host of a Discovery Channel program called "Stunt Junkies" when he tried to parachute from the 86th-floor observation deck of the 102-story landmark in April 2006. Security guards stopped him.

It's a simple matter of math: Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court has complicated the government's effort to force the tobacco industry to cough up nearly $300 billion.

If confirmed by the Senate as a justice, Kagan would have to sit out high court review of the government's decade-old racketeering lawsuit against cigarette makers. That's because she already has taken sides as solicitor general, signing the Obama administration's Supreme Court brief in the case — an automatic disqualifier.

Kagan is expected to step aside from 11 of the 24 cases the court has so far agreed to hear beginning in October.

Without her, the government and anti-tobacco advocates could find it difficult, if not impossible, to find a fifth vote to allow the government to seek $280 billion of past tobacco profits and $14 billion for a national campaign to curb smoking.

The justices are expected to consider whether to take up the tobacco lawsuit at their private conference on June 24. If they decide to go ahead, they would hear argument in the fall or winter.

Judge Victoria Chaney met with lawyers in closed session regarding new claims of witness tampering, then took the bench to abruptly announce there had been threats to her and to witnesses in radio addresses in Nicaragua.

She said she was notifying the judicial protective unit.

"This appears to be flagrant witness tampering," she said. "I have even more grave concerns about witness safety than I did before."

Chaney didn't reveal the source of the threats, and transcripts of the broadcasts haven't been released. She did say the tampering didn't appear to involve plaintiff's attorney Steve Condie.

The Supreme Court won't hear arguments that Hillary Rodham Clinton is ineligible to be secretary of state.

The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group.

The Constitution says no member of Congress can be appointed to a government post if that job's pay was increased during the lawmaker's current term. Clinton was serving as New York senator when the secretary of state's salary was raised to its current level of $191,300.

Congress lowered the salary so that Clinton could take the position.

Judicial Watch says the congressional fix doesn't change the fact that Clinton's appointment was illegal.

Five partners have left Neal Gerber & Eisenberg to start their own law firm counseling trade associations, charitable groups and other non-profits.

The group is led by Jed Mandel, who chaired Neal Gerber's practice group focused on associations and non-profit organizations. In a statement, Mandel suggested that the group left partly due to client concerns about rates.
"As a boutique firm with a focused concentration, we can be more nimble in anticipating and responding to client needs," Mandel said in a statement. "We can also be even more efficient, from a cost standpoint, in delivering the specific services our clients require."

The lawyers joining him at Chicago Law Partners are Susan Carlson, Timothy French, Kimberly Pendo and Lisa Stegink. Their office is at 333 W. Wacker Drive.

The Supreme Court says it will consider ending a lawsuit that challenges Arizona's tax breaks for donations for private school scholarships.

The court on Monday said it will hear an appeal filed by the state and supporters of the 13-year-old program that provides dollar-for-dollar income tax breaks for donations to school tuition organizations.

Some Arizona taxpayers challenged the program as unconstitutional because religious organizations award most of the scholarships and require children to enroll in religious schools. The suit says the program amounts to an unconstitutional state endorsement of religion.

The federal appeals court in San Francisco last year ruled that the lawsuit could proceed.

In 2002, the Supreme Court upheld school voucher programs. Supporters of the Arizona aid program say it is no different from the Cleveland program upheld in 2002 because in both cases, government does not direct any money to religious schools.

A Minnesota judge ruled Friday that he will keep the suspensions of two Minnesota Vikings on hold if they follow through on their plan to file an appeal in their closely watched fight against the NFL's anti-drug policy.

An attorney for defensive tackles Kevin Williams and Pat Williams said he planned to file that appeal later Friday.

"As a matter of fairness and as a matter of law, we are convinced the NFL cannot and will not be allowed to suspend Kevin and Pat," attorney Peter Ginsberg said.

The NFL first tried to suspend the Williamses, who are not related, in 2008 after they tested positive for a banned diuretic that was in the StarCaps weight-loss supplement they were taking. The ingredient, bumetanide, can mask the presence of steroids. The Williamses were not accused of taking steroids and said they didn't know the diuretic was in the supplement.

The players sued the NFL in state court, saying it violated state labor law. Their four-game suspensions have been on hold while the case has been playing out in state and federal courts. The Williamses were allowed to play and they helped the Vikings reach the NFC title game in January.

Hennepin County District Court Judge Gary Larson ruled earlier this month that the NFL broke state law when it failed to notify the two players of their test results within the mandated three days. He said an NFL official played "a game of 'gotcha'" with them, but he also ruled the NFL could suspend the players because neither was harmed by the notification delay.