JURIST Guest Columnist Benjamin Davis of the University of Toledo College of Law says that instead of excusing the Bush administration lawyers who enabled torture as a tool of American policy, we should press for their prosecution and celebrate the efforts of those legal advisors in the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, the [...]
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US Attorney General Michael Mukasey defended Bush administration attorneys who authored memoranda supporting the legality of coercive interrogating tactics – the so-called "torture memos" – in a commencement address to Boston College Law School graduates Friday. Emphasizing the legal complexity of the issues raised in the memos and criticizing the vilification of the authors in [...]
US Department of Defense prosecutors Friday charged Guantanamo Bay detainee Noor Uthman Muhammed with conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism. Muhammed, a Sudanese national, is accused of conspiring with various al Qaeda leaders and running a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan between 1996 and 2000. Captured in Pakistan in 2002, Muhammed is the sixteenth [...]
Some 270 illegal immigrants arrested during a US immigration sting at an Agriprocessors Inc. meatpacking plant in Iowa, were each sentenced to five months in prison and 27 more received probation after pleading guilty to the use of false immigration documents, the New York Times reported Saturday. In what federal officials called the largest operation [...]
JURIST Contributing Editor Ali Khan of Washburn University School of Law says that the proposed 18th Amendment to Pakistan's constitution limiting presidential power and punishing judges who might support military coups and constitutional subversions may offer some short-term benefit, but it will not solve Pakistan's constitutional woes…. The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) will soon propose [...]
A Marine Corps General Friday declined to press charges against two US Marines involved in a March 2007 incident in which 30 US Marines opened fire on civilians alongside a road in Nangahar province, Afghanistan, after a suicide bomber drove a vehicle carrying explosives into their convoy. Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland made the decision after [...]
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) Friday ruled that a small uninhabited island on which Singapore operates a light beacon does in fact belong to the country, ending a 38-year long dispute between it and neighboring Malaysia . The court held that the strategically important island had originally belonged to Malaysia, but because Singapore had [...]
Case Concerning Soverignty over Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge (Malaysia/Singapore), International Court of Justice, May 23, 2008 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
Minister of Justice v. Omar Khadr, Supreme Court of Canada, May 23, 2008 . Read the full text of the decision . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled Friday that Canadian Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr has a constitutional right to see confidential documents compiled by Canadian officials following interviews with Khadr in prison, but found that the government could withhold some information for national security purposes. Lawyers for Khadr expressed disappointment with the verdict, saying that [...]
