The US Department of Education announced Tuesday that it is changing its regulations in order to allow public schools more discretion in providing for the separate education of boys and girls. The changes, to be published Wednesday in the Federal Register, will affect how anti-discrimination provisions in Title IX are applied by allowing same-sex classes [...]
The US government has filed a civil lawsuit against the estate of former Enron chairman Ken Lay , seeking $12.7 million. The Justice Department brought suit Monday "to recover property that constitutes proceeds of the fraud proven in the criminal case." Last week, a federal judge vacated Lay's convictions on fraud and conspiracy charges because [...]
A Dutch court took steps Monday to obtain testimony from Saddam Hussein in an appeal by a Dutch businessman convicted of selling chemicals that were used in poison gas attacks in Iraq. Frans Van Anraat was convicted last year of selling raw materials to Iraq that ultimately were used in the 1988 gas attack against [...]
The Secure Fence Act of 2006 , the second portion of a two-part plan to tackle illegal immigration in the US, was sent to President George Bush Monday for his signature. The bill allows the US Secretary of Homeland Security to begin using $1.2 billion earmarked for the construction of a border control fence to [...]
JURIST Contributing Editor Nancy Rapoport of the University of Houston Law Center says that the 24-year prison sentence handed down for former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling leaves us all disappointed, not necessarily in the sentence, but in the corporate conduct that led to Enron's collapse and the huge losses that entailed… In one of my [...]
The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has ruled that Serbian war crimes suspect Vojislav Seselj can act as his own lawyer in his upcoming trial. An ICTY trial chamber removed Seselj's right to self-representation in August based on his "disruptive behavior," but the appeals court reversed the lower court [...]
The lead legal consultant for the military regime that took over the Thai government in a bloodless coup in September was elected Tuesday to serve as speaker of the National Legislative Assembly , which is tasked with creating a new permanent constitution for Thailand . Meechai Ruchupan, who also helped draft the country's interim constitution [...]
Indonesia will release two prisoners convicted of the 2002 bombings that killed over 200 people at a Bali nightclub , prison officials said Monday. The convicts will be freed Tuesday to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid ul-Fitr , the end of Ramadan . Indonesia has a prisoner remission program for various holidays including August [...]
US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended the new Military Commissions Act of 2006 Monday before an audience of senior military lawyers, insisting it gives enemy combatants detained at Guantanamo Bay "greater legal rights than are provided to lawful prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions." In a speech to the Judge Advocate General Corps leadership [...]
US District Judge Sim Lake on Monday sentenced former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling to 24 years in prison and determined that $45 million of Skilling's assets will be seized to be distributed to former Enron employees. Skilling, convicted in May on 19 counts of conspiracy, insider trading, and securities fraud, was charged with providing investors [...]