Supporters of a ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage in Massachusetts delivered 170,000 signatures to the secretary of state Wednesday, moving them one step closer to putting the initiative on the ballot in 2008. The drive, headed by the Massachusetts Family Institute and other conservatives, resulted in 147,000 certified signatures, with only 65,825 needed to [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour on Wednesday said that the US-led war on terror has threatened the world ban on torture and weakened the US' international standing on human rights. Arbour said that "unassailable" principles against torture had been sacrificed in the war on terror, pointing to secret detention centers for prisoners [...]

Lockhart v. US, Supreme Court of the United States, December 7, 2005 . Read the full text of the majority opinion per Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has asked that a jury verdict finding it negligent in the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center be set aside. According to a motion filed earlier this week, the Port Authority is arguing that the judge in the case, New York Supreme Court Judge Nicholas [...]

Former Hollinger International executive Jack Boultbee Wednesday pleaded not guilty to fraud charges a week after failing to appear for his originally scheduled arraignment. Boultbee appeared in a Chicago court to answer charges stemming from millions allegedly diverted from the company by former CEO Conrad Black . Boultbee, a former executive vice president, was released [...]

The US Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ruled in a 2-1 decision that restrictions imposed on telemarketers by North Dakota help to maintain privacy and are not overly broad. The court's holding reverses a district court ruling striking down the law. Under the law, Century Code Chapter 51-28 , non-profit groups are no [...]

Australian Human Rights Commissioner Sev Ozdowski , whose statutory appointment to the post ends Wednesday, has urged his successor to push for an Australian bill of rights to counter the tough anti-terror laws that the Australian Senate passed Tuesday. An avid opponent of children in immigration detention, Ozdowski voiced concerns about the lack of a [...]

British playwright Harold Pinter , winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature , has called for war crimes charges against US President Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in an acceptance speech to be shown Saturday at the award ceremony in Stockholm. Pinter, a longtime critic of the Iraq war , characterized it [...]

Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Calvin Johnson has ordered the release without bail of as many as 100 prisoners who were arrested before Hurricane Katrina ravaged the area, but were never charged. Johnson, who was appointed to hear the cases in Baton Rouge by the Louisiana Supreme Court, ordered the releases of the inmates [...]

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday heard two cases involving jury deliberations in death penalty cases. In the first, Oregon v. Guzek , the Court considered whether juries can weigh any doubts they have about a defendant's guilt in deciding whether to impose the death sentence. In Kansas v. Marsh , the Court considered whether [...]