The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that a statute mandating that five percent of Department of Defense (DOD) contract spending be awarded to minority companies, is unconstitutional. The opinion, written by Chief Judge Paul Michel and issued Tuesday, found that the evidential standard of determining who is a minority violated the [...]

A ballot measure to prohibit holders of government contracts totaling more than $100,000 from contributing to political parties or candidates appeared to win narrow approval from Colorado voters Tuesday, while a similar measure in South Dakota was easily rejected. In Colorado, Initiative 59 (also called Amendment 54) amends the state constitution to ban such "pay [...]

An amendment to the Maryland Constitution to permit early voting was among several election-reform ballot measures approved by voters in Maryland and other states Tuesday. Question 1 authorizes the Maryland General Assembly to allow voters to cast ballots outside their election districts or wards, to vote as much as two weeks before an election and [...]

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) rapporteur Dick Marty testified Wednesday at the trial of American and Italian intelligence officials for the 2003 abduction and rendition of Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr , also known as Abu Omar. Recalling the findings of his own investigation , Marty said that the illegal transfer [...]

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) Thursday ruled that the European Commission (EC) should not have overturned a Dutch law requiring all new diesel-fueled vehicles to be equipped with a soot filter. The Netherlands wanted to require the filters in an attempt to reduce particulate matter emitted by passenger vehicles. The ECJ found that expert [...]

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev Wednesday proposed constitutional amendments extending the presidential term from four to six years, and the term of members of the State Duma from four to five years. The proposed amendments would change Article 81(1) and Article 96(1) of the Russian Constitution , the first changes to that document since it replaced [...]

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday promulgated the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance which allows certain acts of "cyber terrorism" to be punishable by death. The ordinance covers a variety of cyber crimes, including unauthorized data access, malicious code, unsolicited mass mailings, and fraud. It focuses on acts of terrorism caused by a person [...]

Crime victims gained a higher profile in California’s criminal justice system on Tuesday with voter approval of Proposition 9 , also known as the Victims’ Rights Protection Act of 2008. The only winner among three criminal justice initiatives, Proposition 9, championed by Friends of Marsy's Law , places into the California state constitution 17 rights [...]

Rights groups filed a writ petition with the California Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking to invalidate a state constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage. Proposition 8 , which was approved by about 52 percent of California voters Tuesday, provides that "nly marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." The writ [...]

A collective of Saudi citizens began a 48-hour hunger strike Thursday to protest what it called the illegal detention of 11 political reformists and to call for judicial reform. The protesters, who include Saudi lawyers, scholars, and activists, hope to call attention to Saudi legal and criminal procedures, which they say are not offering full [...]