The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had the legal authority to retroactively veto a water pollution permit for one of West Virginia's largest mountaintop removal coal mines years after it was issued, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed a lower court's ruling in a case that has economic implications across coal country and potentially the nation. The case goes back to U.S. District Court for further proceedings.

The appellate court directed Judge Amy Berman Jackson to address the coal industry's argument that the EPA's action was an "arbitrary and capricious" violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, an issue she has not previously ruled on.

The holder of the permit, St. Louis-based Arch Coal, said it was disappointed in the ruling, but downplayed it as being "related to procedural aspects" of the case.

A federal appeals court has rejected an appeal from a white supremacist who challenged his murder conviction after his defense attorneys tried to pick a jury with as many black members as possible.

Chevie Kehoe was sentenced to life in prison for the 1996 killings of an Arkansas family. His accomplice received a death sentence.

Kehoe argues that he received ineffectual counsel because of his attorneys' jury-selection strategy. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Kehoe's conviction Monday.

The opinion says Kehoe's attorneys made a "strategic decision" to pick black jurors because the attorneys thought black jurors would be less likely than whites to impose the death penalty.

The 8th Circuit says that although the attorneys' strategy may have been "misguided," it's not enough to throw out Kehoe's conviction.

A defense lawyer has fallen ill, causing a delay in the murder trial of Philadelphia abortion provider Kermit Gosnell.

The 72-year-old Gosnell is charged with killing a patient and seven babies.

The defense had been expected to start presenting its case Monday after five weeks of prosecution testimony.

The trial is now scheduled to resume Tuesday if defense lawyer Jack McMahon is back to work.

McMahon has argued that there were no live births at the clinic, and that the 41-year-old patient died of unforeseen complications in 2009.

The only co-defendant, unlicensed doctor Eileen O'Neill, is charged with racketeering and working without a license. Her lawyer says she worked under Gosnell's supervision.

For the second time in three years, a federal judge has dismissed Viacom's $1 billion copyright lawsuit against YouTube, saying the online video site doesn't have to police itself as long as it removes infringing videos when copyright owners give notice.

U.S. District Court Judge Louis Stanton in New York ruled Thursday that Viacom never proved YouTube was aware of thousands of videos Viacom said were stolen from its TV networks such as Comedy Central and BET.

Viacom Inc. said it will appeal.

"This ruling ignores the opinions of the higher courts and completely disregards the rights of creative artists," the company said in a statement.

The ruling upholds Stanton's original decision from June 2010 and leaves in place the current understanding of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Stanton also ruled that YouTube did not act with "willful blindness" to the issue, noting that in 2007 it removed 100,000 videos in one day after being notified by Viacom they were infringing.

A man who the FBI said wanted to wage violent jihad in Africa pleaded on guilty on Friday to a charge of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

Randy Lamar Wilson, 26, pleaded guilty in federal court in Mobile. Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, he could face 15 years in federal prison, contingent on the information he provides about co-conspirators. U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose set an Oct. 18 sentencing date for Wilson.

Wilson was arrested in December at the Atlanta airport while boarding a flight with his family to Mauritania.

The same day, agents arrested 25-year-old Mohammad Abdul Rahman Abukhdair, Wilson's former business partner. Charges against Abukhdair are still pending and his trial is set for August.

Federal prosecutors portrayed Wilson as an Islamic radical who wanted to reunite with Omar Hammami, an American who also grew up in Alabama and became one of the most well-known jihadists in Somalia.

Wilson told DuBose on Friday that he believed the government could prove that he intended to participate in violent jihad overseas.

Federal prosecutors said Wilson intended to "murder, maim and kidnap" people overseas.

Geragos & Geragos is a Los Angeles-based law firm that works with many high profile clients on criminal defense cases, civil litigation and appeals.

Mark J. Geragos is known for his voracious defense and long success record, and has appeared regularly as a guest and legal commentator on shows like “Good Morning America” and “Larry King Live.”

He’s also won many awards and recognitions for his work in the courtroom.

If you’re interested in seeing the kind of high-profile clients he’s represented, take a look at the Clients page on his website.

California's novel law seeking to ban licensed counselors from trying to turn gay teens straight is boiling down to a question over whether the therapy is free speech or a medical treatment that can be regulated by government.

It's the "pivot point" of the legal debate, Judge Morgan Christen of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Wednesday.

Morgan and two other judges on the nation's largest federal appellate court considered 90 minutes of legal arguments over the ban on "sexual-orientation change" counseling of minors, which other states are considering.

The three-judge panel is considering two challenges to the law approved in California last fall. It took no action Wednesday and will issue a written ruling later.

The law was to go into effect Jan. 1, but the court put it on hold pending its decision.

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski noted the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a California ban of violent video games because the state failed to show a compelling reason to infringe on game-makers free speech rights to manufacture the products.

He said it appeared the same argument could be applied to the evidence lawmakers relied on in passing the prohibition on sexual-orientation change therapy.