So now, some lawyers for the local phone industry are thinking that it may actually be better for them to lose in the Supreme Court by having the justices declare that the commission does indeed have jurisdiction.

The justices declared that parents have a "fundamental right to make decisions concerning the care, custody and control" of their children.

But the prospect that the justices would declare the entire 2003 enterprise to be invalid appeared slight.

And five justices declare that governments may not condemn speech merely for its hateful content.

In an order that allowed manual recounts to resume, the justices declared that the will of the voter should take precedence over "hyper-technical reliance upon statutory provisions."

He wants the justices to declare that in an age of supersonic jets, cellular telephones and fax machines, being away is as good as being there, and sometimes better.

But in a groundbreaking 1988 ruling overturning another death sentence, the justices declared that the death penalty cannot be imposed unless prosecutors prove intent to kill.

"I am not a censor, and I'm not going to engage in any act of censorship," the justice, Irma Vidal Santaella, declared in State Supreme Court.

In 1900 the justices, by a vote of four to one, declared unconstitutional important legislation enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly of 1899-1900, which was controlled by Democrats.

John H. Lynch, the Democrat who defeated him in last November's election, opposes the law and has filed a brief in the Supreme Court urging the justices to declare it unconstitutional.