JURIST Contributing Editor Jordan Paust of the University of Houston Law Center says the Obama administration should not call upon US Justice Department lawyers to defend John Yoo and other former members of the Bush Administration in civil suits addressing alleged criminal violations of international law, including the authorization, abetting or commission of war crimes…. [...]

US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced plans Tuesday to reverse offshore drilling policies established by former US President George W. Bush at the end of his presidency. The move comes as part of a larger effort by the administration of President Barack Obama to create a comprehensive energy plan. The new plan involves [...]

A South Korea appellate court on Tuesday upheld a landmark lower court ruling authorizing removal of life-support from a comatose woman. Tuesday's decision by the Seoul High Court affirmed the December ruling of the Seoul Western District Court that ordered Yonsei Severance Hospital to remove the 77-year-old woman from a life-support respirator she has relied [...]

US Solicitor General nominee Elena Kagan said Tuesday that she was committed to being "true to the rule of law" in confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee . Kagan, currently the Dean at Harvard Law School , said that if confirmed she would do "everything in her power to live up to" the Solicitor [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) urged the US District Court for the District of Columbia Monday to refrain from addressing the definition of an enemy combatant , an exercise which the DOJ argues could force the Court to unnecessarily decide the scope of the President's military detention authority over prisoners at Guantanamo Bay . [...]

Italian lawmakers have said they still plan to vote on legislation that would make it a crime to remove a feeding tube from a comatose patient, despite the death Monday of Eluana Englaro , the woman whose case gave rise to the bill. Following the announcement of the death , Italian health minister Maurizio Sacconi [...]

US Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Monday called for a South Africa-style truth commission to investigate controversial actions by the George W. Bush administration, including justifications for the Iraq war, the treatment of military detainees, and the warrantless wiretapping program. Speaking at Georgetown University, Leahy said there was a need to find balance [...]

A special panel of federal judges tentatively ruled on Monday that California must reduce its prison population in order to relieve overcrowding. Based on the evidence presented, the panel concluded that overcrowding has resulted in the state's failure to deliver constitutionally-adequate mental and physical health care to inmates. The panel found that a release order [...]

An Albania Supreme Court judge was shot four times outside his home in the capital Tirana, according to local police Monday. Ardian Nuni , a former law professor nominated to the high court in 2007, was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries to his shoulder and leg. The attack, which took place over the weekend, was described [...]

The Mexican government published a law Monday that will create a database of mobile phone users in the country, including vital information and fingerprints, once it takes effect in April. The law, published in the Official Gazette of the Federation , amends certain provisions of the Federal Telecommunications Act, and was passed into law by [...]