The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously upheld a federal restriction on tobacco advertisements Thursday, finding it did not violate the free expression rights of tobacco companies. The suit was brought by the JTI-Macdonald, Rothmans, and Imperial Tobacco Canada , which challenged Canada's 1997 Tobacco Act , a statute which heavily limits tobacco advertisements in the [...]

Saifullah Paracha , a Guantanamo Bay detainee who blocked the US military from performing a cardiac catheterization on him last November, is increasing ill and suffering from frequent fainting and chest pains, his lawyers said Wednesday. Paracha, a Pakistani detainee who suffered two heart attacks while in US custody in Afghanistan, has refused the diagnostic [...]

A justice on the Pakistani Supreme Court said Thursday that the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has damaged Pakistan, calling the resulting litigation "not a case but a crisis." Presiding Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, speaking following arguments made by lawyers for Chaudhry in his ongoing high court proceeding, also said cooperation was needed for [...]

Letter to US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, White House counsel Fred F. Fielding, June 28, 2007 . Read the full text of the letter . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) announced Thursday that it has referred the case of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi , the only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 over the Scottish village of Lockerbie, to Scotland's High Court of the Justiciary , after identifying six grounds for a possible [...]

Diplomats from the United States and the European Union (EU) said Wednesday they have reached a provisional agreement on the US use of financial data from the Belgian-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) , formulating more EU oversight of the US Terrorist Finance Tracking Program . The agreement ensures that the US adheres [...]

The US Senate voted against limiting debate on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill for a second time Thursday, leaving doubt that the bill will be revisited in the fall or even next year. The 46-53 vote was far short of the two-thirds majority needed to clear way for the bill's passage, and came following rejections [...]

Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori told the Associated Press Wednesday that he will run for office in Japan's House of Councillors under the People's New Party (PNP) banner despite being subjected to house arrest in Chile and facing possible extradition to Peru to face corruption and human rights charges. PNP leader Shizuka Kamei says the [...]

The White House Thursday rejected congressional subpoenas for the testimony of former White House counsel Harriet Miers and former White House Political Director Sara Taylor and their documents relevant to the ongoing probe of the US Attorney firings controversy . In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and House Judiciary Committee [...]

Eric Linge, Pitt Law '09, files from Mumbai: While Pakistani Prime Minister Musharraf sacks Chief Justices who disagree with him, and while Bangladesh continues under emergency military rule, India's judiciary remains steadfastly independent. So steadfastly, in fact, the Indian Supreme Court has a history of making the Indian government very mad. Through India's 60 year [...]