A capacity crowd of about two thousand people heard US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor speak at the University of Illinois Krannert Center Monday night in Urbana. 

Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk has broken with fellow Republicans, and says President Obama should nominate a replacement for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.  The Senator says he swore an oath to uphold the constitution, "not to a party or any one individual.''

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.