The Judicial Conference of the United States has approved policies requiring judges to disclose their sponsors when traveling to attend seminars, and to investigate financial conflicts of interest more closely. Under the first measure , nongovernmental sources who pay for judges to attend seminars must disclose their patronage on the Judicial Branch website and judges [...]

READ MORE

US Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA) expressed cautious optimism in a possible legislative compromise Tuesday after the White House sent to Capitol Hill new language for a military commissions bill, commenting that he thought an accord would be reached soon. The White House version of the bill differs in key respects from [...]

READ MORE

A Georgia judge held a new Georgia law requiring voters to show ID cards unconstitutional in a ruling Tuesday. State Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford Jr. held that the controversial voter ID law is not required under the Georgia constitution and would disenfranchise otherwise qualified voters. Bedford expressed concern with the burden placed on [...]

READ MORE

The Secure Fence Act of 2006 providing for the construction of a 700-mile fence along the US-Mexico border is going up for a Senate floor vote as early as Wednesday after Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) filed a cloture motion earlier this week to break a potential filibuster . The bill designed to curb [...]

READ MORE

Jordan's General Intelligence Department (GID) frequently makes arbitrary arrests, detains suspects without charges and abuses political dissidents, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report released Tuesday. The monitoring group found that detainees are arbitrarily arrested and held in GID's detention facility in Amman without access to their family or a lawyer. The report [...]

READ MORE