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Privacy is certainly a hot topic in Congress these days. Yet as fast as bills are introduced to address the potential harm from ubiquitous gathering of personal information (five this year so far), new and seemingly more insidious methods of information gathering are brought to light. Just last month, The Wall Street Journal broke a story about how iPhone, iPad and Android smartphones regularly transmit location data back to Apple and Google

The legal battle over the federal health care act has made it to the next level. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday heard arguments in the first two cases to advance from the trial court level to a federal appeals court, en route to a likely showdown in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The legal battle over the federal health care act has made it to the next level. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday heard arguments in the first two cases to advance from the trial court level to a federal appeals court, en route to a likely showdown in the U.S. Supreme Court.

When it comes to civic engagement — voting, participation in town meetings, political involvement and the like — apathy is often cited as the primary reason that most people do not get involved. Dave Meslin, a community activist and self-described “rabble-rouser” in Toronto, Canada, says we need to redefine apathy not as some internal syndrome, but as a complex web of cultural barriers that reinforce disengagement.

A state’s acceptance of federal funding does not equal a waiver of its sovereign immunity from private suits for money damages under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.

A freight services company is vicariously liable for a fatal multi-vehicle accident caused by a driver-owned tractor-trailer, an Illinois appellate court has ruled in affirming a $24 million jury verdict. A tractor-trailer ran over several vehicles on an interstate highway when the driver was unable to stop in time upon encountering a traffic jam.

An attorney could not enforce a contingent fee agreement executed by a parent on behalf of an injured child, the Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled.

Foreclosure activity in the nation hit a three-year low in February, according to data released Thursday by California-based RealtyTrac.

But whether the latest figures are a sign that the foreclosure crisis is abating is open to debate.

A bill that exempts estates smaller than $5 million ($10 million for married couples) from the federal estate tax, and creates a maximum estate tax rate of 35 percent, has passed the House and Senate and was signed by President Barack Obama.

Just weeks after making headlines for a phone call that revived a decades-old controversy surrounding her husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas is stepping down as head of the conservative group she founded earlier this year.

It seems like anyone with an e-mail account could've seen this one coming.