JURIST is back online after a major power failure in central Pittsburgh early Thursday knocked out power to the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and surrounding campus buildings. JURIST's staff dispersed to remote locations during the downtime, researching and reporting the day's national and international legal news as usual, although publication of stories to [...]

Wilson v. Libby, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, July 13, 2006 . Read the full text of the complaint . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006, passed by the the US House of Representatives, July 13, 2006 . Read the full text of the bill . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Kerrigan v. Connecticut, Connecticut Superior Court, July 12, 2006 . Read the full text of the opinion per Judge Patty Jenkins. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The US House of Representatives voted Thursday to renew the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) for 25 years. The renewal bill now goes to the Senate for approval after a final vote of 390-33 , with only Republicans dissenting. The House rejected several amendments that would have eased the procedures for states to follow, including [...]

Former South Korean lobbyist Tongsun Park , was convicted Thursday on charges of money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and acting as an unregistered agent of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. A federal jury in New York spent less than a day deliberating in Park's trial, the first resulting from a scandal surrounding the [...]

Jose Padilla and his attorneys may view classified information from the US Department of Defense (DOD) in preparation for his terrorism trial, US District Judge Marcia G. Cooke has ruled. Although defense lawyers are routinely granted access to confidential information after obtaining security clearance, allowing Padilla to examine the 32 documents and 57 videotapes containing [...]

Valerie Plame, the undercover operative whose revealed identity precipitated the CIA leak scandal , filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday against Vice President Dick Cheney, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and former vice-presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby for their alleged roles in the scandal. In the suit, Plame asserts that [...]

Amnesty International issued a scathing statement on Thursday condemning Israel and Lebanese political group Hezbollah for causing civilian deaths and taking hostages in violation of Geneva Convention protections. Israeli air strikes killed 40 civilians and injured 60 in southern Lebanon on Wednesday after Hezbullah crossed the Israeli border, kidnapping two Israeli soldiers and killing eight [...]

President Bush has agreed to sign legislation authorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to review the NSA's controversial domestic spying program , US Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) told the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday. Specter has been negotiating a bill with the White House since June, when he threatened to subpoena administration documents related to [...]