A US Army soldier who fled to Canada to avoid serving in the Iraq war pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of desertion. Spc. Cliff Cornell was sentenced to one year in prison at a court-martial proceeding and was also given a bad conduct discharge. Cornell spent four years in Canada, but was denied asylum by [...]

Officials from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said Tuesday that the DOJ has begun looking into whether a settlement agreement involving Internet search company Google, Inc. over two copyright infringement lawsuits stemming from its book-scanning initiative violates antitrust laws. The two lawsuits were brought against Google by the Authors Guild , an advocacy group [...]

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled 7-2 in Kansas v. Ventris that a defendant's statement made without a knowing and voluntary waiver of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel may be used for impeachment purposes. The defendant made statements to a jailhouse informant that were later used to impeach his credibility. The Kansas Supreme [...]

Members of the US House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder urging him to appoint a special counsel to investigate allegations of torture against Bush administration officials. The letter, which was signed by committee chairman John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) , and 14 other Democratic members of [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday that the state secrets privilege does not bar a lawsuit against a company that allegedly provided logistical support for CIA rendition flights. Plaintiffs Binyam Mohamed , Abou Elkassim Britel, Ahmed Agiza, Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah, and Bisher al-Rawi allege that Jeppesen Dataplan , a [...]

A court-martial in Nigeria sentenced 27 UN peacekeeping troops to life imprisonment Tuesday. The soldiers of the 14th Nigerian Battalion were convicted of mutiny under the Armed Forces Act 2004 for staging street demonstrations in protest of a shortfall in their UN allowances for a Nigerian peacekeeping mission. The protesting soldiers alleged finance officers in [...]

Melanie Sloan : "President Obama's March 20th memorandum aimed at "Ensuring Transparency of Registered Lobbyist Communications," will not achieve its intended purpose and is an ill-advised restriction on speech. The memo prohibits registered lobbyists from participating in any oral communications, whether in-person or telephonic, with any official in the executive branch concerning any particular project, [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in two cases. In Forest Grove School District v. T.A. , the Court will consider whether the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) permits a tuition reimbursement award against a school district and in favor of parents who unilaterally place their child in private school, where the [...]

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled Tuesday that a judgment by a southern Cyprus court favoring a Greek Cypriot reclaiming land in the north is enforceable despite the south's lack of control over that region. Meletis Apostolides, a Cypriot national whose family was forced from land in the north during the partition of the [...]

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