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LGBTQ activists worked tirelessly for decades to help the majority of the country realize that, yes, their neighborhoods would indeed be okay if families with two moms or two dads moved in down the street. A big part of those efforts was arguing that government recognition of same-sex marriages was essential because of the many legal benefits reserved for traditional man-and-woman marriages. It was a question of fairness. Nuclear families with children and same-sex parents are now as American as apple pie....

Marriages made in heaven are rare. Most of them are made right here on earth, and often by couples less committed to the union than they claimed in their wedding vows. Death does not part many – divorce does. Nearly half of American marriages end in divorce, according to the American Psychological Association. Some of these unions barely start before the parting begins, lasting less than a week. Here are the ten shortest celebrity marriages in relatively recent history, listed in order from most brief to longest....

District court’s denial of a contempt motion for lack of privity arising from 1966 civil-contempt proceedings Nat’l Spritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the U.S.A. Under the Hereditary Guardianship, Inc. v. Nat’l Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the U.S.A. , Inc., 08-2306, concerned a challenge to the district court’s denial of a contempt motion on the ground that all nonparties to the original lawsuit lacked privity with the original defendant, in an appeal from a civil-contempt proceeding alleging violations of an injunction entered more than four decades ago, arising from an underlying suit involving a trademark and property dispute between two religious organizations....

The Free Exercise Clause lets practitioners of Santeria in Florida ritually slaughter chickens, and lets a Muslim inmate have a half-inch-long beard. Add David Schlemm to the list. He’s a member of the Navajo tribe, imprisoned in Wisconsin, who wants to be able to practice certain religious rituals, namely eating venison and wearing a multicolored bandana while praying. And you know what? The Seventh Circuit, led by Judge Frank Easterbrook, said OK....

Non-citizens have a right to bear arms, even if they are in the country illegally, the Seventh Circuit ruled late in August. The ruling overturns a district court finding that the Second Amendment doesn’t protect unauthorized aliens. In so holding, the Seventh created a split with the Fourth, Fifth, and Eighth Circuits, all of which have ruled otherwise. But, there’s a catch. While the right to bear arms extends to unauthorized non-citizens in the U....

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that an Arkansas federal magistrate judge abused his discretion when he blocked expert testimony from a doctor on behalf of two Prempro users who developed breast cancer, reports CBS. A study linked Prempro – a combination hormone therapy drug marketed to treat symptoms of menopause – to increased rates of breast cancer, heart attack and stroke in 2002. The complaints alleged, among other things, that Prempro use increased the risk of breast cancer and that Wyeth failed to adequately warn of the drug’s adverse effects....

In 1955, the Rev. Robert Schuller established Garden Grove Community Church in an old drive-in theater in Orange County, California. Over the next 50 years, the “community” church became a megachurch called Crystal Cathedral, from which Schuller broadcast a show called “Hour of Power.” At its height, “Hour of Power” was seen by 1.3 million people in 156 countries, according to The Huffington Post. That all changed in 2010 when Crystal Cathedral filed for bankruptcy in the face of a $36 million mortgage and $7....

While most of our attention this week has been dedicated to the individual mandate challenge, the Supreme Court granted cert on Monday in a Social Security benefits case that has also been generating buzz. In Astrue v. Capato, the Supreme Court will decide whether a child who was conceived after the death of a biological parent, but who cannot inherit personal property from that parent under applicable state intestacy law, is eligible for Social Security survivor benefits....

The Voting Rights Act is dead! Long live the Voting Rights Act! Since the Supreme Court issued its extremely controversial decision in Shelby County v. Holder last month, the criticism has been constant and loud. It began with a passionate dissent by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsbug, and continued with a book review turned SCOTUS review by Retired Justice John Paul Stevens. It may also be responsible, at least in part, for the plummeting SCOTUS approval rates, dropping below 50 percent for the first time in nearly three decades....

