Court upholds federal abortion ban  —  Dividing 5-4, the Supreme Court on Wednesday gave a sweeping — and only barely qualified — victory to the federal government and to other opponents of abortion, upholding the 2003 law that banned what are often called "partial-birth abortions."

Justices uphold ban on abortion procedure … WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a law that banned a type of late-term abortion, a ruling that could portend enormous social, legal and political implications for the divisive issue.  —  The sharply divided 5-4 ruling could prove historic.

Court Backs Ban on Late-Term Abortion Procedure  —  The Supreme Court today narrowly upheld a nationwide ban on a controversial late-term abortion procedure, voting for the first time to restrict abortion rights and handing a major victory to President Bush and his social conservative allies.

"Today's decision is alarming."  —  Justice Ginsburg penned a moving dissent from today's Supreme Court opinion upholding the Federal Abortion Ban.  Some highlights: … She goes on to note that the court's previous ruling, in Stenberg v. Carhart, struck down a "partial-birth" abortion ban because it lacked a health exception.

Two-Hour Delay Is Linked to Bad Lead  —  The police identified Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old student, as the killer of 32 people in the shooting rampage at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, releasing new information on Tuesday about the troubled mind of a young man few people on campus knew.

VT Killer Ruled Mentally Ill by Court; Let Go After Hospital Visit  —  Harassed Two Female Students; Concerns He Was Suicidal  —  A Virginia court found that Virginia Tech killer Seung-Hui Cho was "mentally ill" and potentially dangerous.  Then the state let him go.

Killer Reax  —  People with guns stop killers."  —  Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom: "Nanny-Statism — in its efforts to protect — succeeds only in infantilizing the culture."  —  Harry Reid, rare moment of clarity, warns against a rush to gun control.