The Supreme Court has ordered a lower court to reconsider its decision to release a criminal on parole.

The high court threw out a lower court decision ordering John Pirtle and other prisoners released from prison on parole.

Pirtle was convicted of killing his wife, and the parole board started denying him parole in 2002. Pirtle sued in federal court, saying his parole was denied without any proof that he posed a danger if he got out.

The lower courts agreed with him and ordered him and other prisoners in similar situations released on parole.

The high court threw out that decision in a summary judgment and ordered the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to reconsider it.

President Barack Obama's top lawyer at the White House is resigning to return to private practice and represent Obama as his personal attorney and as general counsel to Obama's re-election campaign.

Bob Bauer will be replaced by his top deputy, Kathy Ruemmler, a former assistant U.S. attorney best known as lead prosecutor in the Enron fraud case.

The move means that Bauer, 59, will still play a central but outside role in advising a president who is seeking re-election in a time of divided government.

Meanwhile, the 40-year-old Ruemmler will take over the job as Obama's top in-house counsel and manager of a White House law office charged with juggling the domestic, national security and congressional oversight challenges confronting the president.

In a statement, Obama praised Bauer as a friend with exceptional judgment who will remain a close advisor. As to his new White House-based counsel, Obama said: "Kathy is an outstanding lawyer with impeccable judgment. Together, Bob and Kathy have led the White House Counsel's office, and Kathy will assure that it continues to successfully manage its wide variety of responsibilities."

Bauer has been part of Obama's circle since Obama was a freshmen senator in Washington, and now returns to the campaign counsel role he had when Obama ran in 2008. He has long been a go-to lawyer for Democrats on matters of political law and is married to Anita Dunn, a Democratic communications operative who formerly worked in Obama's White House.

Bauer will leave his White House post at the end of June. In a style typifying the low-key nature of transitions in the counsel's office, the news came in the form of a press release.

Mack Trucks Inc. and its parent, AB Volvo, will pay $525 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by more than 9,300 retirees of the North Carolina truck maker after they challenged potential reductions to their lifetime health benefits.

The Legal Intelligencer reported Tuesday that Senior U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick gave preliminary approval of the settlement. A hearing is Sept. 7 to decide if the settlement is fair and reasonable.

The suit was filed in Michigan after Mack sought a ruling that lifetime benefits of its retirees were not vested and could be modified or eliminated. Both cases were consolidated in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Mack reached an agreement with the UAW in May of 2009 on a voluntary employees beneficiary association, or VEBA, that would have the union oversee retirees' health benefits. Mack and Volvo agreed to fund it with $525 million, paid in five annual installments.

Mack said it expects the final approval of the VEBA in September.

The company also reported that deliveries nearly doubled in April from a year earlier with 1,608 trucks delivered from the 810 it recorded in April 2010, an increase of 99 percent.

The South Dakota Supreme Court has ruled that Circuit Judge A.P. "Pete" Fuller of Rapid City must retire or undergo a six-month suspension followed by strict probation for misconduct that involved mistreating lawyers, court personnel and others.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission had recommended that Fuller be removed from office or forced to retire because he repeatedly displayed a lack of courtesy and respect for lawyers and court staff.

The case marked the first time in the 121-year history of the South Dakota judicial system that the Supreme Court had been asked to remove a judge from the bench.

In a hearing last month, Fuller told the high court he is ashamed of his behavior but believes he could return to the bench and be an effective judge.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals says defendants may withdraw a guilty plea if they are not told a conviction could result in deportation.

The court on Monday sided with Rene Reyes Campos. Campos said if he knew he risked being deported for a conviction for simple robbery for the benefit of a gang, he never would have pleaded guilty.

Campos was 17 when he was charged in Hennepin County in 2009, and had been a lawful U.S. resident for about seven years. He agreed to plead guilty as an adult and get a stayed sentence. He was not told the plea could affect his immigration status.

Last June, Campos moved to withdraw his plea.

Alabama Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb warned the state's judges and circuit clerks Monday to expect substantial layoffs because of the budget crisis in the state judicial system.

Cobb met with judges and clerks mostly by conference call Monday. The meeting was not open to news reporters or the public. She said 270 court employees have already lost jobs in the past two years because of budget cuts, and she expects another 265 court workers to be laid off during the coming fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

Cobb told The Associated Press that she had hoped to receive a $10 million supplemental appropriation from the Legislature to help the courts get through the remainder of the current year. She said that is unlikely now because the money is needed to help with recovery from last month's violent tornadoes that killed more than 200 in Alabama.

She said she doesn't expect to receive the supplemental appropriation and she also believes a bill to raise the state's cigarette tax by $1 a carton is dead for this session. Some proceeds from the cigarette tax were to go to the courts.