The nation's largest court system is in the midst of a painful budget crisis that has shut down courtrooms and disrupted everything from divorce and custody proceedings to traffic ticket disputes.

The Los Angeles court system has already closed 17 courtrooms and another 50 will be shut down come September unless something is done to find more money. The judge who presides over the system predicts chaos and an unprecedented logjam of civil and family law cases in the worst-case scenario.

The crisis results from the financially troubled state's decision to slash $393 million from state trial courts in the budget this year. The state also decided to close all California courthouses on the third Wednesday of every month.

What has emerged is a hobbled court system that is struggling to serve the public.

Custody hearings, divorce proceedings, small-claims disputes, juvenile dependency matters and civil lawsuits have been delayed amid the courtroom shutdowns in Los Angeles. Drivers who choose to fight traffic tickets now have to wait up to nine months to get a trial started.

Complex civil lawsuits, those typically involving feuding businesses, could really feel the hit. It now takes an average of 16 months for such cases to get resolved, but court officials expect the cuts to bog down these civil matters to the point that they take an average of four years to finish.

In a case that pits nondiscrimination policies against freedom of religion, the Supreme Court is grappling with whether universities and colleges can deny official recognition to Christian student groups that refuse to let non-Christians and gays join.

The high court was to hear arguments Monday from the Christian Legal Society at the University of California's Hastings College of the Law. The Christian group said its constitutional freedoms of speech, religion and association were violated when it was denied recognition as a student group by the San Francisco-based school.

The group has made this argument at several universities around the nation with mixed results. The high court's decision could set a national standard for universities and colleges to follow when Christian and other groups that want to exclude certain people apply for money and recognition from the school.

Hastings said it turned the Christian Legal Society down because all recognized campus groups, which are eligible for financing and other benefits, may not exclude people due to religious belief, sexual orientation and other reasons.

Harvard University announced yesterday that William F. Lee, a nationally known Boston lawyer with deep roots in the university, has been elected to the Harvard Corporation, the institution’s principal governing body.

Lee, who is co-managing partner of the Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr law firm that employs 1,000 lawyers, will join the seven-member Harvard Corporation July 1, when James R. Houghton, 73, its longest-serving member, steps down after 15 years of service.

Lee, twice named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America by the National Law Journal, graduated from Harvard in 1972 and taught courses at Harvard Law School for about five years. He served for six years on the Harvard Board of Overseers, the 30-member consultative body elected by university alumni.

In a phone interview yesterday, Lee noted that as a Board of Overseers member he served on two joint committees with the corporation — the audit committee and the presidential search committee that chose Drew Gilpin Faust to succeed Lawrence Summers in 2007 — so he has worked with the seven current members of the corporation, which is led by Faust and picks new members when vacancies occur.

Lee said his overriding priority will be to keep all the institutions that make up Harvard innovative.

“Harvard is the most unique and extraordinary institution in the world,’’ he said, “but . . . there’s also a lot of inertia that comes from age and traditions.’’

Lee said his years of focus on intellectual property legal issues have made clear to him “there is nothing more important than the area of science and technology,’’ and he would work to make sure that Harvard is at the forefront of both those fields.

Stacey Pagli, 38, stood silent, looking haggard in handcuffs and a gray sweat suit, during a brief appearance in Westchester County Court. Her husband, who shouted angrily at her during an earlier court hearing, did not attend the arraignment.

Pagli is charged with killing 18-year-old Marissa Pagli on Feb. 22 in their staff apartment on the campus of Manhattanville College in Purchase. Marissa was a freshman at the school and her father is a maintenance supervisor.

In court papers released last week, police quoted Stacey Pagli as saying her daughter was "disrespectful all the time" and the strangling occurred after "she pushed my last button."

She said she attempted suicide after the killing by cutting her wrist and trying to hang herself. She is on suicide watch at the county jail.

Pagli did not speak at Wednesday's session. Defense lawyer Allan Focarile entered the not guilty plea. He did not seek bail and did not say whether he plans a defense on psychiatric grounds.

Cigarette maker Philip Morris, a unit of Altria Group Inc., asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a landmark ruling that found the tobacco industry violated federal racketeering laws for deceiving the public about the dangers of smoking.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last year affirmed most remedies that a trial judge imposed against tobacco companies in 2006, which included restrictions on tobacco marketing and a requirement that the industry make corrective public statements about the health effects and addictiveness of smoking.

The appeals court ruled unanimously that there was ample evidence to conclude that the tobacco industry intended to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking. The court also said the government had adequately proved that the tobacco industry was likely to commit future violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, unless restrictions were imposed.

Philip Morris, whose top brand is Marlboro, said the government is perverting the understanding of the racketeering law.

"Absent further review, the government will henceforth be free to pervert RICO into a device for evading the legislative process, penalizing and chilling public debate on scientific matters, and constraining constitutionally protected speech through vague and sweeping injunctions," Philip Morris said in its appeal.

Other companies targeted by the government include Camel-cigarette maker R.J. Reynolds, a unit of Reynolds American Inc., and Lorillard Inc. They are expected to file appeals to the Supreme Court.