TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said Tuesday that the scene at President Obama's first State of the Union address was "very troubling" and that the annual speech to Congress has "degenerated into a political pep rally."

Responding to a University of Alabama law student's question about the Senate's method of confirming justices, Justice Roberts said senators improperly try to make political points by asking questions they know nominees can't answer because of judicial ethics rules.

"I think the process is broken down," he said.

During the January address, with six of the court's nine justices seated before him in their black robes, Mr. Obama chided the court for its campaign finance decision...

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court appeared willing Tuesday to say that the U.S. Constitution's right to possess guns limits state and local regulation of firearms. But the justices also suggested that some gun control measures might not be affected.

At the very least, Tuesday's argument suggested that courts could be very busy in the years ahead determining precisely which gun laws are allowed under the Constitution's Second Amendment "right to keep and bear arms," and which must be stricken.

The court heard arguments in a case that challenges handgun bans in the Chicago area by asking the high court to extend to state and local jurisdictions the sweep of its 2008 decision striking down a gun ban in the federal enclave of Washington, D.C.

The biggest questions before the court seemed to be how, rather than whether, to issue such a ruling and whether some regulation of firearms could survive.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Gun control advocates think, if not pray, they can win by losing when the Supreme Court decides whether the constitutional right to possess guns serves as a check on state and local regulation of firearms.

The justices will be deciding whether the Second Amendment - like much of the rest of the Bill of Rights - applies to states as well as the federal government. It's widely believed they will say it does.

But even if the court strikes down handgun bans in Chicago and its suburb of Oak Park, Ill., that are at issue in the argument to be heard Tuesday, it could signal that less severe rules or limits on guns are permissible...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The main talk in the nation's capital today is that President Barack Obama may have the chance to appoint two new Supreme Court justices soon. That's because two of the members of the high court's 5-4 pro-abortion majority are facing advancing age and health issues and may consider retirement.

Obama's ability to appoint another pro-abortion stalwart to the high court after his naming Justice Sonia Sotomayor, would have the effect of further entrenching the Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions.

Together they allowed for virtually unlimited abortions and have resulted in more than 52 million abortions in the decades following 1973.

Today, ABC News indicates top Obama administration attorneys are preparing background information on several potential nominees because they are expecting not one, but two retirements between now and when Obama runs for re-election in 2012...

A conservative legal scholar and former member of the Federal Election Commission says President Obama made two claims in his State of the Union speech about the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case that are "categorically and undeniable false."

During his address last Wednesday, the president asserted that the Supreme Court had "reversed a century of law to open the floodgates -- including foreign corporations -- to spend without limits in our elections."

Hans von Spakovsky, a legal scholar at The Heritage Foundation, notes that Congress did not ban independent political expenditures by corporations and labor unions until 1947 -- but for three decades after the law was passed, the Supreme Court "went out of its way" to avoid upholding its constitutionality.

Hans von SpakovskyHe says it is also "completely wrong" for the president to claim the Supreme Court has cleared the way for "foreign corporations" to spend without limit on U.S. elections...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Supreme Court observers are focusing on an aspect of last Thursday's decision to overturn a national campaign finance reform law that shows the high court could establish a legal basis for overturning the Roe v. Wade decision that has resulted in 52 million abortions.

The high court also overturned a law that had been on the books for more than a century.

During his confirmations hearing Chief Justice John Roberts talked about the importance of precedent and members of the Senate asked him if he respected the supposed precedent of Roe.

“It's settled as a precedent of the court, entitled to respect under principles of stare decisis,” Roberts said at the time.

But, in last Thursday’s 5-to-4 Citizens United v.

Washington (AP) - A bitterly divided Supreme Court vastly increased the power of big business and unions to influence government decisions Thursday by freeing them to spend their millions directly to sway elections for president and Congress.

The ruling reversed a century-long trend to limit the political muscle of corporations, organized labor and their massive war chests. It also recast the political landscape just as crucial midterm election campaigns are getting under way.

In its sweeping 5-4 ruling, the court set the stage for a wave of likely repercussions -- from new pressures on lawmakers to heed special interest demands to increasingly boisterous campaigns featuring highly charged ads that drown out candidate voices...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will hear a new case about the rights of Guantanamo detainees, this time involving prisoners who remain in custody even after the Pentagon determines they're not a threat to the United States.

The high court said it will take a challenge from Chinese Muslims at the U.S. naval base in Cuba who no longer are classified as enemy combatants. Last year, the court said in a 5-4 ruling that federal judges could ultimately order some detainees to be released, depending on security concerns and other circumstances.

But a federal appeals court overturned a judge's order to do just that in the case of the Chinese Muslims, or Uighurs, saying judges lacked authority to order detainees released into the United States...

WASHINGTON – Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has temporarily blocked Washington state officials from releasing the names of people who signed a ballot measure on gay rights.

Kennedy's ruling Monday temporarily blocks a federal appeals court ruling last week that ordered the release of the names. Kennedy said his order would remain in effect while he considers a request by a pro-marriage group that asked him to reverse the appeals court ruling.

The case involves Referendum 71, a ballot initiative that asks Washington voters to approve or reject the state's so-called "everything but marriage" law, which grants registered domestic partners the same legal rights as married heterosexuals...

The Supreme Court took no action Tuesday on a controversial appeal asking the justices to keep under wraps classified photographs of War on Terror detainees that have been likened to the infamous pictures at Abu Ghraib prison.

The court's consideration of the case coincides with congressional efforts to pass a law giving the secretary of defense the authority to exempt the photographs from Freedom of Information Act disclosures. A measure to do that passed a joint conference committee of the House and Senate last week.

The justices were scheduled to discuss the matter in their closed-door meeting Friday but may have been persuaded to postpone judgment by the government, which last week sent a letter to the court asking them not to move on the case...