Thailand's new military leadership, which seized power in a coup last week, said Tuesday that a temporary constitution has been drafted that appoints the military rulers as advisers to any interim government. Army Commander-in-Chief Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin said the document will be submitted to academics for their review and then given to King Bhumibol Adulyadej [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Alison Nathan of Fordham University School of Law says that the provision in the military commissions bill stripping the federal courts of habeas jurisdiction over detainees threatens a fundamental element of our constitutional heritage … Following a claim that former deputy-director of State Richard Armitage told Pakistani officials that if Pakistan did [...]

A federal judge Monday stopped the sale of oil and gas rights on approximately 1.7 million acres of protected land on Alaska's North Slope, which the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had planned for Wednesday to recover an estimated 2 billion barrels of oil sitting under the land. The sale of federal leases would [...]

Saddam Hussein was thrown out of court Tuesday for the third time by new chief judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa, who took over the genocide trial after the former chief judge was removed by the Iraqi government last week. Oreibi opened Tuesday's hearing by telling Saddam that he would have to "behave" and then allowed him [...]

Schwab v. Philip Morris, US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, September 25, 2006 . Read the full text of the certification . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Three US Marines charged with murdering an unarmed Iraqi civilian in April in Hamdania will face courts-martial, the Marine Corps announced Monday. The decision follows preliminary hearings for the three Marines, all of whom are based at Camp Pendleton, California: Pfc. John J. Jodka III, Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda and Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate . [...]

Pressure from the Bush administration and the congressional leadership to fast-track a military commissions bill met bipartisan resistance Monday during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing . Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) called the habeas corpus provision of the draft legislation "inexplicable," echoing televised comments he made Sunday suggesting that the provision violates Article 1, Section [...]

An Israel Defense Forces court denied bail Monday to 18 Palestinian lawmakers on trial for charges of membership in a terrorist organization . The ruling, postponed from last week, reverses an earlier military court decision that prosecutors appealed . In his opinion, Judge Col. Shaul Gorden wrote that the court had "no choice" but to [...]

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso suggested Monday that the EU temporarily halt membership enlargement after Bulgaria and Romania join while the EU works to resolve institutional and constitutional problems. Though the Commission will likely announce on Tuesday that Bulgaria and Romania will be eligible to join the EU in January , Barroso's comments throw [...]

A spokesman for Thailand's new military leadership which seized power in a bloodless coup last week has said that the new government wants to bring deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to justice and could seek his extradition from the UK. Thaksin, a billionaire, maintains a residence in London and flew there from New York where [...]