The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in Cunningham v. California , 05-6551, a case that asks justices to decide whether judges can exercise discretion to tack on additional years to prison sentences beyond that determined by a jury without violating a defendant's right to a jury trial. Cunningham, a former California police officer, [...]

Ben Davis : "Lawyers for Jose Padilla recently (October 4) filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida a Motion to Dismiss for Outrageous Government Conduct . The motion recites, from the point of view of Jose Padilla, his detention at the US Navy Brig in Charleston, South Carolina. If [...]

Saddam Hussein returned to court Wednesday and questioned the chief judge presiding over his genocide trial as to why he has not been allowed to speak and defend himself during prior court sessions, saying it was a judge's "duty" to listen. Chief Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa cut off Hussein's microphone and subsequently threw him out [...]

The Iraqi National Assembly Wednesday approved a measure that outlines how federalism could be implemented to divide Iraq into separate regions. The law is backed by Shiite majority leaders, but opposed by Sunnis who fear that splitting areas of Iraq would cause a civil war by increasing the sectarian and ethnic violence already troubling the [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Wednesday denied a request by the Croatian government to intervene as amicus curiae in the trial of six former political and military Bosnian Croat leaders who are accused of torturing, killing, imprisoning, and expelling Muslims in Bosnia during 1991-94. The Croatian government had sought permission to [...]

The Law Lords , the judicial panel of the UK House of Lords that is Britain's highest court, ruled Wednesday that media in Britain should not be subject to libel charges if they publish allegations against public figures as long as they act responsibly and in the public interest. The case was an appeal brought [...]

Thai Defense Minister Boonrawd Somtas said Wednesday that Thailand will remain under martial law for at least a month as a safeguard against political turmoil, while Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, who led the Sept. 19 bloodless coup , defended martial law as unintrusive on the daily lives of Thai citizens. The comments from the military follow [...]

A South Carolina Senate committee is contemplating state immigration reform laws that would regulate the hiring practices of businesses who contract with the state, state Sen. Jim Ritchie said Tuesday. The committee is considering a mandatory program for state agencies, their contractors, and subcontractors where the citizenship of all employees would be checked through a [...]

The US House Ethics Committee will hold hearings Thursday on the Mark Foley scandal . Former Foley chief of staff Kirk Fordham is set to testify about when he notified the staff of US House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) about Foley's inappropriate behavior. Fordham has maintained he notified Hastert in either 2002 or 2003, while [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Don Rothwell of ANU College of Law, Australian National University, says that while passage of the new Military Commissions Act in the United States presents new challenges for Australian Guantanamo detainee David Hicks, it also creates an opportunity for the Australian government to reconsider its erstwhile refusal to press for the protection [...]