At Arguments, Supreme Court Takes Halting Steps Into Gay Marriage Issue
At the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, the moment had finally arrived. After four years of litigation in the lower courts, the Supreme Court was hearing a challenge to California's ban on same-sex...
View ArticleDOMA Challenge Tests Federal Definition Of Marriage
After weeks and months of public debate and speculation about the legal fate of same-sex marriage, the second round of arguments takes place at the U.S.
View ArticleJustice Kennedy May Be Deciding Vote In Defense Of Marriage Act Case
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in a case challenging whether the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) means the federal government can deny marriage benefits to same sex couples in...
View ArticleJustices Cast Doubt On Federal Defense Of Marriage Act
In the wake of the Supreme Court arguments Wednesday on the Defense of Marriage Act, same-sex marriage supporters have reason to be optimistic. Known as DOMA, the law bars federal benefits for legally...
View ArticleSupreme Court Notes: Bugs, Pumps And Stolen Credit Card Numbers
NPR's Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg sends us some odds and ends from a very momentous week in the Supreme Court.Hear all that sneezing, wheezing, coughing, and nose blowing during this...
View ArticleSupreme Court Asks: Can Human Genes Be Patented?
Same-sex marriage got huge headlines at the Supreme Court last month, but in the world of science and medicine, the case being argued on Monday is far more important. The lawsuit deals with a truly...
View ArticleAdoption Case Brings Rare Family Law Dispute To High Court
Take the usual agony of an adoption dispute. Add in the disgraceful U.S. history of ripping Indian children from their Native American families. Mix in a dose of initial fatherly abandonment. And there...
View ArticleSupreme Court Backs Warrants For Blood Tests In DUI Cases
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that police must generally obtain a warrant before subjecting a drunken-driving suspect to a blood test. The vote was 8-to-1, with Justice Clarence Thomas the lone...
View ArticleJustices Say U.S. Improperly Deported Man Over Marijuana
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a longtime legal resident of the United States was improperly deported for possession of a small amount of marijuana. By a 7-2 vote, the justices said that it...
View Article'Show Boat' Steams On, Eternally American
It's been more than eight decades since Show Boat -- the seminal masterpiece of the American musical theater — premiered on a stage in Washington, D.C. Now the sprawling classic is back, in a lush...
View ArticleSupreme Court Sides With Monsanto In Seed Patent Case
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that when farmers use patented seed for more than one planting in violation of their licensing agreements, they are liable for damages.Billed as David...
View ArticleJustice Sotomayor Takes Swing At Famed Baseball Case
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's wicked, waggish sense of humor — and knowledge of baseball — were on full display Wednesday, when she presided over a re-enactment of Flood v. Kuhn, the 1972...
View ArticleSrinivasan's Confirmation First For D.C. Circuit In 7 Years
For the first time in seven years, the U.S. Senate has confirmed a judge to sit on the important federal appeals court for the District of Columbia. The Senate unanimously confirmed Deputy Solicitor...
View ArticleSupreme Court Declines Review Of Planned Parenthood Case
In the first Planned Parenthood defunding case to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, the justices have refused to disturb a lower court decision that barred Indiana from stripping Medicaid payments to the...
View ArticleLaw Enforcement Celebrates Supreme Court's DNA Ruling
A divided Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Monday that it's constitutional for police to take DNA swabs from suspects who are arrested but not yet convicted of a crime. The court compared such DNA sampling to...
View ArticleFormer Mass. Chief Justice On Life, Liberty And Gay Marriage
The U.S. Supreme Court, on the brink of issuing two same-sex-marriage decisions, is facing a question that Margaret Marshall had to resolve for her state a decade ago, as chief justice of the...
View ArticleWhy The FISA Court Is Not What It Used To Be
The furor over recently exposed government surveillance programs has posed an abundance of political challenges for both President Obama and Congress. Relatively unmentioned in all of this, however, is...
View ArticleSupreme Court Frees 9 States From Oversight Of Voting Law Changes
Transcript RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.DAVID GREENE, HOST: And I'm David Greene. Good morning.The U.S. Supreme Court usually saves its biggest...
View ArticleJudge Who Struck Down Proposition 8 Knew Case Would Go Far
When the Supreme Court issued its decision clearing the way for same-sex marriages to resume in California, former District Judge Vaughn Walker had worked up a sweat."I was at the gym on the treadmill,...
View ArticleWhose Term Was It? A Look Back At The Supreme Court
It would not be an exaggeration to call the recently completed Supreme Court term a lollapalooza. Day-by-day on the last week of the court term, the justices handed down one legal thunderbolt after...
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