A divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday struck down as unconstitutional the ban on political and public issue advertisements on noncommercial radio and television stations, rejecting the government’s concern about the dilution of educational programming.

Employers got most of what they wanted in the long-awaited Brinker meal-and-rest-break opinion issued Thursday by the California Supreme Court. But workers won some victories, too, and the court appeared to stick up for class actions more broadly, in contrast to some recent U.S.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved three judicial nominees Thursday, among hints that a dispute about President Barack Obama’s controversial recess appointees could stall their confirmations by the full Senate.

Celebrated civil rights attorney John Payton, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, died late Thursday following a brief illness. Payton was one of the first African-American partners at a major law firm in Washington and a renowned member of the U.S. Supreme Court bar.

A federal bankruptcy judge agreed Thursday to allow more than 30 attorneys to question Ponzi scammer Scott Rothstein at a deposition in June.