The Supreme Court of Kansas has announced that it may have to shut down state courts for one week every month as a result of an $8 million judiciary budget deficit created by a legislative oversight. The shortfall resulted from the state senate cutting $11 million from the judiciary budget under the mistaken assumption that [...]

President of Italy's Chamber of Deputies Gianfranco Fini said Tuesday that he would support legislation to limit the length of trials in the country. The reforms were proposed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi , with Fini voicing his support after meeting with the prime minister. If passed, the bill would place a six-year cap on [...]

More than 350 Taliban inmates began a hunger strike on Sunday at the Sarposa prison in Kandahar province in Afghanistan. The protest is in response to the allegedly poor conditions within the prison, including the quality of the food and abuse by guards. The Afghan Ministry of Justice has sent a delegation to the prison [...]

The US Senate official website] on Monday confirmed Judge Andre Davis, President Barack Obama's nominee to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit , by a vote of 72-16 . Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) , the Davis confirmation was delayed by Republicans for five months after the committee reported the nomination [...]

Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday made a public call for greater adherence to the rule of law, more transparent elections, and increased business competition in Mexico, during a speech at the annual Mexico Business Summit . Calderon criticized monopolistic business practices in Mexico, and said transparency was sorely lacking in elections conducted in the [...]

President of the Honduran National Congress Jose Alfredo Saavedra said Monday that lawmakers will most likely not make a decision about whether to restore ousted president Manuel Zelaya before the country's presidential elections take place later this month. Saavedra said that congress is awaiting an opinion from the Honduran Supreme Court , and there is [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Monday extended a deadline for filing an amended settlement agreement between Google and groups of authors and publishers over Google's book-scanning initiative . Judge Denny Chin granted the delay after Google and other parties to the settlement submitted a letter [...]

Former Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) lawyer Robert Miller pleaded guilty in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York to one count of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy in connection with the Marc Dreier fraud case, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Monday. According to the DOJ, Miller impersonated the [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in three cases. In Graham v. Florida , the Court heard arguments questioning whether the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment prohibits imprisoning a juvenile for life without parole for a non-homicide violation. Counsel for the petitioner argued that such a sentence is "particularly cruel [...]

The trial of Zimbabwe Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party treasurer and deputy agriculture minister-nominee Roy Bennett began Monday, but was adjourned until Wednesday to allow Judge Chinembiri Bhunu to make a decision regarding the admissibility of evidence. Bennett's defense lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, asked the court to prohibit evidence obtained from the attorney general's main [...]