Here's what the Federal District Court reported as to what may be the most underlying noteworthy of the facts: "On September 13, 2013, Scott [the decedent] died without a valid Will or testamentary device."

In a 5-4 decision in Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District, the Court expanded the protections afforded by the Fourteenth Amendment.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way." So began "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens, an epoch novel set in London and

Congress is in the midst of one of its most challenging periods in history. On its agenda are health care reform, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, job creation and other economic stimulus efforts, regulation of the financial services industry, and solvency of Social Security and Medicare.