The high court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from the state of Georgia over attorney fees for lawyers who sued to force dramatic changes in Georgia's foster care system.

U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob awarded them $10.5 million in attorney fees, a $4.5 million enhancement on top of a $6 million award. Shoob said he increased the award because of the exceptional results that children's advocates achieved. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to overturn his decision.

The class-action lawsuit against Georgia, settled in 2005, prompted the state to reduce worker case loads, improve investigations into abuse and prevent overcrowding in foster homes. Gov. Sonny Perdue, one of the defendants in the lawsuit, authorized hiring 500 additional child welfare workers.

Shoob said the attorneys deserved the award because their lawsuit had beneficial results despite the state's resistance to reform. The state settled the case after fighting it for nearly three years.

Lawyers for Georgia say appeals courts around the nation have split on whether a judge can give lawyers extra money based on their performance.

The high court, in an unanimous opinion Monday, reversed a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, ending the tribe's fight with the government.

"Today we hold, once again, that the tribe's claim for compensation fails," said Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the court. "This matter should now be regarded as closed."

The sprawling Navajo reservation, which is the nation's largest, covers part of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. The Peabody Coal Co. has mined coal on tribal lands for decades, paying the tribe taxes and mineral royalties.

In 1985, the tribe alleged that Peabody conspired with then-Interior Secretary Donald Hodel to persuade the tribe to accept a lower royalty than other government officials believed the tribe should be paid.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema told a gathering at the University of Virginia law school that the courts' ability to handle even the most complicated terrorism cases was demonstrated by the prosecution of terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui in her courtroom.

She also said the government should not abuse classification procedures to suppress information about mistreatment of detainees. She said it's been her experience that much of what the government seeks to keep classified has more to do with avoiding embarrassment than divulging secrets.

"As embarrassing and as ugly as some of this information might be, it is not in my view national security information," she said.

Her remarks come as the Obama administration decides what to do with detainees at Guantanamo, which it wants to close by January 2010.

One option is to bring suspected terrorists to trial in the United States, though some critics have questioned whether traditional courts can handle the volume of classified information involved. Some argue that military courts or a some sort of hybrid national security court would provide a better forum.

The lengthy legal tussle between America’s Cup sailing teams BMW Oracle Racing and Alinghi over who has the right to challenge Alinghi for the next Cup appears to have taken a decisive tack in BMW Oracle's favor.

On Thursday, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled that BMW Oracle, the American-based syndicate that represents Golden Gate Yacht Club in San Francisco, should be restored as challenger of record for the oldest major trophy in international sport.

The verdict, a unanimous 6-0 decision, overturned a ruling last year that would have allowed the Spanish-based Club Nautico Español de Vela, or CNEV, to remain Alinghi's primary challenger.

The decision opens the way for an unconventional Cup at some stage in the next year in which BMW Oracle and Alinghi could face each other in a best-of-three regatta in massive, new-age catamarans. But there is also the possibility that Alinghi’s owner, Ernesto Bertarelli, and Larry Ellison, his counterpart at BMW Oracle, could, with the legal situation resolved, resume negotiations and agree on terms for a conventional multi-challenger regatta to be staged in 2010 or 2011.

Reached by e-mail, Bertarelli initially declined to comment. In an interview in December prior to the verdict, he indicated that he was unlikely to pursue further legal action if this appeal — in New York’s highest court — went against his team.

Jane Eagleson, a spokeswoman for BMW Oracle, said, “We’re obviously pleased with the court decision today, and we’re carefully studying the decision and expect to have further comment in the next few days.”

Rapprochement has proved elusive between Bertarelli and Ellison, both of whom sail on their yachts during competition. They were once on friendly terms but have been transformed into bitter rivals off the water by the 21-month dispute over the terms of the next Cup. The court battle has forced other would-be challengers to disband or drastically reduce their payrolls while they waited for clarity.

In its decision, the court upheld a 2007 district court judge's ruling that the law violates the state constitution. It strikes the language from Iowa code limiting marriage to only between a man a woman.

"The court reaffirmed that a statute inconsistent with the Iowa constitution must be declared void even though it may be supported by strong and deep-seated traditional beliefs and popular opinion," said a summary of the ruling issued by the court.

The ruling set off celebration among the state's gay-marriage proponents.

"Iowa is about justice, and that's what happened here today," said Laura Fefchak, who was hosting a verdict party in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale with partner of 13 years, Nancy Robinson.

Papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan in the civil case against Madoff, 70, asked a judge to include personal assets among those of his firm being gathered under the auspices of a bankruptcy court to pay back fraud victims.

A court-appointed trustee is winding down Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC to find assets to sell to return money to thousands of his former customers. But there is no trustee of personal assets of the man who pleaded guilty on March 12 to running Wall Street's biggest investment fraud.

"The recovery of Madoff's assets which may have been been transferred to family members or third parties may be more easily recovered in a bankruptcy proceeding for Madoff himself, rather than less directly in the bankruptcy case of the Madoff securities firm," said Jonathan Landers, a lawyer for scores of Madoff customers represented by Milberg LLP and Seeger Weiss LLP, which filed the request.