JURIST Special Guest Columnist Asa Hutchinson, former US Congressman (R-AR), DEA director, DHS under secretary for Border and Transportation Security and currently a member of the Constitution Project's Liberty and Security Committee, says that while President Obama's stated intent to limit executive invocations of the state secrets privilege is welcome, Congress should nonetheless enact legislation [...]

US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that the US government will begin to enforce immigration policy more strictly by targeting employers directly , rather than through continued use of controversial workplace raids. While attending a roundtable discussion at the Aspen Institute , a public policy think tank, Napolitano added that [...]

US Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday vacated an order by former attorney general Michael Mukasey that had denied those facing deportation the right to challenge immigration decisions based on ineffective assistance of counsel claims. Mukasey's order had held that the Fifth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel did not extend to those facing [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday held that a San Francisco resolution urging the Vatican to withdraw a directive against same-sex adoptions does not violate the Establishment Clause. The resolution was passed in response to the Vatican's directive that Catholic social service agencies should not place children in same-sex households. [...]

New Hampshire Governor John Lynch on Wednesday signed into law legislation allowing same-sex marriages to be performed in the state, provided that religious clergy and organizations and their employees will not be required to participate in the services or recognize the unions. The New Hampshire Senate and House of Representatives passed the bill earlier in [...]

In re: National Security Agency Telecommunications Records Litigation, US District Court for the Northern District of California, June 3, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here In re NSA Telecommunications Records Litigation

Matter of Enrique Salas Compean, US Attorney General Eric Holder, June 3, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Holder order

Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, et al. v. City of San Francisco, et al., US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, June 3, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. CLRCR v. San Francisco

A UN human rights expert on Wednesday called on the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to do more to protect human rights workers in the country, and to prosecute those who harm them. The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Margaret Sekaggya issued a list of suggested improvements [...]

Ohio corrections officials executed convicted murderer Daniel Wilson on Wednesday morning, marking the state's first use of a new lethal injection method termed "set-to-die." The procedure was announced in May, and requires officials to shake and call out to the prisoner after a sedative has been administered. A second dose of the sedative can then [...]