Supreme Court, Courts | featured news

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte and the Western District of North Carolina obtained record collections - more than $5 billion - in civil and criminal actions in 2012.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned down an opportunity to consider whether states can ban the insanity defense in criminal cases. Most states permit a defendant to claim the defense of not guilty by reason of insanity.

An appeals court in New York ruled on Thursday that a law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman is unconstitutional. It was the second federal appeals court to reject the law, which could go before the Supreme Court soon.

Artists who work at the Supreme Court regularly say they never see Todd Crespi, who sells paintings of oral arguments.