Carrie Johnson

The law firm hired by House Republicans to defend the Defense of Marriage Act has resigned the case. The Atlanta firm King & Spalding was under pressure from gay rights advocates. One of its partners, former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, is leaving the firm to defend DOMA himself.

This week, a federal jury in Virginia convicted mortgage executive Lee Farkas of fraud and conspiracy charges that could send him to prison for life.

Authorities say Farkas tried to defraud banks out of almost $3 billion, in one of the biggest cases to come out of the mortgage crisis. And that, critics say, is the problem.

Almost three years after the economy nearly collapsed, most top Wall Street banks and their executives have emerged with no criminal trouble. And that's making people angry.

Madoff And More

Last year's huge oil spill left an enduring mark on communities along the Gulf Coast. But courts are just starting to turn to the question of who's to blame for the disaster — and who should pay for it.

Hundreds of lawsuits are moving through a federal court in New Orleans; judges combined the cases to make it easier to handle them. Among those suing: restaurant owners, wildlife supporters and families of some of the 11 workers who died on the oil rig.

The Plaintiffs

On Monday, House Republicans are scheduled to weigh in with a federal court in New York on the side of a law called the Defense of Marriage Act.

Big majorities in Congress passed the law 15 years ago to define marriage as being between a man and a woman. Usually, it's the Justice Department that speaks up when federal laws are challenged in court. But in this case, the Obama administration has declined to defend a law it considers unconstitutional.

The decision generated controversy among conservatives and even within the Justice Department.

Ethics investigators in the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility have concluded their probe into the controversial New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case without finding any misconduct, they said in a letter to lawmakers obtained by NPR.

The letter by counsel Robin C. Ashton to members of the House Judiciary Committee reports that "department attorneys did not commit professional misconduct or exercise poor judgment, but rather acted appropriately."