Cardinal Donald Wuerl walk with U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts as they leave the church, after the Red Mass at Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is beginning a new term with controversial issues that offer the court's conservative majority the chance to move aggressively to undo limits on campaign contributions, undermine claims of discrimination in housing and mortgage lending, and allow for more government-sanctioned prayer.
In this June 19, 1967 file photo, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali has a "no comment" as he is confronted by newsmen as he leaves the Federal Building in Houston during a recess in his trial for refusing induction to the army. (AP Photo/Ed Kolenovsky, File) by Tim DahlbergAP Sports Columnist He is now so much a part of the nation's social fabric that it's hard to comprehend a time when Muhammad Ali was more reviled than revered. Barely past the opening credits of a new documentary about Ali, though, we get a glimpse of how many Americans felt about him during a tumultuous time in the country's history.
In a June 30, 1982 file photo, President Ronald Reagan signs an expansion of the 1965 Voting Rights Bill during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. The Justice Department will sue the state of North Carolina for alleged racial discrimination over tough new voting rules, the latest effort by the Obama administration to fight back against a Supreme Court decision that struck down the most powerful part of the landmark Voting Rights Act and freed southern states from strict federal oversight of their elections. North Carolina has a new law scaling back the period for early voting and imposing stringent voter identification requirements. It is among at least five Southern states adopting stricter voter ID and other election laws. (AP Photo, File) by Michel Biesecker and Pete Yost RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's Republican governor and GOP lawmakers are vowing to fight a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Justice Department challenging the state's tough new elections law on the grounds it disproportionately impacts minority voters.
Veronica, the child at the center of an international adoption dispute, smiles in a bathroom of the Cherokee Nation Jack Brown Center in Tahlequah, Okla. (AP Photo/Tulsa World, Mike Simons, File) by Kristi EatonAssociated Press Writer OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A South Carolina couple who vowed last month to not leave Oklahoma unless they went home with a 4-year-old Cherokee girl they have been trying to adopt since her birth were given custody of the girl Monday night after the Oklahoma Supreme Court said it didn't have jurisdiction over the child.
Hani Khan, a former stockroom worker for Abercrombie & Fitch Co. who was fired for refusing to remove her Muslim headscarf, listens to a question during a news conference in San Francisco, Monday, June 27, 2011. (AP Photo/File) by Paul EliasAssociated Press WriterSAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Trendy clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch has agreed to make religious accommodations and allow workers to wear head scarves as part of a settlement of discrimination lawsuits filed in California, lawyers announced Monday.
Former Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., and his wife Sandra, leaves federal court in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was sentenced to two and a half years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to scheming to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on TV's, restaurant dinners, an expensive watch and other costly personal items. His wife received a sentence of one year.
Nicholas Peart, Lilat Clarkson, Leroy Downes, Devin Almonar and David Ourlicht, left to right, plaintiffs in the stop and frisk case, pose for a photo after a news conferece at the Center for Constitutional Rights, in New York, Monday, Aug. 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) by Colleen Long Associated Press Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge's stinging rebuke of the police department's stop-and-frisk policy as discriminatory could usher in a return to the days of high violent crime rates and end New York's tenure as "America's safest big city," Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned.
In this July 11, 2013 photo, former Sopchoppy City Commissioner Anginita Rosier poses for a photo in Tallahassee, Fla. State authorities are investigating her complaint that Sopchoppy city workers suppressed the black vote. (AP Photo/Brendan Farrington) by Brendan FarringtonAssociated Press Writer SOPCHOPPY, Fla. (AP) — A small Florida Panhandle town best known for its annual Worm Grunting Festival is at the center of an investigation into charges the white city clerk suppressed the Black vote in an election where the Black mayor lost by a single vote and a Black city commissioner was also ousted. Both losing candidates and three Black voters have filed complaints, now being investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, that City Clerk Jackie Lawhon made it more difficult for Blacks to cast ballots by questioning their residency. The candidates also allege Lawhon abandoned her duty to remain neutral and actively campaigned for the three Whites on the ballot.
Demonstrators hold flags and chant in front of the Supreme Court in Washington on the second day of gay marriage cases before the court. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File) by Sam Hananel Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court's landmark ruling on same-sex marriage has private employers around the country scrambling to make sure their employee benefit plans comply with the law.
