The Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Wednesday ordered the release of Abdullah Khadr, the brother of Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr after staying a US extradition request. Abdullah Khadr has been detained by Canadian authorities since December 2005 on a US arrest warrant for terrorism issued by the US Attorney’s Office for the District [...]

Julie Stewart : “Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill to reduce the infamous 100:1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses. The Senate approved the bill in March. Today, President Obama finished the job by signing the bill, ending a nearly 20-year campaign by sentencing reform advocates to undo this [...]

Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Director Adam Szubin said Tuesday that his office would be willing to issue a license to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) allowing them to provide legal services to Anwar al-Awlaki . Al-Awlaki is a US citizen who is suspected of being a member of al Qaeda [...]

The US Senate on Tuesday heard final statements on the confirmation of US Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan . Most Senate Republicans oppose her confirmation, but have chosen not to pursue a filibuster given statements from five Republicans confirming that they will vote for Kagan’s confirmation. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the ranking Republican on the [...]

A US military lawyer for Canadian Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court on Monday, seeking to stay proceedings in Khadr’s military commission. The petition asks the court to issue a writ of mandamus to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit , ordering it [...]

Missouri voters on Tuesday approved Proposition C , which seeks to make the individual mandate provision of the recent health care reform law unenforceable in the state. The law, which was passed with 71.1 percent in favor , stated that “o law or rule shall compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer, or health care [...]

US District Court for the Central District of California judge Mariana Pfaelzer on Monday gave preliminary approval to a settlement in which Countrywide Financial Corporation agreed to pay $600 million to settle several class action lawsuits brought by former stockholders accusing the company of securities fraud. The settlement is the largest such agreement resulting from [...]

A revised complaint to a class action lawsuit against Toyota Motor Corporation filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the Central District of California claimed that the company was aware of automobile safety problems in 2003, but failed to take action to protect consumers. Attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit submitted a Toyota [...]

The Primary Court for the Afghan Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTV) on Tuesday fined former Afghan police chief General Mohlem $14,000 and sentenced him to 10 years in prison for connections he was found to have with drug traffickers. The sentence is the country’s first for a high-ranking government official tied to the drug trade. [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on Tuesday filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a federal regulation making it a crime to provide legal services to, or on behalf of, individuals labeled Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) without a government-issued license. A SDGT designation is issued by [...]