The court reversed a ruling from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that prohibited the railroad, a subsidiary of CSX Corp., from challenging the method the state used to determine the value of the railroad's property.

A federal law bars states from discriminating against railroads by taxing their property more heavily than other commercial property. Chief Justice John Roberts said the law allows a railroad to go to court to try to show that the state's way of calculating market value is unfair.

Snyder was convicted of first-degree murder in August 1996 by an all-white jury in Jefferson Parish. The jury also recommended the death sentence. He was found guilty of slashing his estranged wife and a man when he found them in a car outside her mother's home in August 1995.

Lawyers for Snyder said the state illegally struck all five qualified black members from the jury pool using preemptory challenges, or challenges for which a reason does not have to be given.

Under a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, attorneys are not allowed to exclude people from a jury solely because of their race.

A split Louisiana Supreme Court rejected Snyder's challenge, with the majority saying that race had no part in the state's decisions involving potential jurors.

Michael Newdow, a Sacramento doctor and lawyer, sued the Elk Grove Unified School District in 2000 for forcing public school children to recite the pledge, saying it was unconstitutional.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Newdow's favor in 2002, but two years later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Newdow lacked standing to sue because he didn't have custody of the daughter on whose behalf he brought the case. He immediately filed a second lawsuit on behalf of three unidentified parents and their children.

In 2005, a federal judge in Sacramento found in favor of Newdow, ruling the pledge was unconstitutional because its reference to "one nation under God" violates children's rights to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God." The judge said he was following the precedent set by the 9th Circuit Court's ruling in Newdow's first case.

A three-judge panel from that court was to hear arguments in the case on Tuesday. The same panel also was to hear arguments in Newdow's case against the national motto, "In God We Trust."

In 2005, Newdow sued Congress and several federal officials, arguing that making money with the motto on it violated the First Amendment clause requiring the separation of church and state.

Last year, a federal judge in Sacramento disagreed, saying the words did not violate Newdow's atheism. Newdow appealed.

Congress first authorized a reference to God on a two-cent piece in 1864. In 1955, the year after lawmakers added the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance, Congress passed a law requiring all U.S. currency to carry the motto "In God We Trust."

U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott says he's disappointed the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to consider his appeal.

He says he believes he had a First Amendment free speech case.

Today's decision leaves a federal appeals court ruling in place. The court said that McDermott should not have leaked a tape-recorded phone call to newspapers. It recorded Republican leaders in 1996 discussing the ethics case against former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

The ruling upholds a previous decision ordering McDermott to pay House Minority Leader John Boehner, (BAY'-ner) of Ohio, who was one of the people on the call. The amount is still being determined but it could be more than $700,000.

Boehner's lawyer says he's gratified by the decision.

SugarHouse Casino is planning to break ground on its Philadelphia project in a matter of weeks, aided by a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision on Monday.

The court ordered the city of Philadelphia to process permits needed to begin construction on the $550 million slots casino on the site of the former Jack Frost sugar refinery. The lack of permits has held up the project. SugarHouse's parent company, HSP Gaming LP, sued the city last month in an effort to move the project along.

The casino, to be located on Delaware Avenue, north of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, is one of two casinos awarded slots gaming licenses in the city by state regulators last December. Foxwoods Casino, which has also not been able to get its project under way, plans to construct a $560 million casino on a 16-acre parcel on South Columbus Boulevard near Reed Street.

"We are gratified by this decision and excited about the opportunities ahead," SugarHouse President Bob Sheldon said. "We remain committed to working with our neighbors to reach agreement on a community benefits agreement and look forward to creating thousands of new jobs and generating millions of dollars in new tax revenues for the city and commonwealth."

The Hamburg District Court said Tuesday that T-Mobile, part of Deutsche Telekom AG, could indeed sell the phone, coupled with a two-year contract, that could not be used on networks provided by rival wireless companies.

The arrangement is similar to those Apple Inc. has with other carriers around the world. In the United States, AT&T Inc. is Apple's exclusive partner.

"We are pleased with the outcome," T-Mobile spokesman Rene Bresken said. Shares of Deutsche Telekom gained 1.2 percent after the decision to 15.28 euros ($22.41) in Frankfurt.

The company will stop selling an unlocked version but said that after customers' contracts expire, it will unlock their iPhone at no charge.

The iPhone made its German debut on Nov. 9 — available only with the two-year contract from T-Mobile. The German unit of rival Vodafone Group PLC protested that at the Hamburg court.

That court agreed, issuing an injunction barring T-Mobile from offering the iPhone tied to the minimum 24-month contract and from selling it only with a so-called SIM lock that prevents users from switching the device to any other operator's network.

T-Mobile had appealed, but in the meantime offered an unlocked version of the phone priced at 999 euros, or nearly $1,500, more than twice the 399 euro ($585) price of a phone sold in combination with the contract.

Companies routinely offer phone discounts to customers who sign up for lengthy contracts.

Apple's strategy thus far had been to offer the iPhone through an exclusive mobile operator for each region: AT&T Inc. in the United States, O2 in Britain, T-Mobile in Germany and France Telecom's Orange wireless arm in France.

It also has issued software updates that have disabled the workarounds hackers developed to get the iPhone to work on other networks. Apple faces two consumer lawsuits in the United States that accuse the company of unlawfully restricting consumer choice by preventing users from unlocking their iPhones.

Named invention of the year by Time magazine for its design, feel and pioneering software, the iPhone has won over users since it debuted June 29 in the United States.

Cupertino, California-based Apple has sold over 1.4 million iPhones so far and hopes to sell 10 million in 2008, helped by its launch in Europe, then in Asia next year. In Germany, 10,000 sold on Nov. 9 alone.

In the United States, AT&T sells the 8-gigabyte iPhone for $399, having slashed the price by a third about 10 weeks after its debut. Consumers in Britain pay about $556, while in France, Orange is selling unlocked handsets to comply with French consumer law for $950. European price tags include value-added tax.