An Ohio man tasted freedom for the first time in nearly 30 years Tuesday after DNA evidence showed he did not rape an 11-year-old girl and a judge vacated his conviction. "It finally happened, I've been waiting," Raymond Towler, 52, said as he hugged sobbing family members in the [...]

In today's New York Times, Adam Liptak takes a look at the "mystery of the shrinking docket" -- how the Supreme Court went from reviewing about 150 cases a year in the early 1980s, to just 80 cases a year today. There are lots of theories being tossed around by scholars [...]

It was hard to get a feel for Justice Sonia Sotomayor during her hearings. She was obviously brilliant, well-reasoned and incredibly articulate -- but beyond the occasional references to her Bronx upbringing and love of baseball, her personality seemed mostly under wraps. That was different from Chief Justice John Robert's [...]

Earlier this year,  I actually physically wept when I heard Ruth Bader Ginsburg had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. And even though her prognosis has been great, and she's kept up a demanding schedule, I'm sure I'm not the only one thrown into a small panic when they saw that [...]

Last week, Justice Sonia Sotomayor made a "provocative comment" that probed the foundations of corporate law. The case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, involves whether federal campaign finance laws apply to a critical film about Hillary Clinton intended to be shown in theaters and on-demand to cable subscribers. The court's majority [...]

It's a beautiful Friday afternoon in D.C. and instead of going for a run, or kayaking or even sitting on the front stoop with a beer -- I found myself googling the Supreme Court justices (I'm a loser). And this probably wouldn't have been so interesting, and definitely not made a [...]

What's in a name? A study a few years back, "Why Susie sells seashells by the seashore: implicit egotism and major life decisions" (PDF), found that, for instance, people named Dennis were more likely to become dentists. The authors explain that "Because most people possess positive associations about themselves, [...]

Tom Monaghan can’t catch a break in the media and blogosphere. Every writer and blogger of late thinks that the Catholic pizza mogul is little more than an incompetent bully in his efforts to relocate and build an orthodox university and law school in Florida. Actually, they don’t just think [...]

Yesterday marked the first case in front of newly-minted Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and the Court spared no controversy.  The case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, gives the Court a stab at overturning two decisions (Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce and McConnell v. FEC) which support the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law [...]

Robert McDonnell completed his master’s thesis 20 years ago, and now he’s being vilified as a political dolt. The GOP’s candidate for governor of Virginia wrote “The Republican Party’s Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of the Decade.” After he told reporter Amy Gardner of The Washington Post about [...]