Joanna Walters, The Guardian

The US supreme court is poised on Friday to decide whether to take on the case of a 76-year-old disabled army veteran handed a sentence of life in prison without parole for growing marijuana in his back yard to alleviate his own health problems.

The new federal courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City is a massive, futuristic cube of metal and glass that looks imposing, austere and, above all, impregnable. Armed guards patrol the exterior 24 hours a day.

The first things you notice are the smell of freshly fried cod and the fact that the men serving it up are wearing kilts.

One of Brian Gergely’s fellow altar boys had a code he would use to signal danger in the room where they and the priest prepared for mass.

Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan presents himself as a bipartisan, pragmatic accountant. His self-proclaimed nickname is “One Tough Nerd”. He has no trouble upsetting Democrats and Republicans on the same day.