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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Supreme Court has accepted a second case testing the constitutionality of a federal law banning a specific, controversial late-term abortion procedure critics call "partial birth" abortion.
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.
The Supreme Court used a shocking decade-old Kansas murder Tuesday to examine the factors juries must weigh when deciding whether defendants deserve the death penalty.
Richard Ceballos says he was only doing his job, and was punished by his superiors as a result.
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.
In his first day on the job, Justice Samuel Alito broke ranks Wednesday night with the Supreme Court's conservatives by refusing to allow Missouri to execute death-row inmate Michael Taylor.
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?
Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to serve on the Supreme Court will be voted on by the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 24, according to Senate leaders. The full Senate is expected to begin debate the following day.
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.
Court watchers looking for an anecdote that illustrates how John Roberts is doing in his new role as chief justice point to the "Halloween incident."
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.
John G. Roberts Jr. was sworn in Thursday as the 17th chief justice of the United States after winning Senate approval with a solid majority.
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:
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.
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, announced her resignation Friday and launched the high-stakes battle over who will replace her.
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.
A slim majority of people responding to a poll taken last month said it would be OK to consider a Supreme Court nominee's position on certain social "hot-button" issues, if the nominee were qualified and had no ethical problems.
A forthcoming law review article by UCLA professor Rick Sander is causing a big stir in the legal academic community. Sander's piece in the Stanford Law Review argues that race-based affirmative action as practiced by American law schools during the past 30 years actually ends up hurting the group -- African American law students -- it is most intended to help.
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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