Supreme decisions

Law: In the first weeks of a new term, the high court meditates on bad words, Gnostic gambits, dolphin rights, and compulsory union payments | Lynn Vincent

Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images

Fourteen: That's how many times the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in its fight to roll back compulsory unionism. They're going at it again in a high court term that, among other battles, pits environmentalism against national security, and defines the limits of free speech.

Fleeting profanity

On Nov. 4 the high court justices will hear arguments in a case prompted by entertainers' apparent affinity for the F-word. In 2002 and 2003, singer-actress Cher and actress Nicole Richie each used variations of the word in separate broadcasts of the Billboard Music Awards. In 2003, U2 lead singer Bono dropped an F-bomb during the Golden Globe Awards broadcast on NBC. Following the Bono offense, the FCC in 2004 declared that it would treat as illegal even a single use of particular profanities.