The results of the vote in Iowa to oust three state Supreme Court justices surprised many people, not just in the Hawkeye State, but across the country.

It was the first time an Iowa Supreme Court justice has not been retained since 1962.

At the center of the 'no' votes against all three justices who were up for reelection was a 2009 ruling by the justices that legalized gay marriage...

A lawsuit filed against the healthcare bill the same day it was signed into law will result in a hearing in Lynchburg, Virginia, federal court today, following rulings from courts in Virginia and Florida that have denied the federal government's motion to dismiss similar grievances against the act.

Liberty Counsel, representing Liberty University and five other clients, filed the first lawsuit against so-called "ObamaCare" on March 23, the same day President Obama signed the measure into law. Since then, the federal government has asked the court to dismiss the case, saying there is no basis for it.

But Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver plans to tell the court that Congress has no authority to mandate that everyone purchase health insurance. However, if the courts say the government does have that right, Staver warns about the power that could give Congress in the future...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- One of the three lawsuits filed against the pro-abortion ObamaCare health care reform has been placed on a fast track for a federal appeals court. A Michigan federal judge issued the first ruling in any of the cases and now has allowed the case to move quickly to an appeals court.

Earlier this month, U.S. District Court Judge George Steeh in Detroit rejected some of the claims filed in the lawsuit presented by the Thomas More Law Center, a pro-life legal group, saying Congress overreached in passing the law.

The lawsuit says Congress exceeded the powers it has under the Commerce Clause in instituting a penalty for people who fail to purchase health insurance under the exchanges...

The chairman of a conservative political action committee is not surprised by a California judge's decision to order the Pentagon to suspend investigations related to a controversial military policy, and he doesn't think the Department of Justice plans to appeal.

U.S. District Court Judge Virginia A. Phillips ordered an injunction last week, commanding officials to stop enforcing the policy against homosexuals in the military. Phillips struck down the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy last month, but Chuck Muth, chairman of Citizen Outreach PAC, thinks Congress would have had to deal with the policy eventually.

"I think it was only a matter of time before this got tossed out, and Congress is just going to have to deal with the situation again and find a different way to fix it," he suggests...

Detroit (AP) - A federal judge on Thursday upheld the authority of the federal government to require everyone to have health insurance, dealing a setback to groups seeking to block the new national health care plan.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in Michigan by a Christian legal group and four people who claimed lawmakers exceeded their power under the Constitution's commerce clause, which authorizes Congress to regulate trade.

But Judge George Caram Steeh in Detroit said the mandate to get insurance by 2014 and the financial penalty for skipping coverage are legal. He said Congress was trying to lower the overall cost of insurance by requiring participation...

A recent poll shows that several judges who voted for homosexual "marriage" in Iowa may be on the search for new jobs by the time the retention election comes to pass.

According to the Des Moines Register, it is possible that all the judges will be removed, even though no Iowa judge has ever lost a judicial retention election.

"A stunning new poll shows that three of the seven judges who voted to impose 'gay marriage' in Iowa are in real trouble in their judicial retention elections, and this is shocking for Iowa because it's never happened in living memory," explains Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage. "No one can remember a time a judge did not win their judicial retention election"...

(CNSNews.com) - A federal court judge in Madison, Wis., has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of engravings of the National Motto -- “In God We Trust” -- and the Pledge of Allegiance at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C.

U.S. District Judge William M. Conley ruled that the atheist Freedom From Religious Foundation did not have the legal standing to sue the Architect of the Capitol – the office responsible for the Capitol building and grounds – to remove the engravings and that it was pointless to try to stop the engravings, since they have already been made.

The judge noted that under prior Supreme Court precedents, taxpayers can only bring legal challenges for perceived injuries if the injuries are directly tied to specific appropriations by Congress...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Obama administration argued with an appeals court on Monday to overturn the decision a federal judge issued to temporarily halt taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research that destroys human lives to produce. They claimed the temporary funding ban would hurt scientific research.

A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is considering whether or not to reverse the temporary injunction U.S. district court Judge Royce Lamberth granted while the lawsuit continues.

The Obama administration appealed the decision and the U.S. Court of Appeals put the injunction on hold pending today's hearing...

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge says he likely will let go to trial portions of a lawsuit by Florida and 19 other states challenging the president's health care overhaul as unconstitutional.

But U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson said at a Tuesday hearing in Pensacola that he expects to dismiss other parts.

Judge Vinson didn't specify which parts of the lawsuit likely will go to trial but said he will issue a ruling by Oct. 14...

The military will not reinstate any gay service members discharged under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy despite a judge's ruling last week that the policy is unconstitutional, the Pentagon said Monday.

Though the ruling gave a boost to gay rights activists trying to overturn the policy via Congress and the courts, a Pentagon spokeswoman said the decision has no bearing on military policy.

"This ruling has no impact on the current law. The current law is still in effect," spokeswoman Cynthia Smith told FoxNews.com...