Iran confirmed Monday that it will restart its nuclear fuel research program, a decision which may lead European Union and US officials to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for sanctions. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Iran would resume its program when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was ready to [...]

Speaker of the US House of Representatives Dennis Hastert (R-IL) outlined a plan Sunday to implement more stringent restrictions on the "perks" members of Congress may accept from private parties. Reconsideration of the restrictions was sparked by the recent Congressional ethics scandal involving former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff , and Texas Congressman Tom Delay . [...]

The man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981 will be released on parole from prison Thursday after a Turkish court ruled that he has completed his sentences for shooting the pope and other crimes. The Vatican expressed surprise at the news, saying it only learned of the release of Mehmet Ali Agca through [...]

The US Army has dropped charges against Capt. Christopher Beiring, the Army officer implicated in the death of two terror detainees at the US-run Bagram detention facility in Afghanistan , due to insufficient evidence. Beiring was charged in September with dereliction of duty and making a false statement and it was alleged that Beiring failed [...]

Christian conservatives on Sunday rallied in support of US Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito and called for reforms to the federal judiciary, during Justice Sunday III . The rally, sponsored by the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family , was organized to protest recent federal court decisions on the separation of church and [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Brian Foley of Florida Coastal School of Law says that while senators are likely to query Judge Samuel Alito this week about his views on executive power, they themselves have dangerously indulged it without setting clear limitations, as recently evidenced by their approval of the "compromise" Graham-Levin amendment severely restricting access to [...]

Arce, et al. v. Garcia, et al., United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Circuit Judge Tjoflat, February 28, 2005 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

US Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter Sunday acknowledged that a "heavy sense of drama" surrounded the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Samuel Alito , set to begin Monday. In a statement prepared for delivery at the opening of the first session, Specter promised that the process, expected to last through Thursday, "will give [...]

US military commission proceedings against two of a handful of charged prisoners at Guantanamo Bay , originally scheduled to restart Tuesday, have been pushed back to Wednesday in recognition of the the Feast of the Sacrifice, a Muslim holy day. Canadian Omar Khadr will face his second commission hearing on his conspiracy and attempted murder [...]

US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) said Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation program that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has been invited to testify as the main spokesperson for administration when the Senate Judiciary Committee holds open hearings in early Feburary on the Bush administration's warrantless surveilance program . Gonzales was White House [...]