Drugmaker Merck & Co. doesn't have to cover medical-monitoring expenses for Vioxx users who aren't claiming injury from the recalled painkiller, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled.

Phyllis Sinclair and Joseph Murray sued Merck in 2004, seeking to have the company fund a medical-screening program for U.S. consumers who took Vioxx for at least six weeks. New Jersey law requires plaintiffs to show physical injury, the Supreme Court said in an opinion.

In addition to punitive damages, the suit sought to have the Whitehouse Station, N. J.-based company fund a screening program to provide diagnostic tests for each member of the proposed class and a follow-up with an epidemiologist.

Conservative religious and legal groups had asked the California Supreme Court to stop its May 15 order requiring state and local officials to sanction same-sex unions from becoming effective until voters have the chance to consider the issue in November. The justices' decisions typically become final after 30 days.

An initiative to ban gay marriage has qualified for the Nov. 4 ballot. Its passage would overrule the court's decision by amending the state constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman.

In arguing for a delay, the amendment's sponsors predicted chaos if couples married in the next few months, only to have the practice halted at the ballot box.

The four justices who denied the stay request were the same judges who joined in the majority opinion that found withholding marriage from same-sex couples constituted discrimination. The three dissenting justices said they thought a hearing on whether the stay should be granted was warranted.

The majority did not elaborate on its reasons for denying the stay, but simply issued a one-page order saying its original ruling on marriage would be final at 5 p.m. on June 16.

Wednesday's denial clears the way for gay couples in the nation's most populous state to get married starting June 17, when state officials have said counties must start issuing new gender-neutral marriage licenses.

At an arraignment scheduled for Thursday, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was expected to make his first public appearance since being captured in Pakistan in 2003, held in CIA custody at secret sites and transferred to Guantanamo in 2006.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Tom Hartmann, a top tribunal official, told dozens of journalists late Wednesday he expects defense lawyers will robustly argue points with prosecutors and Judge Ralph Kohlmann on behalf of their clients, who face the death penalty.

"Expect to see challenges tomorrow, and the intensity of the process," Hartmann said at a briefing in an abandoned aircraft hangar near the courthouse at this isolated U.S. Navy base.

Newly appointed Ohio Attorney General Nancy Hardin Rogers has shifted job duties for her second-in-command and taken other steps to wipe out any perceived conflicts of interest with two law firms.

Rogers, the former Ohio State University law dean who was appointed attorney general a week ago, informed her staff on Tuesday that Thomas Winters, first assistant attorney general, would be shifted to chief deputy attorney general. Rogers made the shift because both she and Winters have ties to Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease LLP, Central Ohio's largest law firm. Vorys, which handles a number of cases for the attorney general's office, employs Rogers' husband, Douglas, and was where Winters worked before joining former AG Marc Dann's staff last year.

With both top staffers in the office associated with the firm, a change had to be made, spokesman Jim Gravelle said. Before Dann resigned from office May 14, Winters - the only other employee permitted to handle attorney general's duties under state law - could step away from any case involving Vorys.

The office doesn't consider Winters' new post a demotion as he's still the chief lawyer for legal and law-enforcement matters, Gravelle said. Sheryl Creed Maxfield, a 24-year veteran of the office, will take the first assistant's post.

Rogers on Tuesday said Maxfield has the discretion to continue or discontinue cases Vorys handles, but the office will halt any new special-counsel appointments with the firm.

While the attorney general's office has no current association with Pittsburgh-based Buchanan Ingersoll and Rooney PC, which employs Rogers' daughter, Jill Spiker, the office won't contract the firm until Rogers steps down as attorney general or the Ohio Ethics Commission makes a formal ruling regarding a potential conflict of interest.

Rogers' actions Tuesday put any issues or contracts related to Ohio State, Vorys and Buchanan Ingersoll squarely in Maxfield's charge.

The 5-1 ruling by the state's highest court means a class-action lawsuit by people who used the once-popular painkiller will be dismissed. One justice did not participate.

The lawsuit was filed by Vioxx users who claim they have no immediate symptoms but that use of the drug gives them a greater risk of developing illness. So they want diagnostic testing to uncover any hidden or developing problems.

Because they aren't claiming they have an injury, they aren't eligible for the settlement Merck announced in November. Merck agreed to pay $4.85 billion to settle thousands of U.S. personal injury lawsuits involving a heart attack, stroke or death. Some 45,000 eligible claimants had initiated enrollment as of March 31.

The high court said that since the Vioxx users in the case don't claim injury, they "cannot satisfy the definition of harm" in seeking medical monitoring under the state's Product Liability Act.

In dissent, Justice Virginia A. Long argued that the law encompassed a broad definition of harm, and includes the concept that an "increased risk of injury that creates a need for medical surveillance" is a recognizable harm.

Conservative religious and legal groups had asked the California Supreme Court to stop its order from becoming effective until voters have the chance to weigh in on the issue.

An initiative that would amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage has qualified for the ballot. Its passage would overrule the court's decision.

The Supreme Court says its ruling will be final at 5 p.m. on June 16.

Wednesday's denial clears the way for gays and lesbians in the nation's most populous state to get married starting June 17, when state officials have said counties must start issuing new gender-neutral marriage licenses.

Senior Djiboutian officials have been implicated in the case and the judge's widow has accused the east African country's president of ordering her husband's murder.

President Ismael Omar Guelleh has denied the charge and in turn accused France of trying to destabilize his country.

In the world court case, Djibouti has argued that France violated two bilateral cooperation agreements by withholding evidence about the death of the magistrate, Bernard Borrel, who was an adviser to the Djibouti Justice Ministry.

Djibouti, which hosts France's largest military base in Africa, also has claimed immunity for two senior officials sought by a French investigating magistrate in the case for allegedly bribing witnesses.

In addition, France has asked to question Guelleh but has conceded the president cannot be summoned against his will.