JURIST Guest Columnist Bruce Miller of Western New England College School of Law says that despite the Obama administration's intent to criminally charge Ali Al-Marri in a US court, his challenge to his detention as an "enemy combatant" continues to present a live case which the Supreme Court is obliged to adjudicate… On Friday, February [...]

The US is resuming active participation as an observer in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) , according to interim Charge d'Affaires to the US Mission in Geneva Mark Sorella in his address to the council Wednesday. Sorella said that the US is committed "to work alongside all those working in good faith to promote [...]

Italy formally agreed to abolish the death penalty for all purposes by ratifying Protocol 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights , the Council of Europe (COE) announced Tuesday. Italy is the 41st of the COE's 47 member states to adopt the provision, following France, which adopted it in 2007. The remaining six states [...]

Chairman of the US Senate Judiciary Committee Patrick Leahy (D-VT) called for the creation of a truth commission to investigate the national security policies of the George W. Bush administration at a hearing Wednesday. Leahy said a nonpartisan inquiry "could focus on the issues of national security and executive power in the government's counterterrorism efforts, [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two criminal procedure cases Wednesday. In Abuelhawa v. United States the Court heard arguments on whether a defendant who used a cellphone for the misdemeanor purchase of cocaine can be charged with a felony for using a "communication facility" to facilitate the distribution of an illegal drug [...]

Sudan and other African countries on Wednesday criticized the International Criminal Court (ICC) for issuing an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir , while Sudan's opposition leaders, the UN, and various Western countries urged Bashir's government to cooperate with court. In Sudan, Information and Communication Minister Kamal Ebeid rejected the court's authority to issue [...]

A court under the European Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) reached its first verdict Tuesday, sentencing Kosovo Albanian Gani Gashi to 17 years in jail for murder, attempted murder, and grievous bodily harm. A three-judge panel, composed of two EULEX judges and a judge from Kosovo, found Gashi guilty of crimes committed during [...]

The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany on Tuesday ruled that the use of electronic voting machines in elections is unconstitutional. The ruling comes after a challenge to the use of the machines in the 2005 Bundestag election. Plaintiffs had argued that electronically counted votes could easily be tampered with. In reaching their decision, the court [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Wednesday in Wyeth v. Levine that the drug labeling requirements under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) do not preempt state products liability laws. The case was initiated by a Vermont woman who brought a negligence and failure-to-warn products liability suit against pharmaceutical company Wyeth , arguing [...]

The New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division ruled Tuesday that the parents of a 23 year-old, who donated semen prior to his death from cancer in 1998, were not entitled to possession of the specimens. Mary and Antonio Speranza sought their son Mark's semen specimens, which he donated in 1997 so that he could [...]