Are aggressive, expensive elections corrupting the court system? Or are they evidence of a strong democracy? The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states can prohibit judges from openly asking for money to pay for their judicial campaigns.

“Judges are not politicians,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts, “even when they come to the bench by way of the ballot.”

Exotic dancers, on-call drivers and writers might have a different name for what they do — freelancing, part-time work and independent contracting — but it all means the same thing. Work that doesn’t start at 9 and end at 5. And sure, it has its perks but do 1099 workers have protections?

A triple murder, a habitual liar on a stolen motorcycle and a confession that doesn’t add up.
Why would anyone confess to a crime they didn’t commit? On Life of the Law, the story of a man
dying of cancer on Texas’s Death Row who confessed to a crime he says he didn’t do.

In the 1980s, the world’s two largest diaper companies set out to destroy each other in a patent battle known as “the Diaper Wars.” The court battles lasted seven years and cost millions of dollars. What did we get out of it? Better diapers — and one very messy lesson in patent law.