Courts

With two school-age children, Rutgers-Camden University law professor Michael A. Carrier hears a lot about recess. "I'm a big fan," said Carrier, who teaches in Camden. "Recess is so underrated. " But not in the District of Columbia, where an appellate court has upended the National Labor Relations Board with a recent decision that hinges on the definition of recess - whether a president, in this case Barack Obama, can appoint members to the board during a U.S. Senate recess.

WILMINGTON - The autopsy report for a Texas man who killed his former daughter-in-law and another woman at a Delaware courthouse shows he had a brain tumor. The report notes a large tumor known as a meningioma was found during the autopsy. Authorities say Thomas Matusiewicz, 68, killed himself after the courthouse shooting Feb. 11. The gunman's widow, Lenore Matusiewicz, had sought an independent autopsy saying she believed an untreated brain tumor was to blame for her husband's violent actions.

For decades, fugitives thumbed their noses at judges in Philadelphia. But now something remarkable has happened: Criminal defendants are showing up for court. A year ago, the judge in a new Bench Warrant Court began to crack down on defendants who ducked out on court, handing out thousands of brief jail terms. Since then, the fugitive rate has fallen nearly in half, new figures show. "The results are pretty astounding," said Ronald D. Castille, chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

CAIRO - Supporters and opponents of Egypt's Islamist president battled in the streets near Tahrir Square on Friday as an Islamist rally demanding a purge of the judiciary devolved into violence. The rally centered on a contentious aspect of the country's deep political polarization - the courts. Islamist backers of President Mohammed Morsi say the judiciary is infused with former regime loyalists who are blocking his policies, while opponents fear Islamists want to take over the courts and get rid of secular-minded judges to consolidate the Muslim Brotherhood's power.

ISLAMABAD - Former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf fled court in a speeding vehicle Thursday to avoid arrest after his bail was revoked in a case involving his decision to fire senior judges while in power over five years ago. The harried escape broadcast live on Pakistani TV marked a new low in Musharraf's troubled return from exile last month to seek a political comeback in the May 11 parliamentary election. Musharraf, 69, made his exit with the help of bodyguards, who pushed him past police officers and paramilitary soldiers and helped him into a black SUV that sped off with a member of his security team hanging on. Lawyers shouted taunts: "Look who is running!

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday moved to suspend the remaining elected judge on Philadelphia Traffic Court for three months without pay, citing her refusal to cooperate with an investigation. The high court gave Christine Solomon until April 29 to object, which her lawyer vowed to do. If the court rejects her defense and suspends her, that would mean Traffic Court would be entirely staffed by nonelected judges. Solomon was the only elected judge left serving after a federal grand jury in January indicted nine other current and former Traffic Court judges, charging them with engaging in rampant ticket-fixing.

By Patrick Meehan Imagine yourself a victim of sexual assault. After finally summoning the courage to speak out and report your attacker to authorities, you're forced to relive the attack through months of depositions, testimony, and questioning by defense attorneys hoping to discredit you. Next, a jury returns a guilty verdict against your attacker. But then, weeks later, that verdict is suddenly and irreversibly overturned, without any justification or rationale. Your attacker is set free, and you're not even told why. That's exactly what happened to an American woman working in Italy.

DOVER, Del. - The son of a man who killed two people at a Delaware courthouse before taking his own life does not plan to fight charges of violating his probation on kidnapping and fraud charges. David Matusiewicz faces a hearing April 23 on charges he violated his probation by failing to stay away from guns and lying about his whereabouts and activities. But a federal prosecutor and Matusiewicz's federal public defender sent a letter to the judge Monday saying Matusiewicz would not contest the charges, though he would not admit violating probation.

In an age of long-term unemployment, crippled investments, and actuarial uncertainty, many Americans have discovered that they no longer get to choose their own retirement date. But the justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will have none of that. The state's constitution requires judges to retire at the age of 70. But being at the mercy of larger forces may be, in the justices' estimation, for the little people. It certainly looks that way based on the hoary high court's fast-tracking of two challenges to the constitutional retirement mandate.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - High court judges disqualified former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday from running in the parliamentary election, likely ending any hope of a political comeback. The ruling was the latest blow for Musharraf, who has faced paltry public support, a raft of legal challenges, and Taliban death threats since he returned to Pakistan last month after years in self-imposed exile. Many experts had predicted this would be Musharraf's fate if he came back and have been scratching their heads at what drove his decision.