You may have heard by now: Rapper Ludacris (aka Christopher Bridges) married his longtime “lover and friend” Eudoxie Mbouguiengue a mere two weeks after proposing. According to the New York Daily News, Luda proposed to Eudoxie on December 26 by lighting up the question “Eudoxie, will you marry me” in blue on a grass field while their plane flew overhead. Then, in his own words, he “did the thing before 2015” in a private ceremony over the holidays....

As COVID-19 vaccine mandates proliferate around the country, so is the pushback against them by those who do not want to get the jab. While many employees are seeking exemptions on religious grounds, others contend that they have medical reasons to sidestep the mandates. Federal law requires employers to accommodate employees with qualifying medical conditions that would interfere with vaccinations. But what, exactly, are those qualifying medical conditions when it comes to COVID-19?...

Whoever thought that trying to raise breast cancer awareness would result in a three year court battle? In what we’re dubbing the Battle of the Boobs, the Third Circuit finally decided whether to uphold a district court’s ruling that a school’s ban on “I Heart Boobies” bracelets was a violation of students’ right to free speech. It only did so after reviewing the matter en banc – with all fourteen circuit judges voting....

As a 1L, a cranky professor told us, “First year law students are the only people who find the law interesting. That’s why you don’t have friends.” While his analysis may still hold true, we refuse to apologize for being unabashedly excited about the Supreme Court. Today is First Monday, that judicial Festivus that lawyers, professors, law students, and judges await all year, and the 2011 Supreme Court cases are giving us plenty to celebrate....

Government entities are typically reluctant to reveal the amount they pay out in legal settlements. It is, perhaps, an understandable tendency. Taxpayers are not typically pleased when their government must pay out hundreds of thousands, or even millions, to compensate someone for negligence or an intentional tort committed by a government employee. That may be starting to change. At least one state, New Mexico, has begun to release the dollar amount it pays out in settlements every year....

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has long been a contentious law. It provides liability protection for internet companies that host third-party content. Under Section 230, online platforms may use internal standards and user agreements to determine when and how to remove or flag content that is “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing or otherwise objectionable." Online companies that do so “in good faith" are subsequently protected from liability for content it may miss....

Syverson v. US Dept. of Agric., No. 08-3245, involved a petition for review of an order of the Department of Agriculture determining that petitioner had engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices, and failed to keep sufficient accounts, records and memoranda of his business. The Eighth Circuit affirmed in part on the ground that there was substantial evidence supporting the judicial officer’s determination that petitioner was acting as a market agency, that is, selling on a “commission basis....

With less than a month before the elections, the two major-party candidates did something almost unprecedented during last night’s presidential town hall: They addressed the future of the Supreme Court. Between the sniffling and sighing, the personal attacks and tax policy, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump briefly laid out their vision for the future of the Court, describing, in sharply contrasting terms, who they would look to put on the Supreme Court bench should they become president....

Petition for review of an order of the FCC directing plaintiff to carry the signal of a television station is denied where: 1) the FCC adequately analyzed and explained the statutory factors; 2) the FCC’s decision did not contravene the purpose of the must-carry statute; 3) plaintiff failed to demonstrate that the FCC applied the market modification provision unconstitutionally in violation of the First Amendment; and 4) plaintiff did not establish that by ordering it to carry the station, the FCC effected a taking in violation of the Fifth Amendment....

Winnie the Pooh and his friends from the Hundred Acre Wood are some of the most popular of all beloved children’s characters. They are also some of the most commercially valuable. Since Disney acquired the rights to the original Pooh, the bear with a rumbly tummy has starred in feature films, direct-to-tv videos, and television shows. You can go to Walt Disney World and ride on Pooh-themed rides. And Pooh merchandise — t-shirts, mugs, children’s toys, jewelry, Halloween costumes, to name just a few examples — is everywhere....

District court order dismissing a procedural due process claim as precluded by an earlier dismissal of a similar claim by a New York state court for lack of timeliness is vacated where the dismissal of a claim solely for lack of timeliness in a New York state court does not preclude the same claim from being brought in another jurisdiction with a longer statute of limitations, including a federal court exercising its federal question jurisdiction....