A lawsuit challenging a law that lets the United States eavesdrop on overseas communications more widely and with less judicial oversight than in the past was reinstated Monday by a federal appeals court that said new rules regarding surveillance had put lawyers, journalists and human rights groups in a "lose-lose situation."

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it took no position on the merits of the lawsuit brought by those in jobs that require them to speak with people overseas, saying only that the plaintiffs had legal standing to bring it against the latest version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl in Manhattan had sided with the government in a 2009 ruling, saying the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue since none of them could show they were subject to the surveillance. He said Americans' fears that their conversations would be monitored and their rights violated were "purely subjective."

Attorneys, journalists and human rights groups whose work might require speaking to possible surveillance targets had brought the lawsuit on constitutional grounds, saying new government procedures for eavesdropping on international communications forced them to take costly and burdensome steps to protect the confidentiality of their overseas communications.

In a lengthy written ruling, the 2nd Circuit said the plaintiffs had standing to sue in part because they had established that they had a reasonable fear of injury from the surveillance and had incurred costs to avoid it.

A North Dakota law firm accused of trying to collect a $3,800 debt after the statute of limitations expired is now the one that owes a lot of money.

An appellate court has upheld a $311,000 jury award to a Montana man who sued the firm in 2007 over a violation of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Johnson, Rodenburg & Lauinger appealed the April 2009 summary judgment and damages awarded to Timothy McCollough of Laurel. The case was heard in July by a special panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Billings, including retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

The panel issued a decision Friday upholding the damages. They include $1,000 statutory maximum for violating the debt collection law, $60,000 in punitive damages and $250,000 for emotional distress.

"I'm just so giddy it's all over. We're finally able to take a deep breath," McCullough told The Billings Gazette on Friday. "We knew we had a good case, but it just went on forever."

McCullough said he hoped the case showed debt collectors that "people are going to know they don't have to take the garbage. They can fight back."

A call from The Associated Press seeking comment from Johnson, Rodenburg & Lauinger on Tuesday was not immediately returned.

Former Iowa Supreme Court Justice Michael Streit has joined a Des Moines law firm.

Ahlers & Cooney, P.C., announced Monday that Streit will join the firm's litigation, dispute resolution and investigations practice area.

Streit was one of three Iowa Supreme Court justices ousted last fall over the court's 2009 decision legalizing same sex marriage in Iowa.

He was appointed to the Iowa Court of Appeals in 1996 and to the Iowa Supreme Court in 2001.

A Sheldon native, Streit received his bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa in 1972. He graduated from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1975.

He worked in private practice in Chariton and served as an assistant Lucas County attorney and county attorney until he was appointed district court judge in 1983.

A Pennsylvania bus company involved in a crash that killed the driver and a passenger in New Jersey has been taken off the road by federal transportation officials.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Wednesday that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has taken away permission for Super Luxury Tours Inc. to operate.

Speaking at a U.S. Senate hearing in Washington earlier Wednesday, New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg said Super Luxury's safety record is in the bottom 1 percent of motor coach companies.

A bus operated by the Wilkes-Barre, Pa., company crashed on the New Jersey Turnpike as it traveled from New York City's Chinatown to Philadelphia on March 14, killing the 50-year-old driver and a passenger and injuring several other passengers.

Evidence suggests the bus was southbound on the turnpike near Interchange 9 in East Brunswick when the vehicle went off the road onto the grassy median before striking a concrete overpass support. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and authorities have not ruled out the possibility that the driver may have been affected by a medical issue.

Gov. Deval Patrick is set to make his latest pick to the state’s highest court.

The governor has scheduled a Monday afternoon news conference at the Statehouse to nominate an associate justice to the Supreme Judicial Court. If confirmed, the person chosen would succeed Judith Cowin, who in January announced plans to retire after 11 years on the high court.

This will be the fourth associate justice that Patrick has selected to the SJC, meaning that he will now have personally selected a majority of the justices on the seven-member court, the oldest continuously serving court in the Western Hemisphere.

Patrick also elevated Roderick Ireland to chief justice of the SJC following the retirement last year of Margaret Marshall.

The official start of his second White House bid, in the midst of three wars, a budget fight with Congress, and sluggish economic recovery, comes 20 months before the November 2012 election.

"We've always known that lasting change wouldn't come quickly or easily. It never does," the Democrat said in an e-mail announcing his candidacy to more than 13 million supporters. "But as my administration and folks across the country fight to protect the progress we've made — and make more — we also need to begin mobilizing for 2012, long before the time comes for me to begin campaigning in earnest."

He told them he was filing the necessary paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, and directed them to his new campaign website where a launch video featured clips from supporters talking about their continued backing of the Democrat.

"I don't agree with Obama on everything but I respect him and I trust him," Ed from North Carolina says, delivering what's certain to become a key part of the president's pitch as he tries to re-energize liberal backers who have criticized some of his policies and independent voters who have fled from him in his first term.