The US Supreme Court Monday denied an application by US citizen Mohammad Munaf for a temporary injunction postponing his transfer to Iraqi custody where he faces the death penalty for his involvement in a 2005 kidnapping in Iraq. Munaf, who was convicted and sentenced to death by an Iraqi judge in early October, has argued [...]

Ayers v. Belmontes, Supreme Court of the United States, November 13, 2006 . Read the court's opinion per Justice Kennedy, along with a concurrence from Justice Scalia and a dissent from Justice Stevens. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Eric A. Seitz, : "1st Lt. Ehren Watada had been an eagle scout and an exemplary Army officer when he first learned that he was likely to be deployed to Iraq and began to read and learn about the war into which he would be leading his troops. What he read troubled him enormously. He [...]

George Washington : "On November 7, 2006, Proposal 2, which is copied from California's Proposition 209, passed in Michigan by a vote of 57 to 43 percent. There are now two pending legal challenges to the Proposal, with more expected to follow soon. The United States District Court found that the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative [...]

Ben Johnson : ""Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto" – "Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law." This statement, the official state motto of Missouri, stands as guidance to all those working in service to the public of Missouri. Unfortunately, there are times when some in the state legislature seem to turn their [...]

Russia may effectively extend a death penalty moratorium for three years if the State Duma passes a bill shifting the deadline for introducing jury trials in Chechnya from January 1, 2007, to January 1, 2010. The Russian Constitutional Court ruled in 1999 that the death penalty cannot be enforced against those who have not been [...]

The head of the independent Human Rights Moroccan Center announced plans Monday to appeal a Moroccan court's conviction of three former Guantanamo Bay detainees accused of involvement in terrorism. Khaled al Charkaoui expressed surprise at last week's convictions of Mohamed Slimani, Najib Houssani and Mohamed Ouali, who spent over four years in US custody at [...]

Lebanon's cabinet approved a UN draft proposal for an international judicial tribunal to try suspects in the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri , but six pro-Syrian cabinet members have resigned since Sunday, possibly rendering the cabinet decision invalid. Lebanon's constitution requires that the cabinet include representatives from all Lebanese political [...]

Torture has become widespread in the strife-ridden southern Russian republic of Chechnya , with more than 100 known cases in both official and secret detention centers, according to a new report released Monday by Human Rights Watch . The HRW report, addressed to the UN Committee against Torture as the committee finishes its review of [...]

US Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) , outgoing chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee , has indicated that President Bush may have to nominate moderate judges to any future vacancies on the US Supreme Court following midterm elections that ceded control of Congress to the Democrats. Monday's Philadelphia Inquirer also quoted Specter as speculating that the [...]