Supreme Court

William O. Douglas, the controversial Supreme Court justice who died in 1980, was idolized by liberals and demonized by conservatives. In Mountain, the play the Philadelphia Theatre Company is producing at Plays & Players Theater, Douglas is clearly a hero, so let your political leanings determine whether that is a recommendation or a warning. But no matter what your politics, Mountain is worth seeing to experience the engrossing performance of Len Cariou. And experience is the proper word.

The presidential campaign has so far been dominated by "white noise," from President Bush's National Guard service to John Kerry's Purple Hearts, to the political motivations of Swift boat veterans and Dan Rather. Now, as the Supreme Court swings back into session, we're starting to pay attention to one of the most crucial and least-discussed issues: How the president can affect the course of history via his high-court appointments. The next four years will likely bring a series of court retirements.

The Supreme Court yesterday asked the U.S. Solicitor General's office to weigh in on whether a huge lawsuit against the government of Saudi Arabia charging that it was a source of terrorist financing before the 9/11 attacks should move forward. The decision could breathe life into a long-running lawsuit alleging that Saudi government-backed charities financed al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. The Supreme Court is weighing whether to accept an appeal filed by the Cozen O'Connor law firm of a lower court finding that Saudi Arabia could not be sued under U.S. law. The Solicitor General's office functions effectively as the United States' lawyer before the Supreme Court and its views likely will figure prominently in the Supreme Court's deliberations.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenya's Supreme Court on Saturday upheld the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as the country's next president, and the loser accepted that verdict, ending an election season that riveted the nation amid fears of a repeat of the 2007-08 postelection violence. Jubilant Kenyatta supporters flooded the streets of downtown Nairobi, honking horns, blowing plastic noise-makers, and chanting. But supporters of defeated Prime Minister Rail Odinga were angry, and shortly after the verdict, police fired tear gas at them outside the Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON - Planning its strategy ahead of a momentous Supreme Court ruling, the Obama administration plans to move ahead with major parts of the president's health-care law if its most controversial provision does not survive, according to veteran Democrats closely involved with the legislation. Even if the requirement that nearly every U.S. resident have health insurance is declared unconstitutional, the remaining parts of the law would have far-reaching impact, putting coverage within reach of millions of uninsured people, laying new obligations on insurers and employers, and improving Medicare benefits even as payments to many service providers get scaled back.

WASHINGTON - The estate of the late stripper and Playmate of the Year Anna Nicole Smith lost big Thursday, as a split Supreme Court rejected the estate's claims for millions of dollars. Wading into soap-opera territory, the justices ruled that a bankruptcy court lacked the authority to award Smith's estate what at one point was $425 million from her late billionaire husband, Texas oilman J. Howard Marshall II. The 5-4 ruling permanently constrains some bankruptcy-court powers and concludes a tabloid-worthy dispute that dragged on for 15 years.

IHAD entertained the pleasant notion that with recent appointments to the Supreme Court, this august body was now in the hands of a solid conservative, law-and-order majority that would give the benefit of the doubt to law enforcement in cases that come before it. But in a conclusion that defies logic and would appear to further enhance the rights of criminals and stymie the police, the court ruled 5-3 that when law-enforcement officers suspect...

For months, students at a California law school eagerly awaited a graduation speech by a legal headliner - Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, who wrote the 1973 abortion ruling that provoked one of the great American social conflicts of the 20th century. But last week, 12 days before the ceremony, Blackmun backed out because television cameras would be there. "He (Blackmun) explained to me that he was concerned about sound bites," said Bruce Wolk, law school dean at the University of California at Davis.

Is Attorney General Edwin Meese 3d now advocating some kind of pin-striped civil disobedience for public officials? Seems so. Carrying his running attack on the U.S. Supreme Court a step further, Meese asserted in a speech at Tulane University last week that government officials need not consider Supreme Court interpretations of the Constitution as "the supreme law of the land. " Meese has been going around the nation sniping at court decisions in particular cases, notably involving religious and civil rights issues, contending that the justices have been following their ideological predilections instead of the "original meanings" of the Constitution's provisions.

The Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday unanimously approved President Reagan's nomination of Anthony M. Kennedy to the Supreme Court. With the committee's 14-0 endorsement the nomination was then sent to the Senate, where easy confirmation is expected within a week. Kennedy, 51, a federal appeals court judge from Sacramento, Calif., then would join the high court before it returns from its current recess on Feb. 22. Reagan, whose earlier nominations of federal Judges Robert H. Bork and Douglas H. Ginsburg failed, said the committee vote "gives us considerable confidence that the nation will soon have a full court.