JURIST Contributing Editor Michael Kelly of Creighton University School of Law says that the trial of Saddam Hussein for genocide of the Kurds should continue posthumously, notwithstanding his execution for crimes against humanity in Dujail… The execution of Saddam Hussein by hanging today in Baghdad could bring to a close the troubled proceedings of the [...]

US media quoting unnamed US military and intelligence sources reported late Thursday that US authorities in Iraq will physically hand ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein over to Iraqi officials within 36 hours in preparation for an execution that will take place before the Muslim Eid holiday on Sunday, and possibly as early as Friday. AP [...]

The government of Zimbabwe has arrested at least 16,290 gold panners in the last three weeks in a continuation of its controversial Operation Restore Order , according to a report by Harare's Herald newspaper. Police have also bulldozed and razed many of the temporary homes built by the miners close to the mining fields, displacing [...]

US Senior District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. of the US Southern District of Mississippi remanded to Mississippi state court Wednesday a key Hurricane Katrina case involving whether insurance exclusion clauses for flood damage mean that storm surge damages are excluded as well. With state courts being typically more plaintiff-friendly in interpreting such insurance clauses, Mississippi [...]

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo , and Vice President Atiku Abubakar filed competing lawsuits in the capital city of Abuja Wednesday over whether Abubakar should resign from office after accepting a presidential nomination from a competing party. While Abubakar claims that he has the right to remain Vice President until his term expires or if he [...]

Governor Bob Taft (R-OH) Wednesday received a public reprimand from the Ohio Supreme Court for ethics violations stemming from charges that he received over 50 gifts worth up to $6,000 during four years in office. The reprimand will be a permanent mark on his record as an attorney, but while the justices had the option [...]

Doyle v. Secretary of the Commonwealth, Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, December 27, 2006 . Read the full text of the ruling . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told reporters Wednesday that "the door remains open" for possible changes to the structure and procedure of a divisive UN-supported international tribunal being proposed to try suspects accused of assassinating former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005. Siniora didn't specify what the possible amendments were, but said they would [...]

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled unanimously Wednesday that it could not force the state legislature to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. After lawmakers failed to vote on the ballot initiative in November, Governor Mitt Romney sued the Commonwealth . In its opinion , the court wrote: We have no [...]

Iraqi judges and lawyers Wednesday mulled over a potential constitutional complication in the wake of Tuesday's Iraqi High Tribunal appeals chamber affirmation of a death sentence against ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity committed in the town of Dujail in 1982. Under the Iraqi constitution, such a death sentence requires the authorization [...]