A divided federal appeals court on Friday struck down Michigan's controversial ban on consideration of race and gender in college admissions.
Former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, an Arizona native, is urging "civility and rationale dialogue" in the wake of the Tucson shooting tragedy.
A Nevada group supporting a change in how judges in the state are selected has apologized for political "robocalls" featuring retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, which were mistakenly sent out in the middle of the night.
The debate over Elena Kagan's confirmation for the Supreme Court is likely to hinge on the question of whether she is a centrist or a leftist.
Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan faced senators' questions today and used a dose of humor. CNN's Dana Bash reports.
When the nation's capital was turned upside down Friday with the announcement that Justice John Paul Stevens was retiring after 40 years on the federal bench, he was miles away from the political circus -- literally and figuratively.
If history is any guide, the White House could announce its nominee to replace retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens within days.
Two state supreme court justices from neighboring states find themselves in disagreement these days -- not over a legal issue, but over how they should have gotten their jobs.
A century ago, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes described Supreme Court deliberations among his colleagues as "nine scorpions in a bottle," fiercely protective of their own agendas and power bases.
Sixteen people ranging from politicians to athletes receive the medal of honor from President Obama.
A pioneer, a preacher, an activist and an athlete were among 16 people who President Obama honored Wednesday with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
Republican Sen. Tom Coburn says Judge Sonia Sotomayor may have "splainin'" to do under a hypothetical gun case.
Sonia Sotomayor strongly asserted her adherence to the law while dodging questions about her personal beliefs on the third day of her Supreme Court confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
If Sonia Sotomayor fulfills her long-held dream to sit on the Supreme Court, she would have the prestige of joining the highest court in the land, lifetime job security and a public forum as the first Hispanic on that bench.
A childhood friend takes a walk through the Bronx neighborhood where Supreme Court Justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor grew up.
As Judge Sonia Sotomayor prepares to become the next U.S. Supreme Court justice, her lifetime of diligence and speed reading will now be crucial to help her navigate the next phase of her nomination.
CNN's Randi Kaye talks with Lynn Sweet of PoliticsDaily.com about President Obama's Supreme Court pick.
Hispanic groups want history to be made with a Latino or Latina justice when President Obama makes his selection to fill the upcoming Supreme Court vacancy.
The Constitution gives the president the exclusive power to nominate members of the Supreme Court. But it does not guarantee the political process will run smoothly for him or his nominee.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was released Friday from a New York hospital, eight days after undergoing surgery for pancreatic cancer.
Isaac Lidsky arrives in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, stops suddenly and, upon hearing a voice, extends his hand in greeting almost instinctively.
Isaac Lidsky is set to become the first legally blind law clerk in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor calls for increased funding for Alzheimer's research.
Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor knows the daily balancing
act that Alzheimer's caregivers face: When her husband could no
longer stay home alone, she had to take him to work with her at the
Supreme Court
Greater efforts must be taken to combat the growing trend of violence against women and end the "climate of perpetual fear" they face, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday.
The following profiles feature prominent women in the fields of politics, law, sports, science and business.
Thirty-five years since Roe v. Wade, and little, it seems, has changed.
Roe v. Wade turns 35, but the debate is still hot. CNN's Jill Dougherty examines the issue's role in the 2008 election.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks about how common it is for Alzheimer's patients to find new love.
When it came to abortion rights, even at the start of the 1990s, the Rehnquist Court was in fact the O'Connor Court.
How you frame an issue means everything in a political debate. Take Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling on abortion.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a law that banned a type of late-term abortion, a ruling that could portend enormous social, legal and political implications for the divisive issue.
Cookies mailed to the U.S. Supreme Court last year contained enough rat poison to kill all nine justices, retired member Sandra Day O'Connor said at a conference last week.
The morning after the closely fought midterm elections, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear its first major abortion case in six years.
Ron Branson's crusade is launched daily from his garage in a nondescript house in California's San Fernando Valley.
Sandra Day O'Connor noticed a disturbing development as her last day on the Supreme Court neared. Over her final years on the bench, more people were talking about "activist judges," an issue she said that appeared to be "erupting all over the country."
