The US Supreme Court on Wednesday considered whether a death row inmate can challenge the constitutionality of a state's method of lethal injection under 42 USC 1983 even when all other appeals have been exhausted. The court agreed to hear Hill v. McDonough after granting a last minute stay of execution for Clarence Hill , [...]

Supporters of ousted Philippines president Joseph Estrada protested Wednesday outside the Manila courthouse where he is being tried for corruption, a day after the country's Supreme Court ruled 13-0 that current President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's policy of breaking up unauthorized demonstrations by force as they form is unconstitutional . Estrada is charged with stashing some [...]

The US Senate Wednesday voted 59-39 to hold back $1.9 billion in funds requested by President Bush to support the Iraq war and instead put them towards increased border security, including the building of a security fence along the Mexican border near San Diego. The proposal to divert the funds was made by Sen. Judd [...]

Recently-released US military tribunal hearing records and other documents indicate at that least seven prisoners at the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay were transferred abroad to jurisdictions practicing torture before their arrival at the base, with three detainees claiming they were actually tortured in those jurisdictions, according to Wednesday's Boston Globe. The inmates who [...]

Proposed resolution for the European Parliament based on the interim report of the parliamentary commission on alleged CIA use of European countries for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners , April 26, 2006 . Read the full text of the proposed resolution . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The trial of six former high-ranking Bosnian Croat officials began Wednesday at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia . The defendants, including the former prime minister of the Croat region of Herceg-Bosna Jadranko Prlic, face multiple crimes against humanity charges , including murder, rape and deportation for allegedly organizing an ethnic cleansing campaign [...]

The US Central Intelligence Agency has used extraordinary rendition to kidnap terror suspects in Europe and transfer them to countries known to use torture and has operated over 1,000 secret flights in European territory, according to an interim report drafted by Italian MEP Giovanni Claudio Fava and released Wednesday. Fava, rapporteur for a special committee [...]

US District Judge Donald Molloy has issued an injunction striking down three US Forest Service regulations that would have limited the public's ability to comment on proposed rules. The injunction came in response to plaintiff and defendant motions for summary judgment and follows an order issued last month which declared the regulations invalid under the [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ordered US District Judge Leonie Brinkema to hold hearings on whether the National Security Agency used warrantless domestic wiretaps to gather evidence against an Islamic scholar convicted of encouraging Muslims to join the Taliban. Ali al-Timimi is serving a life sentence following his conviction last [...]

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday handed down decisions in two cases, including Jones v. Flowers , 04-1477, where the Court held that before a state can sell property for failure of the property owner to pay taxes, the state must take additional "reasonable" steps to provide notice to the property owner when "practicable" to [...]