The Supreme Court's conservative majority made it harder for people to band together to sue the nation's largest businesses in the two most far-reaching rulings of the term the justices are wrapping up on Monday.

The two cases putting new limits on class-action lawsuits were among more than a dozen in which the justices divided 5-4 along familiar ideological lines, with the winning side determined by the vote of Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Women made up one-third of the nine-member court for the first time ever this year, but missing from the court's docket was a case that could be called historic.

Next year and 2013 could look very different, with potentially divisive and consequential cases on immigration, gay marriage and health care making their way to the high court.

The makeup of the court, however, is not expected to change.

Chief Justice John Roberts said the court would finish its business on Monday when the justices will announce decisions in four remaining cases, including two First Amendment disputes.

In one, video game makers are leading a challenge to a California law that bars the sale or rental of violent video games to children. The case was argued nearly eight months ago, when it appeared a majority of the court was inclined to strike down the law.

A Pennsylvania man was found guilty Saturday in the 2009 killings of three Pittsburgh police officers who responded to his mother's 911 call about an escalating argument.

The jury deliberated for just over three hours before returning the verdict against 24-year-old Richard Poplawski. He was found guilty of all 28 counts he faced. He was found guilty of first-degree murder in all three killings, the three most serious charges he faced.

About 50 Pittsburgh police officers lined the hallway outside Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning's courtroom and burst into applause when Deputy District Attorney Mark Tranquilli emerged.

Poplawski did not comment as he was taken from the courtroom, and the judge ordered his mother, Margaret, removed as well after she stood up. Manning said he was concerned she was about to create an outburst and had sheriff's deputies remove her as a precaution.

As a result, Margaret Poplawski was not immediately available for comment after the verdict.

The trial now enters a penalty phase in which the jury will hear evidence about his mental state, background and other factors before determining if Poplawski gets the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

The boundaries of free speech in Europe widened Thursday after a Dutch court acquitted politician Geert Wilders of inciting hatred against Muslims when he compared Islam with Naziism and called for a ban on the Quran.

Political analysts say the ruling will likely embolden Wilders and other right-wing populists across the continent to ramp up their anti-immigrant rhetoric, with remarks like Wilders' call for a "head rag tax" now squarely within the boundaries of fair political debate.

The ruling did lay down a clear limit: Calls for violence remain out of bounds. Wilders, who has lived under constant police protection due to death threats since 2004, has never called for violence or endorsed it.

Presiding Judge Marcel van Oosten said some of Wilders' comments — such as saying foreign influences are "breeding" in the Netherlands and threatening to overrun Dutch culture — may be "crude and denigrating." But he said they did not amount to inciting hatred and must be seen in a wider context of a fierce national debate over immigration policy and multiculturalism.

While the United States has enshrined the right to freedom of speech in its Constitution, many European nations introduced hate-speech laws in the wake of World War II, determined to prevent the scapegoating of minorities.