Three Chinese Uighur Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay since 2001 have agreed to be relocated to Palau , their lawyers told the Associated Press Wednesday. The detainees have been cleared for transfer since District Judge Ricardo Urbina ordered their release from Guantanamo last October, but difficulties in finding an appropriate place to relocate them have [...]

The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) said Wednesday that he would begin investigating claims of war crimes by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) soldiers in Afghanistan. In a briefing, Luis Moreno-Ocampo said that in addition to investigations of possible NATO crimes, the ICC would also begin looking into possible atrocities committed by [...]

Pl. US 27/09… na zruseni ustavniho zakona c. 195/2009 Sb., o zkraceni pateho volebního období Poslanecka snemovny (judgment on the proposal to repeal the Constitutional Act No. 195/2009 to shorten the fifth term of Deputies), Czech Republic Constitutional Court, September 10, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has [...]

Two former Pennsylvania judges were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on 48 counts in connection with alleged illegal actions to benefit private juvenile detention facilities. The charges against Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella, Jr. include racketeering, fraud, extortion, and money laundering for allegedly accepting at least $2,819,500 in illegal payments in return for [...]

Spanish National Court Judge Baltasar Garzon testified Wednesday before the Criminal Law Chamber of the Spanish Supreme Court in response to accusations that he exceeded his authority when he launched an investigation into war crimes allegedly committed under Francisco Franco despite a 1977 amnesty law. Garzon abstained from responding to questions from the complainants and [...]

The Uruguayan Senate voted 17-6 to approve a law legalizing adoption by same sex couples. The new law will permit adoptions by couples in both marriages and civil unions after four years of cohabitation. The bill includes other reforms to the Childhood and Adolescence Code , which governs adoptions, including giving the Children's and Adolescents' [...]

David Borden : "The resignation of Mexico's Attorney General in the midst of a veritable war between the government and drug traffickers – and amongst trafficking organizations – is unlikely to change much in the grand scheme of things. Prohibition will continue to divert billions of dollars from the licit economy into the organized criminal [...]

The trial of war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic is scheduled to begin October 19, according to a press release from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Wednesday. Presiding Judge O-Gon Kwon said the trial of the former Bosnian Serb leader is likely to last between two-and-a-half to three years. Karadzic faces 11 [...]

The US Supreme Court reheard oral arguments Wednesday in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission to determine whether two precedent cases that uphold restraints on corporate election spending should be overturned. The two cases, Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce and McConnell v. Federal Election Commission , upheld the facial validity of Section 203 of [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a district court decision upholding the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (HLOGA) , which requires members of Congress to disclose more information about their fund-raising efforts and gifts they receive from lobbyists, and also prohibits former congress members [...]