The US military announced Friday it has drafted new charges against three high-profile Guantanamo Bay detainees. Col. Morris Davis (USAF) , chief prosecutor for the Department of Defense Office of Military Commissions, said that the new charges against Australian David Hicks , Canadian Omar Khadr , and Yemeni Salim Ahmed Hamdan included murder, attempted murder, [...]
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In re: Katrina Canal Breaches Consolidated Litigation, US District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr., US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, February 2, 2007 . Read the full text of the order . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
National Pride at Work, Inc. v. Governor of Michigan, Michigan Court of Appeals, February 2, 2006 . Read the full text of the ruling . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
US Defense Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Detainee Affairs Charles "Cully" Stimson resigned Friday in the aftermath of a backlash to remarks he made in a radio interview last month criticizing lawyers at top US law firms for representing Guantanamo detainees pro bono. A Defense Department spokesman said Stimson was not asked to leave, but [...]
A federal judge ruled Friday that the US Army Corps of Engineers can be sued by victims of Hurricane Katrina flood damage who allege the Corps ignored warnings that the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MRGO) contained defects that exacerbated the flooding. In his opinion denying the Corps' motion to dismiss, Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr. of [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour on Friday criticized the amnesty resolution adopted by the lower house of the Afghan parliament Thursday. The resolution, part of a national reconciliation effort, extends official pardons to warlords and alleged war criminals. It stands in stark contrast to the Action Plan on Peace, Reconciliation and Justice [...]
US Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) , chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Thursday that he intends to ask the Government Accountability Office to look into why Canadian citizen Maher Arar remains on the US terror watch list. Leahy and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) , former committee chairman and current ranking Republican, met with US [...]
The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled that an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as between a man and a woman also prohibits Michigan public employers from offering benefits, such as health insurance, to same-sex partners of homosexual employees. The appeals court overturned a lower court decision finding no conflict between the 2004 [...]
The United Nations Friday released a plan for Kosovo to govern itself as a multi-ethnic society that it says safeguards the rights of all groups within its territory. An executive summary of the plan was issued to Serbian and Albanian leaders by Special Envoy for the Future Status Process Marrti Ahtisaari and will be negotiated [...]
Australian Minister of Justice Chris Ellison Friday offered the Australian government's strongest criticism yet of the US government's 5-year detention without charge of Australian citizen David Hicks at Guantanamo Bay , calling it "totally inappropriate" and urging that a trial be held quickly. Ellison has not, however, endorsed a letter signed by 96 members of [...]
