The High Constitutional Court of Madagascar announced in a radio address Wednesday that it would accept the military's decision to install opposition leader Andry Rajoelina as the country's new president, one day after the resignation of President Marc Ravalomanana . The court approved the presidency of 34-year-old Rajoelina despite a requirement in Madagascar's constitution that [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday praised the reinstatement of Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry . Pillay's spokesman called the move "an important step in the process of restoring the rule of law in Pakistan," adding that judicial integrity is needed if Pakistan is to make progress in [...]

The administration of US President Barack Obama intends to endorse a UN declaration that calls for decriminalizing homosexuality, according to an anonymous official quoted in a Tuesday Associated Press report . In December, the Bush administration declined to sign the statement signed by 66 other nations . The Bush administration offered the rationale that although [...]

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday nominated Judge David Hamilton to serve on the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit , thereby moving to fill the first of 15 federal appellate vacancies . Hamilton previously served for 14 years as a district judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of [...]

The Iraqi Cabinet urged the Presidency Council Tuesday to ratify death sentences against three former Saddam Hussein officials. The sentences have been delayed because two of the members, President Jalal Talabani and Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi, have opposed the sentences of Hashim al-Taie and Hussein Rashid Mohammed, alleging that both men's roles in the 1988 Anfal [...]

The US Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals upheld Tuesday a military judge's dismissal of the charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani , the top-ranking US Marine to face court-martial in the killing of 24 Iraqis in Haditha . The court affirmed the appearance of "unlawful command influence" when a lawyer who had investigated the [...]

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld Tuesday a district court decision finding former El Salvador chief military commander Nicolas Carranza liable for murder and torture committed during the El Salvador civil war in the 1980s. In 2005, a Tennessee federal jury found Carranza liable for acts of [...]

Gabor Rona : "Last Friday, the Obama administration for the first time articulated in court its vision of authority to detain persons who are now being held at Guantanamo. The government's brief in the In Re: Guantanamo Bay Detainee Litigation case in the District Court of the District of Columbia notes that this is only [...]

A Russian court Tuesday refused a request by defense lawyers to drop new embezzlement and money laundering charges against former Russian oil executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his former business partner Platon Lebedev . The court also rejected a request by defense lawyers to have the case returned to state prosecutors for further investigation. The lawyers [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Tuesday hailed a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit not to revisit an earlier decision requiring the Department of Defense (DOD) to disclose photographs of alleged detainee abuse. The Bush administration filed a request for rehearing either by panel or en banc in [...]