WASHINGTON — February was flood season at the Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON — A challenge to a federal law that authorized intercepting international communications involving Americans appeared to face an uphill climb at the Supreme Court on Monday, but not one quite as steep as many had anticipated.

WASHINGTON — Tenants in nearly one million apartments subject to New York City’s rent regulations could breathe a sigh of relief Monday. The U.S. Supreme Court, after indicating it might be interested in hearing a challenge to the regulations, decided to let them stand.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a pair of cases on whether corporations and political groups may be sued in U.S. courts for complicity in human rights abuses abroad.

WASHINGTON — The 2010 health care overhaul law has provoked an unprecedented clash between the federal government and 26 states, dividing them on fundamental questions about the very structure of the federal system. But the two sides share a surprising amount of common ground, too, starting with their agreement in briefs, filed Wednesday, that the Supreme Court should resolve the clash in its current term.

CHICAGO — Justice Sonia Sotomayor, speaking at a law school here Monday, said she had “taken heat” at her Supreme Court confirmation hearings two summers ago in part because she was the first Hispanic nominee.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal in the biggest employment discrimination case in the nation’s history, one claiming that Wal-Mart Stores discriminated against hundreds of thousands of women in pay and promotion. The lawsuit seeks back pay that could amount to billions of dollars.

WASHINGTON — Each year, 36 young lawyers obtain the most coveted credential in U.S. law: a Supreme Court clerkship. Clerking for a justice is a glittering capstone on a resume that almost always includes outstanding grades at a top law school, service on a law review and a prestigious clerkship with a federal appeals court judge.

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from a Christian student group that had been denied recognition by a public law school in California for excluding homosexuals and nonbelievers. The case pits anti-discrimination principles against religious freedom.

Ellen D. Katz is a liberal law professor and a big fan of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which she calls the most effective civil rights legislation in American history. “It’s sacred,” she said. “It’s holy.”