A federal appellate panel ruled on Thursday that a San Francisco judge abused his discretion by ordering the release of a video recording of the trial over California’s Proposition 8, saying that he ignored a promise upon which supporters of the ban on gay marriage relied.

Four months after ordering the release of a man who killed his wife, the 2nd Circuit has reversed itself “after much reflection” and yielded to the “double deference” the U.S. Supreme Court says is owed the state courts on habeas petitions.

A lawyer’s attempt to shield himself from discipline via a release in a divorce agreement was not only void — it was itself an ethics violation, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled, finding that the lawyer knew the release was unenforceable but included it as a tactical block against the client’s wife.

U.S.

A Pennsylvania jury has found an $80 million global settlement of more than 500 claims relating to the release of radiation at two nuclear plants was fair and reasonable, paving the way for the insurance company to have to cover the settlement paid out by two companies that ran the plants.