Inmate’s handwritten request will get a rare hearing before Supreme Court

Kim Millbrook’s hard time began long ago, far from the Supreme Court whose attention he has now surprisingly seized. | 09/27/12 15:57:15 By - By Michael Doyle

Justice Kennedy offers robust defense of $1 million judicial conference in Hawaii

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy pushed back against pressure from two senior Republican senators who had called for cancellation of this week’s annual U.S. 9th Circuit Judicial Conference in Maui, which is costing taxpayers about $1 million. | 08/14/12 18:26:50 By - Dan Popkey

Health care law’s mandate unlikely to affect many people

Despite all the spin and punditry about the national health care law’s mandate that Americans buy health insurance or pay a penalty, the vast majority wouldn’t be forced to buy anything or pay any penalty. | 06/29/12 00:00:00 By - By Tony Pugh

Alaska lawmakers differ on impact of Supreme Court health care decision

Alaska’s congressional delegation is at odds over Thursday’s pivotal Supreme Court decision on the Obama administration’s health care act, with Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Don Young already talking about pushing for the law’s repeal while Democrat Mark Begich said it was now time to move on. | 06/28/12 19:41:51 By - Annika McGinnis

Republican hopes dimming to repeal health care law

Congress is highly unlikely to repeal the entire 2010 federal health care law this year. And it’s going to be difficult if not impossible to do it next year, even if Mitt Romney wins the presidency. | 06/28/12 19:24:44 By - By David Lightman

Supreme Court rejects ‘Stolen Valor’ law, says lying about military honors isn’t a crime

The Supreme Court Thursday struck down a federal law that makes it a crime to lie about being a military hero. In fact, the justices ruled that many lies are protected by the First Amendment. | 06/28/12 19:24:00 By - By Michael Doyle and Matthew Schofield

Health care ruling vindicates Obama, but could galvanize Republican opponents

The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the most significant achievement of President Barack Obama’s first term delivers a major boost to his legacy and political fortunes. It comes with a price, however: the risk of galvanizing conservative critics who rose up in the aftermath of the law’s passage, delivering the first tea party lawmakers to Congress. | 06/28/12 19:23:39 By - By Lesley Clark

CNN, Fox jump gun on Supreme Court health care ruling

The shortcomings of instantaneous technology became evident Thursday as CNN and Fox News both incorrectly reported the historic Supreme Court decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. | 06/28/12 19:22:57 By - By Alex Kane Rudansky

Chief Justice John Roberts is health care ruling’s biggest surprise

At his confirmation hearings in 2005, Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. said he saw himself as an “umpire,” and that “nobody ever went to a ball game to see the umpire.” No doubt nobody did Thursday, either, when spectators packed the U.S. Supreme Court and clogged the front steps awaiting its ruling on the health care law, one of the more anticipated and possibly politically pivotal decisions in recent years. | 06/28/12 19:22:16 By - By David Goldstein

Supreme Court upholds health care law, calls mandate’s fee a tax

The Supreme Court upheld nearly all of President Barack Obama’s health care law Thursday, ratifying the signature domestic achievement of his presidency and affirming the broad overhaul that Democrats had sought for more than six decades. | 06/28/12 11:40:34 By - By Michael Doyle

Despite flood of cash, Supreme Court won’t rethink campaign spending decision

Amid a torrent of campaign spending, a divided Supreme Court on Monday declined to take another look at a controversial 2010 ruling that helped open up the political floodgates. | 06/25/12 18:11:17 By - By Michael Doyle

Supreme Court strikes down mandatory life sentences for juveniles

Some teenage murderers may eventually gain their freedom, as a divided Supreme Court on Monday struck down mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles convicted of capital crimes. | 06/25/12 18:10:27 By - By Michael Doyle

Court keeps Arizona law in campaign, pressure on Romney

Mitt Romney’s uphill bid for stronger support in the Latino community, already wounded by his tough talk about illegal immigration, faces new challenges thanks to the Supreme Court decision on Arizona’s controversial law. | 06/25/12 18:09:54 By - By David Lightman

Supreme Court upholds part of strict Arizona immigration law

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld part of Arizona’s strict border-control law, which compels the state’s law enforcement officers to check the residency status of people they suspect are in the country illegally. | 06/25/12 11:19:02 By - By Michael Doyle and David Lightman

Supreme Court rules California union violated rights of dues-paying nonmembers

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that California's largest state employee union violated the free speech rights of 28,000 so-called "fair-share" nonmembers by coercing them to finance political campaigns in 2005 and 2006. | 06/22/12 06:59:45 By - Jon Ortiz