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NPR's Don Gonyea reports that the Bush administration will weigh in on a critical affirmative action cases before the Supreme Court. The case involves a suit brought against the University of Michigan and its law school by white students who oppose the university's policy that gives minority students an advantage in applying for admission. The Bush administration is prepard to argue on behalf of the white plaintiffs.

The Supreme Court upholds a 20-year copyright extension passed by Congress in 1998. An Internet publisher challenged the extension, which lengthens copyrights to 70 years after the creator's death, arguing it threatened the public domain. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and Rick Karr.

It's often hard to tell where Nicholson Baker ends, and the characters of his novels begin. NPR's Jeffrey Freymann-Weyr profiles the author, who has a reputation for finding magic in the everyday moments of ordinary lives. Listen to Baker read two excerpts from his latest novel, A Box of Matches.

Michele Norris talks with NPR's Julie Rovner about today's arguments before the Supreme Court on the Family and Medical Leave Act. At issue is whether the law applies to state employees. States -- as they have in other cases in recent years -- argue the Constitution forbids the federal government from imposing certain worker protection measures on them.

A new study in The Journal of the American Medical Association supports the "gateway drug theory," which states that early marijuana use increases the likelihood of using other drugs or becoming dependent on drugs or alcohol. NPR's Vicky Que reports.

In space, one cannot hear sounds. But a new musical work -- commissioned by NASA -- is based on radio waves gathered from the far reaches of the solar system. For Morning Edition, Gayane Torosyan reports on Sun Rings, composed by Terry Riley and performed by the Kronos Quartet. The work includes sounds collected over 40 years by University of Iowa physicist Don Gurnett.

The New Jersey Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether the state can discourage women on welfare from having another child. The lawsuit argues that a federal welfare law that allows states to deny additional payments for children born into families already on welfare is unfair. NPR's Nancy Solomon reports.

On Jan. 22, 1973, the Supreme Court declared that the constitutional right to privacy "is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy." On the 30th anniversary of the case that came to be called Roe v. Wade, an NPR News series examines the state of abortion rights in America. For Morning Edition, NPR health policy correspondent Julie Rovner chronicles the recent incremental successes by abortion rights opponents.

Gregory Crouch reports from the Netherlands that Dutch voters go to the polls for the second time in eight months today. The party of slain right-wing Dutch politician Pym Fortuyn is plummeting in popularity after months of negative news reports about its members. Fortuyn, best known for his anti-immigrant stance, was assassinated a few days before last year's elections.

Recep Tayipp Erdogan is one of the most powerful politicians in Turkey. But he doesn't hold a political office. In fact, he can't: Erdogan has been banned from running for the country's parliament because some believe he's a religious extremist. But now, a government committee is deciding whether to remove the ban and allow Erdogan to run for office. NPR's Guy Raz reports.