PHILADELPHIA — A federal appeals court on Tuesday reinstated a lawsuit challenging the New York Police Department's surveillance of Muslim groups in New Jersey after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, saying any resulting harm came from the city's tactics, not the media's reporting of them.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, reversing a judge's decision last year to dismiss the case, found the Muslim plaintiffs raised sufficient allegations of religious-freedom and equal-protection violations and put the case on track for trial. The court compared the spying to other instances of heightened scrutiny of religious and ethnic groups, including Japanese-Americans during World War II.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Maybe Rep. Paul Ryan doesn't feel like a character in the classic film "The Godfather," weighing an offer he can't refuse. But with Republican Party elders practically begging him to become the next House speaker, the pressure on him to seek the post is immense.
Yet with the House tumbling through a chaotic period as hard-right conservatives make the chamber nearly unmanageable, there are plenty of compelling reasons to decline the job, too.
