Justice Antonin Scalia is dead. The influential conservative and provocative member of the Supreme Court was 79. The U.S. Marshals Service confirmed Scalia's death at a private residence in the Big Bend area of South Texas. The service's spokeswoman says Scalia was found dead Saturday morning when he did not appear for breakfast.
The U.S. Supreme Court will not get the last word on Illinois’ attempts to cut government pension costs; a 2013 pension law is dead, for good. There'd been a slim possibility the law would have another big day in court.
The imprisoned Democratic former governor had hoped the full court in Chicago might overturn more of his 18 convictions than the five counts a three-judge panel tossed in July.
Advocates in Illinois are celebrating the Supreme Court's ruling making same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states. Equality Illinois says the ruling sends a powerful message that LGBT Americans "should be treated equally and justly in all facets of life.''
The Supreme Court has declared that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States. Gay and lesbian couples already can marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia.