With the Supreme Court beginning a new term, legal observers say the man to watch is Justice Anthony Kennedy, who holds the swing vote.
In a pair of cases that could reignite disputes over race and public education, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide what role affirmative action should play in assigning students to competitive spots in elementary and secondary schools.
Click here to access the related End-of-the-Year News Quiz.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has acknowledged a specific death threat against her and her retired colleague Sandra Day O'Connor, blaming lawmakers for fueling "the irrational fringe."
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that universities that accept federal money must allow military recruiters on campus, even if they oppose the Pentagon's policy barring people who are openly homosexual from serving.
The Supreme Court wasted little time jumping back into the contentious abortion issue, agreeing Tuesday to review the constitutionality of a federal law banning a controversial late-term procedure critics call "partial birth" abortion.
Sandra Day O'Connor may be officially retired from the Supreme Court, but do not expect her to ride off into the Arizona sunset. The former justice is keeping a hectic schedule.
A quiet milestone passed on Wednesday as Justice Sandra Day O'Connor heard what is likely her final oral argument, after nearly a quarter century as a pioneering role model and powerful force on an ideologically divided Supreme Court.
Sandra Day O'Connor is a woman, a Westerner, a conservative, a grandmother, and a retiring Supreme Court justice. They all inform her unique and undoubtedly powerful presence in American law and society.
The Senate Judiciary Committee won't vote on Judge Samuel Alito until next week, but it seems pretty clear he will be the next Supreme Court justice and will move the court to the right compared with the woman he's replacing, Sandra Day O'Connor. Well, why not?
Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, the first day of confirmation hearings.
A majority of Americans say President Bush's pick to fill Sandra Day O'Connor's seat on the U.S. Supreme Court should not be confirmed if his confirmation hearings reveal that he would vote to overturn a woman's right to have an abortion, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll released Monday.
The Supreme Court demonstrated deep skepticism Tuesday that universities should be allowed to turn away military recruiters and still accept federal funds.
Roughly two-thirds of the people questioned in a recent poll on abortion supported parental and spousal notification but opposed a constitutional amendment to ban the practice altogether.
Three Supreme Court justices expressed reluctance to allow cameras into their courtroom, citing the infamous O.J. Simpson murder trial watched on television by millions.
A dispute between a husband and wife over a search of their home for illegal drugs left the Supreme Court equally at odds Tuesday in an important case over police powers.
President Bush on Monday nominated Circuit Court Judge Samuel Alito to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Alito, a former U.S. attorney who has been a judge for 15 years, is considered a favorite of conservatives.
President Bush is expected Monday to name his nominee to replace Sandra Day O'Connor, who is retiring from the U.S. Supreme Court, senior administration officials told CNN Sunday.
The nomination of Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court drew testy comments Sunday from conservatives who leveled their ire at other conservatives.
President Bush said Tuesday he has never discussed abortion with White House counsel Harriet Miers, his nominee to fill the Supreme Court seat of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers Monday paid courtesy calls to senators who will decide her confirmation, while her lack of experience as a judge prompted a cautious reaction from conservatives and liberals.
The Supreme Court's 2005-2006 term got off to an eventful start on Monday with John Roberts hearing his first case as chief justice of the United States and President Bush naming his pick to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
The U.S. Supreme Court begins a new term Monday with a new chief justice who is the youngest person on the bench, an associate justice one step from retirement and a docket front-loaded with hot-button social issues.
John Roberts wasted little time getting down to business, spending his first full day Friday as chief justice of the United States making the rounds at the U.S. Supreme Court.
A summer drama over the makeup of the Supreme Court received an extended run into autumn, as the political fight over a second vacancy on the bench threatens to erupt into a bitter partisan spat.
President Bush's decision to nominate John Roberts for chief justice solves one political problem -- and creates new ones.
Moving quickly to fill the vacancy left by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's death, President Bush on Monday nominated Judge John Roberts to the nation's top judicial post.
President Bush has the rare opportunity to name two justices to the U.S. Supreme Court after the death Saturday of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.
As critics and supporters of John Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court sparred Wednesday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, laid out to a crowd of California lawyers the questions she wants answered before she makes up her mind:
Supreme Courtupdated: Thu Aug 11 2005 15:08:00
Use this explainer to help students understand the role of the judicial branch of the U.S. government and the U.S. Supreme Court, topics relevant to current news.
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens steered the debate over President Bush's nominee to a new subject -- capital punishment -- sharply condemning the country's death penalty system.
The National Archives on Tuesday released 15,000 pages of government documents pertaining to Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. from his days as a young lawyer in the Reagan-era Justice Department.
Supreme Court nominee John Roberts is likely to win the support of business groups, but in one of his last cases before the nation's highest court he represented a group of states that accused Microsoft of being a monopoly.
President Bush announced on Tuesday that he's selected U.S. Circuit Court Judge John Roberts Jr. as his nominee to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court.
Early reaction to news that President Bush has nominated Judge John Roberts Jr. to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court portends a partisan fight.
Although he named no nominees, President Bush on Saturday urged senators to "rise above partisanship" in the confirmation process of any new Supreme Court justice to replace Sandra Day O'Connor.
The statement from the chief justice was classic William Rehnquist: blunt, to the point, with just a hint of pepper to signal what he was really thinking.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week ruled invalid a federal ban on a type of late-term abortion. But this development -- significant as it is -- may be nothing compared with what will occur soon.
Nearly 8 out of 10 respondents to a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll said they liked the idea that a woman replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wasn't the Supreme Court's greatest champion of big business, but she was considered a very close friend.
Conservatives who have spent more than a decade planning for this moment to change the balance of power on the Supreme Court are reeling from blows delivered by two dissimilar political leaders: Edward M. Kennedy and George W. Bush.
Sandra Day O'Connor's surprise resignation unleashes a battle over whether the high court will gain a new swing vote or a solid-right.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court sets up the mother of all political battles. Not to mention the political Play of the Week.
Abortion rights groups jumped into action Friday immediately after Sandra Day O'Connor's resignation, saying her loss from the Supreme Court's bench puts women's reproductive rights in jeopardy and urging President Bush to choose a moderate justice.
The successor to retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will shape the direction of our nation's democratic experiment, one of nine individuals charged with deciding such crucial issues as the separation of church and state, the extent of power the federal government can exert over the states and possibly even deciding who will become the next president.
President Bush said Friday he will pick a successor to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in a timely manner so her vacancy can be filled by the time the Supreme Court resumes work in the fall.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's decision to retire unleashed a bipartisan wave of praise Friday on Capitol Hill that quickly gave way to jostling over her potential successor and the future of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced Friday that she planned to retire once the Senate confirms her successor.
Here is the resignation letter from Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to President Bush:
Sandra Day O'Connor grew up possessed with a strong will and ambition, which helped her overcome discrimination against female lawyers and eventually take her to the nation's highest court.
Retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is a Westerner, a conservative and a grandmother. Each of those qualities have informed her unique and undoubtedly powerful presence in U.S. law and society.
In a victory for cities, a divided Supreme Court concluded Thursday that local governments have the authority to seize private land and turn the property over to private developers for economic development.
In a victory for older workers, the Supreme Court concluded Wednesday that people over 40 can sue for alleged age discrimination under a less burdensome legal standard of proof.
Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral argument on two Ten Commandments cases.
This week, in Roper v. Simmons, the Supreme Court declared the death penalty for juvenile offenders to be unconstitutional. In so doing, the Supreme Court brought the United States into line with the international community.
Striking an unusual populist tone, the Supreme Court appeared divided Tuesday over whether city officials in Connecticut have the authority to seize homes in a working-class neighborhood and turn the property over to private developers.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With retirements looking more likely, the next president could help tip the balance of the nation's highest court, which now stands in a loose 5-4 conservative majority.
Just weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor hinted at the legal challenges that would lie ahead in a new age of terror.
Recently, the Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow -- better known as the "Pledge of Allegiance" case.
Ronald Reagan's conservatism can be seen at the nation's highest court, dominated by his colorful and influential choices.
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