The most significant change would allow judges who handle these lawsuits to offer plaintiffs the opportunity to opt out of a settlement.

Some 100 federal laws, including most civil rights and environmental statutes, allow judges to award lawyers' fees to plaintiffs who are the prevailing parties.

Hoping to avoid a showdown, a bipartisan group of senators cut a side deal that allowed certain judges to move forward.

The measure allows judges to sentence nonviolent offenders to jail or probation.

The new law allows judges to sentence such offenders to jail.

This change allows judges to sentence individuals convicted of drug offences to treatment or to short sentences.

The event allows judges from around the world to sample and vote for their favorite marijuana varieties.

Guidelines did not even limit pensions to mother's thus allowing judges to grant them to father's.

The federal judiciary uses a closed computer system to allow judges and others to communicate internally.

The proposal would allow hundreds more judges to be candidates for those rarefied positions.