cause célèbre

表字から分かるように、フランス語ですが、英語の表現として定着しているようです。世間の耳目を良くも悪くも集めた裁判、また”裁判沙汰”（事件や出来事）を指します。


During a 1982 murder trial in Philadelphia, a city that's more than one-third black, the court settled on a jury of 10 whites and two blacks only after prosecutors eliminated 10 qualified black candidates from the jury pool. It took that jury just four hours to hand down a first-degree murder conviction to a young black man accused of killing a white police officer. Little did anyone know that by sentencing radical black journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal to death they were sparking a movement against the death penalty that would eventually make Abu-Jamal an international cause celebre. He has written two books and countless articles for newspapers and journals, starred in an HBO special, produced his own compact disc and CD-ROM, and is the focus of a march scheduled for April 24 through downtown Philadelphia called " Millions for Mumia. "
(Innocence by Association. Mother Jones. 1999.)