Gay marriage legislation has moved forward over the past week from coast to coast, a sign of a changing tide. In California, a federal appeals court struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, declaring it unconstitutional. Read full article > >

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Gay marriage wave shows major shift

A federal appeals panel in San Francisco ruled Tuesday that California’s ban on same-sex marriage violates the constitutional right to equal protection. The panel overturned Proposition 8, which was approved by 52 percent of the state’s voters in 2008 and amended the state’s constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman. Read full article > >

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Calif. same-sex marriage ban ruled unconstitutional

Veteran newsmaker Janet Jackson’s right breast is back — eight years later ! A federal appeals court Wednesday tossed out — again — the $550,000 fine that the Federal Communications Commission slapped on CBS stations in 2004, after the network aired a half-second of Janet Jackson’s right nipple during that year’s Super Bowl halftime show. Read full article > >

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Court tosses out FCC’s fine on CBS stations for Janet Jackson episode

ATLANTA — A federal appeals court on Friday blocked a key part of Alabama’s law that requires schools to check the immigration status of students, temporarily weakening what was considered the toughest immigration law in the nation. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also blocked a part of the law that allows authorities to charge immigrants who do not carry documents proving their legal status. The three-judge panel let stand a provision that allows police to detain immigrants that are suspected of being in the country illegally. Read full article > >

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US appeals court temporarily blocks Alabama from checking immigration status of students

PHOENIX — A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the suspect in the Tucson shooting rampage can be returned to a Missouri prison facility where he will undergo more treatment to try to make him mentally fit to stand trial. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request by Jared Lee Loughner’s attorneys to keep him in Tucson. Loughner’s lawyers want him to stay in Arizona while they appeal a lower court’s ruling that extends their mentally ill client’s stay at a Springfield, Mo., prison by another four months. Read full article > >

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Appeals court OKs Tucson shooting rampage suspect’s return to Missouri facility for treatment

A group of plaintiffs hoping to mount a challenge to U.S. surveillance law secured a major victory Wednesday when a federal appeals court upheld their standing to sue the government. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ 6-6 decision allows a group of American lawyers, human rights activists and journalists to challenge the constitutionality of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as amended by Congress in 2008 . Read full article > >

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Court allows challenge of U.S. surveillance law

RICHMOND — In a major setback to Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II, a federal appeals court on Thursday tossed out one of the most prominent challenges to the new federal health-care law. Cuccinelli (R), the nation’s first attorney general to file a lawsuit challenging the 2010 law, immediately announced that he would appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond found that Virginia lacked standing to sue. The panel’s unanimous decision, which did not address the merits of the case, overturns a lower-court ruling that the law’s mandate that practically all Americans obtain health insurance or pay a penalty is unconstitutional. Read full article > >

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Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli’s health-care lawsuit dismissed by 4th Circuit

The Justice Department might dislike challenges to health-care reform, but they’d rather get them over with sooner. The administration asked a federal appeals court Wednesday to agree to a fast-tracked schedule for a suit that challenges the…

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Obama: Speed Up Health-Care Suit

Washington – Less than a month after the Federal Communications Commission adopted an order aimed at keeping Internet service providers from blocking access to certain Web content or applications, Verizon asked a federal appeals court on Thursday to overturn the new rule. read more

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Verizon Sues FCC to Overturn Order on Blocking Web Sites

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that a cross displayed on public property for nearly a century is unconstitutional.

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Court: San Diego cross unconstitutional

Is it still smoking if there’s no tobacco, but a cloud of smoke? A federal appeals court attempted to answer that question Wednesday, when it ruled that electronic cigarettes should be treated the same as tobacco when it comes to Food and Drug…

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Court: E-Cigarettes Same as Tobacco Ones

After hearing arguments from attorneys on both sides of the debate, the latest legal battle over same-sex marriage is in the hands of a panel of California federal appeals court judges.

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Prop 8 rests in appeals judges’ hands

In a federal appeals court hearing Monday, California judges appeared likely to strike down Proposition 8, the ballot measure that banned gay marriage in the state. In a legal balancing act, however, the judges are exploring methods of narrowly lifting…

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Calif. Poised to Strike Down Prop 8

A federal appeals court cleared the way Friday for the resumption of the trial of Brian David Mitchell, the man charged in the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart.

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Elizabeth Smart kidnap trial to resume

A federal appeals court orders the US military’s ban on openly gay troops to remain in place indefinitely while a legal battle over the policy is fought.

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Court extends gay troops policy