The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation , 06-157 , where the court must decide whether taxpayers have standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge federal support for "faith-based" religious initiatives. The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFR) sued US Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao , [...]
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US Department of State Legal Adviser John Bellinger said Wednesday the US will not honor any request by Italy to extradite CIA agents wanted for their alleged role in the February 17, 2003 abduction and extraordinary rendition of alleged terror suspect Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr . Bellinger noted that no extradition request has been received [...]
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi , who won a confidence vote in the Italian Senate Wednesday after losing a key vote on a foreign policy issue last week, has asked senators to strike down an unfavorable election law that was enacted by predecessor Silvio Berlusconi prior to the contested Senate elections of April 2006. Prodi [...]
The Law Lords , the judicial panel of the UK House of Lords which is Britain's highest court, Wednesday dismissed an appeal by a suspect in the 2004 Madrid bombings contesting his extradition to Spain. Moutaz Almallah Dabas, a Syrian-born Spanish citizen, was arrested in London in March 2005 for his alleged involvement in the [...]
US District Judge George B. Daniels on Tuesday approved a proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit brought by Holocaust survivors against Italian insurance company Assicurazioni Generali . Under the terms of the settlement, the insurance company will accept new claims until March 31, 2008. The deadline might be extended to August 31, 2008 when [...]
Two Guantamano Bay detainees petitioned the US Supreme Court Tuesday to expedite its review of the 2006 Military Commissions Act (MCA) , which contains a "court-stripping" provision that prevents federal courts from hearing habeas challenges. The motion to expedite filed by joint appellants Salim Ahmed Hamdan and Omar Khadr asks the Court to review the [...]
The former general counsel for computer security company McAfee was indicted Tuesday by the Department of Justice for concealing an illegal stock option backdating scheme. The DOJ charged Kent Roberts with six counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, and filing false SEC documents. The indictment alleged that as part of the scheme to defraud McAfee [...]
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a complaint Tuesday against the Department of Justice (DOJ) seeking the release of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) order that authorized government surveillance of transmissions coming into or going outside of the country where one party was suspected of association with a terrorist organization. The EFF filed their [...]
The FBI has started investigating 10-12 civil rights era suspicious death cases , according to FBI Director Robert Mueller and US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Tuesday. Although officials declined to comment on which cases have been re-opened, they did confirm that the lynching of four sharecroppers in 1946 on Moore's Ford Bridge in Georgia were [...]
The Supreme Court of Mexico released a decision Tuesday overturning a law that banned those with HIV from serving in the military, finding the law an unconstitutional infringement on principles of equality. The military may now only expel soldiers if a doctor certifies that their condition prevents them from performing their duties. Tuesday's decision immediately [...]
