US State Department officials Saturday expressed concern and skepticism about Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's decision to declare emergency rule in Pakistan and suspend the country's constitution in a move largely designed to thwart an increasingly activist Pakistani judiciary. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a press statement : The United States is deeply disturbed [...]

A Canadian-based filmmaker accused of intending to spread propaganda will face a secret trial in Iran on November 17, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported Saturday. Mehrnoushe Solouki holds dual French and Iranian nationality and is currently a doctoral student at the University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM) . She has been in Iran since [...]

Pakistan state television announced Saturday that President Pervez Musharraf has appointed a new chief justice for the Supreme Court of Pakistan after dismissing Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in the wake of suspending the country's constitution and declaring emergency rule earlier in the day. Media reports said Chaudhry had been told his services were "no longer [...]

The Venezuelan National Assembly on Friday approved by 160-7 a set of proposed amendments to the country's constitution , including reforms that would eliminate presidential term limits and augment the president's emergency powers. The proposed amendments passed a preliminary vote in the Assembly in August; all of the constitutional reforms will be subject to a [...]

Pakistan's Supreme Court Saturday rejected a declaration of emergency rule issued by President Pervez Musharraf earlier in the day after paramilitary troops and police blocked off the Supreme Court building with the judges still inside. Musharraf made the declaration and suspended the constitution as the country anticipated a ruling by the court on whether Musharraf [...]

The Alaska Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Parental Consent Act, a state law requiring parental consent before pregnant teens under the age of 17 can have an abortion, violates the teens' constitutional right to privacy. Writing for the majority in a 3-2 decision, Chief Justice Dana Fabe said:The State's asserted interest in protecting a [...]

Yahoo! General Counsel Michael Callahan apologized to members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Friday for failing to clarify his testimony before the committee regarding Yahoo's involvement in providing information to the Chinese government about Shi Tao , who has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for divulging state secrets abroad. Callahan testified [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Moeen Cheema, professor of Law & Policy at the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Lahore, Pakistan, says that President Pervez Musharaff's declaration of emergency rule is in effect martial law, imposed to crack down on a dissenting judiciary that was about to rule against Musharraf in a critical election case… According [...]

JURIST Special Guest Columnist Syed Umair Javed of the Department of Law & Policy, Lahore University of Management Sciences, in Lahore, Pakistan, says that General Pervez Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule is an illegal, ultra-constitutional and desperate attempt to hold on to power by unconstitutionally clipping the power of Pakistan's judiciary… Pakistan's military ruler, General [...]

US senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Friday that they would support the nomination of Michael Mukasey as US attorney general, according to preliminary reports. Their endorsements in combination with those of GOP colleagues would likely give Mukasey the ten votes that he needs for his nomination to pass the Senate Judiciary [...]