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supreme court

Same-sex marriage is at the Supreme Court today. And along with the plaintiffs and defendants, a record number of groups, individuals and governments filed amicus (”friend of the court”) briefs (seen above in green). Here they are by the numbers: 

  • 148 briefs filed, a record number
  • 136 previous amicus brief record, made in the 2013 Obamacare case
  • $25,000-$50,000 average cost to file one
  • 370 large & small businesses filed one brief
  • 76 briefs contending same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional (as of 2 weeks ago)
  • 58 briefs defending the bans
  • 5 briefs supporting neither party

Read more about the briefs here. And the cases here.

You can follow npr news on Periscope, nprnews & nprpolitics on Twitter + npr.org for updates from the court throughout the day.

Photos: Emily Jan/NPR

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It’s one of the great legal battles in art history, writes Nina Totenberg. 

Maria Altmann fought her way to the Supreme Court to force the Austrian government to give back this painting of her aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer. The painting, and others by artist Gustav Klimt, were taken from the Bloch-Bauer home by the Nazis and ended up in Austria’s federal art museum after the war. Altmann’s story is featured in the new film, Woman in Gold, out this week. 

NPR’s Nina Totenberg, who interviewed Altmann before she died, has more here:

After Nazi Plunder, A Quest To Bring The ‘Woman In Gold’ Home

(Photos: Getty Images, The Weinstein Company)