Calif. lawyers reap financial benefits from voting rights law they wrote. Every lawsuit filed or even threatened under a California law aimed at electing more minorities to local offices ? and all of the roughly $4.3 million from settlements so far ? can be traced to just two people: a pair of attorneys who worked together writing the statute, The Associated Press has found.

FBI's file on Studs Terkel shows agency kept tabs on Chicago author for decades. Long before the FBI identified him as a suspected communist and spent decades watching him and talking to confidential informants about him, late Chicago author Studs Terkel came to the agency for a job.

Federal appeals court to consider suit challenging Michigan's affirmative action ban. A federal appeals court is about to consider a lawsuit challenging Michigan's ban against racial preferences in public university admissions and government hiring.

Ten months after Democrats took over the Capitol and the first African-American president moved into the White House, black lawmakers are in control of some of the most powerful positions in Congress ? and face new challenges to using their long-sought influence.

Black lawmakers face unexpected challenges now that they have seized unprecedented power. Ten months after Democrats took over the Capitol and the first African-American president moved into the White House, black lawmakers are in control of some of the most powerful positions in Congress ? and face new challenges to using their long-sought influence.

Black lawmakers face unexpected challenges now that they have seized unprecedented power. Ten months after Democrats took over the Capitol and the first African-American president moved into the White House, black lawmakers are in control of some of the most powerful positions in Congress ? and face new challenges to using their long-sought influence.

Government pressure on companies linked to social media networks is threatening to infringe civil liberties, an Internet forum in Egypt heard on Wednesday.

Maine author wins National Book Award for account of young civil rights pioneer. Maine author Phillip Hoose said winning a National Book Award for his chronicle of a young civil rights pioneer was all the more moving because she took the stage with him when he accepted the honor.

Maine author wins National Book Award for account of young civil rights pioneer. Maine author Phillip Hoose said winning a National Book Award for his chronicle of a young civil rights pioneer was all the more moving because she took the stage with him when he accepted the honor.

A glance at the California Voting Rights Act. NAME: California Voting Rights Act

Every lawsuit filed or even threatened under a California law aimed at electing more minorities to local offices ? and all of the roughly $4.3 million from settlements so far ? can be traced to just two people: a pair of attorneys who worked together writing the statute, The Associated Press has found.

Calif. lawyers reap financial benefits from voting rights law they wrote. Every lawsuit filed or even threatened under a California law aimed at electing more minorities to local offices ? and all of the roughly $4.3 million from settlements so far ? can be traced to just two people: a pair of attorneys who worked together writing the statute, The Associated Press has found.

WASHINGTON To understand just how difficult it is to get anything done in the Senate, a dose of history can help.

De facto leaders in Honduras threatened to close Brazil's embassy for harboring ousted President Manuel Zelaya and moved to suppress dissent with a clampdown on civil liberties.

Courts let 3 post-9/11 lawsuits try to hold Bush officials personally liable for terror policy. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft and one of his hardline lieutenants face the rare prospect of being held personally liable for alleged violations of individuals' rights in the aggressive aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

In rare decisions, judges allow suits to advance against former Bush administration officials. High-ranking government officials are usually protected from claims that they violated a person's civil rights. In lawsuits stemming from law enforcement and intelligence efforts after the Sept. 11 attacks, three federal courts have left open the possibility that former Attorney General John Ashcroft and a lieutenant may be held personally liable.

The United States denied Tuesday that its criticism of ousted President Manuel Zelaya as "irresponsible and foolish" for returning to Honduras marked a change in US policy on the crisis.

Prayers for peaceful end to King sibling feud in spirit of civil rights icon and his wife. A follower of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is invoking the spirit of the civil rights icon and his wife, Coretta, in praying for a peaceful resolution to the legal battle among the King children.

Pressure mounted Tuesday on leaders of the coup-backed regime in Honduras to revoke a decree curbing civil rights, as ousted President Manuel Zelaya called for protests against the clampdown.

Honduran de facto leaders reconsidered a clampdown on civil rights Tuesday, amid growing divisions over how to resolve the crisis set off by the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya.