A professional ethics panel recommended Thursday that former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline have his state law license suspended indefinitely over his conduct during criminal investigations of abortion providers, saying he was "motivated by dishonesty and selfishness."

The three-member panel of the state Board for Discipline of Attorneys said Kline repeatedly misled other officials or allowed subordinates to mislead others, including a Kansas City-area grand jury, to further investigations of abortion providers. The panel also said Kline made a false statement to the office investigating the misconduct claims against him and even attempted to mislead the panel itself as it considered his case.

Kline has strongly disputed the allegations against him and called the complaint politically motivated.

"I upheld my duty, upheld my oath of office and the integrity of my profession," Kline said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. "I will continue to speak and stand for the truth and for those who cannot speak for themselves."

"My 'mistake' was my willingness to investigate politically powerful people and to let that investigation go where the evidence led," he said.

The panel determined some allegations in a complaint against Kline didn't represent violations of the state's rules for attorneys. Those included key criticisms of Kline and his subordinates over their handling of abortion patients' private medical records.

Yet the panel concluded Kline "engaged in a pattern of misconduct" while serving as Kansas attorney general in 2003-07 and as Johnson County district attorney for two years after he lost his bid for re-election to the state office.

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a gay couple who want both of their names to appear on the Louisiana birth certificate of the child they adopted.

The court said Tuesday it won't review a federal appeals court ruling against the adoptive parents. The appeals court ruled that the Louisiana registrar's insistence that only one father's name can go on the certificate does not violate the child's right to equal protection under the law or deny legal recognition of the adoption by both men. The adoption occurred in New York, which allows same-sex couples to adopt.

Louisiana says its birth certificate policy reflects state law prohibiting adoption by unmarried couples, whether heterosexual or gay.

Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan is the new director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

Hogan, a former chief U.S. District Court judge in Washington, will serve a one-year term as the chief administrative officer for the federal court system. He will oversee the federal judiciary's 35,000 employees and its almost $7 billion annual budget.

The Judicial Conference of the United States is the principal policymaking body for the federal court system. As its presiding officer, Chief Justice John Roberts selected Hogan for the position.

Hogan will begin Oct. 17. He plans to resume work as a senior federal judge after his term ends.

The previous director, James Duff, left this summer to become president of the Freedom Forum.