The Courts News Headlines

May 17 On this day. 1954: Arguably the 20th century's most important Supreme Court ruling: Brown v. Board of Education, which ended school segregation. But Brown v. Board of Education was not endorsed by President Eisenhower; he also did not condemn segregation as morally wrong. Eisenhower feared the ruling would spark …

May 17 marks a landmark day in the Supreme Court’s history: A unanimous court ended a policy of segregation in public facilities it had endorsed nearly 58 years before.

A few weeks ago, JPMorgan Chase filed a curious affidavit with the Supreme Court of Manhattan, requesting that seven clauses outlining a graduate-student fund it oversees at Columbia University be struck down, because the scholarship doesn't exist anymore. While most of the clauses in question are dry and very procedural, …

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The lead defense attorney in O.J. Simpson's armed robbery trial had a conflict of interest because he could have been a witness in the case, a lawyer who worked on Simpson's unsuccessful appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court testified Thursday.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Brown v. Board of Education National Historic site will display a black doll used in a series of famous race studies to mark the 59th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ended legal segregation in public schools.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Jane Kelly will become a federal appeals court judge Friday with an unusual background that supporters say makes her a perfect fit for the job and a potential U.S. Supreme Court candidate someday.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The three-decade fight for freedom by a Montana man convicted of the 1979 slaying of a teenage classmate entered what could be its final stage this week, when the Montana Supreme Court ordered him back to prison and took away his brief taste of normal life.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has won the right to demand the United States hand over all the evidence in its online piracy case against the internet entrepreneur, New Zealand's Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. The ruling by New Zealand's highest court is a minor victory for Dotcom, a resident of …

By Lawrence Hurley and Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With a barrage of legal briefs, a coalition of business groups and Republican-leaning states are taking their fight against Obama administration climate change regulations to the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other industry groups, along …

The Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of Monsanto’s soybean patent is a victory for the protection of intellectual property.        

O.J. Simpson’s current appeal for a new trial has the potential to shed light on an issue that affects countless lesser-known defendants in the US court system: bad lawyering. Along the way, he might get a helping hand from the US Supreme Court.

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador's Supreme Court heard opening arguments Wednesday in a landmark abortion case in which a woman suffering from kidney failure and lupus has not been allowed to terminate a pregnancy in which the fetus is given no chance of surviving.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Barry Beach is back in custody after surrendering to authorities in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that could send him back to prison for the rest of his life for the 1979 slaying of a teenager

If you asked me to define "processed food" a few weeks ago, I would have invoked Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart's response when asked to define hard-core pornography: "I know it when I see it." Moreover, I generally considered it something that "other people" consumed. (Not terribly unlike how I regard hard-core pornography, …

Justices on the Washington Supreme Court are considering whether the state should have to pay a $100 million verdict awarded to some 22,000 home care workers who were shortchanged by a rule that was in ...

In the past two weeks the number of states recognizing same-sex marriages has risen from nine to 12, with new marriage bills signed into law in Rhode Island, Delaware, and – on Tuesday – in Minnesota.

Shares of diagnostic test maker Myriad Genetics Inc. rose to a three-year high Tuesday, as analysts said actions by the Supreme Court and actress Angelina Jolie could both help the company. THE SPARK: ...

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday evening sought laughs rather than legal clarity as they weighed a tragic case concerning a despotic Roman general and his overbearing mother. The three justices were taking part in a mock trial at Washington's Shakespeare Theatre based on William …

The Supreme Court said Monday that an Indiana farmer violated Monsanto Co.'s patents on soybean seeds resistant to its weed-killer by growing the beans without buying new seeds from the corporation. The ...

It’s one thing to lose a Supreme Court case; another to lose it by virtue of a unanimous decision. But to lose unanimously on the basis of your own understanding of the legal issue at hand is another thing altogether—and that’s what happened today to Victor “Hugh” Bowman, the Indiana soybean farmer who was sued for patent …

Anyone holding out hope that the Supreme Court is going to issue a sweeping decision to legalize gay marriage inroughout all 50 states has a new reason to temper their expectations. Not even the court's most liberal member appears to be all that eager to thrust the institution into another cultural fight. It's not so much …

The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously ruled that an Indiana farmer violated agribusiness giant Monsanto's patent on a genetically modified soybean when he reused seeds from the plants without paying the company.The ruling is a major victory for Monsanto and other biotech companies, as the court affirmed that their patents …

PATENT VIOLATION: The Supreme Court said Monday that an Indiana farmer violated Monsanto Co.'s patents on soybean seeds resistant to its weed-killer. The farmer had been growing the beans without buying ...