The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese head of state Omar al-Bashir , charging him with seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but declining to charge him with genocide. The controversial arrest warrant had been sought by ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo , who in July filed [...]

The Zimbabwean attorney general's office on Wednesday appealed to the nation's Supreme Court a Tuesday High Court ruling ordering the release of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party treasurer general and cabinet member-designate Roy Bennett . Bennett faces charges under Zimbabwe's Public Order and Security Act for "attempting to commit terrorism, banditry and sabotage." Judge [...]

JURIST Special Guest Columnists Representatives David Skaggs (D-CO) (1987-1999) and Mickey Edwards (R-OK) (1977-1993), members of the Constitution Project’s Liberty and Security Committee, say that despite the Obama administration's welcome new approach to handling terrorism cases, the US government could still use proposed "national security courts" to short-circuit constitutional guarantees and permanently detain individuals it [...]

Preliminary hearings began Tuesday in the new trial of former Russian oil executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky in a Moscow courtroom. Khodorkovsky and his former business partner Platon Lebedev are facing new charges of embezzling and laundering nearly $20 billion during their tenures at the Russian energy firm OAO Yukos Oil Co. . During Tuesday's proceedings, the [...]

A group of Massachusetts plaintiffs who are or have been married under the state's same-sex marriage law filed a lawsuit against the US federal government Tuesday in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts , challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) . The plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed against [...]

Former Bosnian Serb leader and war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic refused to enter pleas on Tuesday to 11 amended charges including genocide and crimes against humanity in a hearing before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) . Last month, the ICTY granted in part the prosecution's motion to amend the indictment against [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases on Tuesday. In Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Company the Court heard arguments on whether they should adopt a constitutional standard for requiring state judges to recuse themselves in cases where there is an "appearance of bias." The case is on appeal from a case [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday released two memoranda and seven opinions authored by the White House Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) during the presidency of George W. Bush , supporting the administration's counter-terrorism policies. The opinions, dated between 2001 and 2003, supported the president's broad use of executive authority to detain and hold foreign [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) acknowledged Monday that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has destroyed 92 videotapes of terrorism suspect interrogations . The acknowledgment came in response to an August 2008 judicial order that the CIA turn over information regarding the tapes or provide specific justifications on why it could not release the information. [...]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) should take steps to improve the enforcement of international justice, according to a report issued Tuesday by Aegis Trust , an advocacy group dedicated to eliminating genocide. The report, entitled "The Enforcement of Criminal Law," proposes reforms that would improve enforcement, including: pooled financing, specialist units, a new treaty on [...]