The Courts News Headlines

A US judge has struck down a 1996 federal law barring gays and lesbians from receiving federal benefits, the latest in a series of court decisions pushing the issue of same-sex marriage closer to a Supreme Court reckoning.

The double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment prevents "trying a person again for a crime after a verdict of not guilty."

The chief justice of the Philippine Supreme Court has testified at his impeachment trial that he did not violate any laws when he failed to declare $2.4 million in bank accounts.

A Washington Post reporter says a potential Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage as a fundamental right could help nullify rulings in more than 30 states. Lyle Denniston explains the issue isn't as simple as it seems.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that three families cannot sue a mortgage company for allegedly charging them a loan discount fee without giving them a lower interest rate.

Car manufacturers must prove consumers intentionally thwarted refund offers to escape liability under Wisconsin's lemon law, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday in upholding a $482,000 judgment against Mercedes-Benz USA LLC.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Supreme Court on Thursday made it harder for home buyers to sue mortgage lenders for certain overcharges at settlement, limiting the reach of a provision of a 1974 federal law on real estate settlement procedures. The Supreme Court's unanimous ruling was a defeat for three couples in Louisiana, who …

Ohio's statewide smoking ban is constitutional, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Wednesday.

Israel's Supreme Court has ordered the military to reconsider its ban on Gaza residents studying in the West Bank.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pharmaceutical companies, which were spared some of the more sweeping regulations in President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul, could come under more pressure if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down part or all of the 2010 law. Drugmakers agreed to pay about $100 billion over 10 years in excise …

Rumors were flying around the Capitol this week that the Supreme Court would decide the health care cases on Thursday. They were wrong.

PORT MORESBY (Reuters) - Police in Papua New Guinea stormed the Supreme Court in the capital and arrested the nation's top judge on sedition charges on Thursday, in response to its ruling that the prime minister held power illegally and should step down. On the day nominations closed for June elections, police arrested …

Sri Lanka is setting up new courts to accelerate cases against hundreds of Tamil rebel suspects three years after the end of the island's bloody ethnic war, a government spokesman said Thursday.

Six Virginia men attempting to recreate Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall's historic 1812 river-scouting journey have tackled the toughest part, plunging into the whitewater of the New River Gorge.

An appeal filed in the California Supreme Court contends that two state appellate court justices owned stock in Boeing Co. while they were involved in deciding whether to reverse a multimillion-dollar award against the firm.

WILMINGTON, Del (Reuters) - F. Scott Fitzgerald observed that the rich are different, but that does not mean an heiress can adopt her 65-year-old ex-husband to increase her family's claim to a billion dollar inheritance. Delaware's Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the unconventional adoption did not entitle the man to …

Why do we care about the Commerce Clause in the Constitution? A simple explanation from Bloomberg’s Greg Stohr that appears in Newsweek explains how the clause could settle next month’s Supreme Court decision on health care.

If 12 North Carolina jurors decide that former vice presidential nominee John Edwards is guilty of campaign fraud, it could be widely seen as part of a growing rumble of populist discontent with the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling, which made it easier for interest groups to raise money to influence campaig …

The owners of the Seabrook power plant cannot get tax exemptions on facilities that operate only in emergencies, though it can claim them on systems that run regularly, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday.

Britain's Supreme Court said on Wednesday it will give its judgement in the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's long-running fight against extradition to Sweden on May 30.

As the June deadline nears for the Supreme Court’s decision on health care, two recent reports show how the decision could have a direct effect on President Barack Obama’s election.

The Supreme Court could sidestep its own precedent and strike down the administration’s requirement that health-insurance plans cover birth control. By Michelle Goldberg.

The Supreme Court could sidestep its own precedent and strike down the administration’s requirement that health-insurance plans cover birth control. By Michelle Goldberg.