Deborah Fleischaker : "Last week, John Gramlich of the indispensable news site, stateline.org, reported on the political fallout in several states where policymakers have employed early prison release programs to combat overcrowded prisons and rising budget deficits. Several cash-strapped states from Florida to California have looked for budget savings by expediting the release of non-violent [...]

The US Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday unanimously approved a bill to reduce sentencing disparities for powder and crack cocaine offenses. The Fair Sentencing Act, introduced by Senator Dick Durbin , is intended to bridge the gap between crack and powder cocaine sentencing by amending the Controlled Substances Act and the Controlled Substances Import and Export [...]

JURIST Contributing Editor Jordan Paust of the University of Houston Law Center says regularly constituted military courts-martial could be a plausible third option for federal prosecution of members of al Qaeda and the Taliban outside of federal district courts or US military commissions….. Where should we be trying members of al Qaeda and the Taliban? [...]

Newdow, et al. v. Roe, et al., US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, March 11, 2010 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has more on the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Swedish Parliament on Thursday voted 131-130 to approve a resolution that recognizes the Ottoman Empire's killing of Armenians between 1915 and 1923 as genocide . Of the 349 assembly members, 88 were absent . The resolution was opposed by the ruling center-right coalition and supported by the opposition left. It passed when several members [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday that a teacher-led recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools does not violate the constitution. Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow had challenged the practice on behalf of several families, arguing that the phrase "under God" violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment [...]

The US House of Representatives voted Thursday to impeach federal judge Thomas Porteous of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana . The case will now proceed to the US Senate where a two-thirds majority is required to convict Porteous of committing high crimes and misdemeanors while in office, specifically perjury and [...]

The US State Department (DOS) on Thursday released its 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices . Announcing the release , Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the US has recommitted "to continue the hard work of making human rights a human reality." In its introduction to the reports, which covered 194 countries, the [...]

A group of delegates from the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) concluded a meeting in Moscow Wednesday over Russian claims of war crimes committed by Georgia during the South Ossetia conflict in August 2008. The meeting, which was not attended by chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo , was held at [...]

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that recently announced election laws in Myanmar do not meet international standards for an inclusive political process, in particular because they do not allow pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to participate. Ban's statement was issued the same day the ruling military junta introduced the Political Parties Registration [...]