More news in the George Zimmerman case. He posted the $1 million bail and was released from jail.

The next discovery round will be available to the media on Monday through the court's media website. There are very few blogs with access to the media site -- and we have to pay the same amount for access as the mainstream media. I don't know the amount yet for this batch (we'll be told Monday), but I expect it to exceed $100.00 and I've agreed to pay whatever it is.

If you'd like to contribute a few dollars to help with the cost, it would be appreciated, and you can do so via Paypal, using either your PayPal account or your credit card. Here is the the paypal link. It's very easy (and takes credit cards even if you don't have a paypal account.) Or you can use snail-mail.

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Scott Peterson was convicted 8 years ago of murdering his pregnant wife Laci. He was sentenced to death and has been incarcerated since then at Death Row on San Quentin.

Today his attorney filed his first appeal with the California Supreme Court. His brief is 423 pages.

TalkLeft has covered his case since 2003. If you want a refresher, all of our 130 posts are accessible here.

Some of the jurors held a press conference after the verdict, discussing among other things, why they ousted their jury foreman. The San Francisco Chronicle had this feature on life on death row at San Quentin in 2004. People Magazine a few weeks ago, in a feature on how several high-profile defendants over the past decades are doing in prison, reported Scott spends a lot of time doing Yoga and working on his appeal.

In 2004, the LA Times did a feature on the cost of the death penalty versus life imprisonment. One estimate was that it costs California taxpayers $90 million more a year to incarcerate death row inmates than those serving life without parole. There were 641 death row inmates in California at the time. There are now 725.[More...]

Via Mark O'Mara and the Zimmerman defense team: They need money and explain why. In order to come up with an additional fee for the bondsman of $85,000 ($100,000 less the $15,000 premium paid for the first bond the bonding company is apparently going to apply to the new bond), they won't have enough left for the costs associated with George Zimmerman's defense (let alone legal fees.)

For those who have given in the past, for those who have thought about giving, for those who feel Mr. Zimmerman was justified in his actions, for those who feel they would do the same if they were in Mr. Zimmerman's shoes, for those that think Mr. Zimmerman has been treated unfairly by the media, for those who feel Mr. Zimmerman has been falsely accused as a racist, for those who feel this case is an affront to their constitutional rights -- now is the time to show your support.

The defense fund is at GZDefenseFund.com.

Doesn't the Court accept real property bonds? I'm surprised there isn't a wealthy Zimmerman supporter in Florida who wouldn't put up real property with $1 million in equity, to avoid needing a bondsman entirely, saving the defense $85,000. The Judge's order doesn't specify it has to be a cash or surety bond. The Judge's approval might be necessary, but it doesn't seem to be prohibited by statute. Other Florida counties/districts take them: [More...]

BTD - I'm really busy today and tomorrow. Maybe something for the weekend.

Open Thread.

Update: You can read the bail order here. My analysis is below.

The Judge has set George Zimmerman's bail at $1 million. He has to post 10%, will not be allowed to open a bank account, and must be on GPS. Order to follow. Feel free to discuss here or at TalkLeft Forums.

The Court on page 5 confirms "the State failed to prove that the Defendant may be held without bond." On page 4, he repeats his finding the evidence is "strong", and says that the June 29 hearing was not an Arthur hearing, so the evidence on self-defense presented by the defense is mostly irrelevant. He lists a number of short-comings in the defense presentation at both the April 20 and June 29 bail hearing. [More...]

President Obama, as is his custom, spent July 4th with military families, at a White House backyard barbecue, but he began the day presiding over a citizenship ceremony for 25 new citizens.

“Just as we remain a nation of laws, we have to remain a nation of immigrants,” Mr. Obama said. “And that’s why, as another step forward, we’re lifting the shadow of deportation from deserving young people who were brought to this country as children. It’s why we still need a Dream Act — to keep talented young people who want to contribute to our society and serve our country.

Immigration is another issue that sets him apart from Mitt Romney. I wonder how that issue polls in the swing-states that everyone says will determine the election in November. It's likely to help him in Colorado and Nevada, but what about the others? [More...]

The Declaration of Independence:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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TalkLeft's webmaster Colin and I have spent the last five days re-constructing the old TalkLeft Duke Lacrosse Forums from 2006 and creating new TalkLeft Forums for the George Zimmerman case.

While I will continue to report here on major Zimmerman case news when it occurs, most of the case discussion from now on will be on the Forums, so that TalkLeft can get back to other topics. For more about the new forums, see our announcement here.

The Duke La Crosse Forums, which had 75,000 comments as of 2009, have been restored through mid-2009 and moved here. (In 2010, when we moved servers, the content after October, 2006 got lost and it took until this weekend to find and restore it. The restoration is for historical purposes only, the Duke Forums are closed.) [More...]

Update: Judge Lester said today he'll rule on bond Thursday. He has started drafting the order.

As he waits for a ruling on bond, which may come today, Mark O'Mara, attorney for George Zimmerman, has posted the exhibits from Friday's hearing on bond at his case website.

At the June 29 Bond Hearing, the defense submitted a number of exhibits into evidence in an effort to demonstrate the weaknesses of the State’s case against George Zimmerman and illustrate the strength of Mr. Zimmerman’s claim of self defense. As evidence submitted by the defense is to be made public record, we feel it is appropriate to provide it here.

The medical records are here.

TalkLeft readers and commenters: Keep reading below, we have an announcement: [More..]

DougJ asks:

If a Republican Congress had [passed] the [ACA] bill, and a Republican president had signed it, how would the vote have gone, in your opinion? I’d especially like to hear from the lawyers.

There would have been no case and no vote. The constitutional argument was manufactured by Randy Barnett and only became respectable because GOP pols signed on to it.

Next question.

Marc Ambinder's new article suggesting Obama will shift his position on the War on Drugs if he gets re-elected doesn't offer much.

Since the United Ststes isn't about to legalize or regulate the illegal narcotics markets, the best thing a president can do may be what Obama winds up doing if he gets re-elected: using the bully pulpit to draw attention to the issue. But he won't do so before November.

The article is more a review of the documentary The House I Live In, which I wrote about in January here than it is about Obama.

I have no expectations Obama will ease up on the War on Drugs. But since we know that Republicans will keep escalating it, as they will our over-reliance on incarceration, the choice in November on this issue is clear: Obama.

The final season of Weeds begins tonight. Here's what I thought would happen when the last season ended.

The Prime Minister of New Zealand has rejected calls for an inquiry into the Kim DotCom raids.

The New York Times reports young voters "are looking past" Obama. But when you read the article, the stats show he still has a lead among them and there's little reason to think they'd vote for Romney.

Exit polls show Pena Nieto has won the Mexico election. We'll see what he does with U.S. drug policy, but it's doubtful much will change. Still, Washington is nervous.

Another open thread, all topics welcome.