The Indonesian government cannot ban Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) because the government never formally acknowledged the group's existence, Vice President Yusuf Kalla said Sunday. Australia has called on Indonesia to outlaw the group , and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer will travel to Indonesia next week to discuss the issue. JI, al Qaeda [...]

The US District Court for the Western District of Kentucky has ruled that the Holy See is a foreign state subject to immunity protections of the 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act , placing limitations on a lawsuit by three men who allege a cover-up by the Vatican to protect priests who sexually abused children. The [...]

Environmental Integrity Project v. Environmental Protection Agency, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, October 7, 2005 . Excerpt: In this case, EPA proposed to codify its interpretation of the Part 70 rules through an amendment of the regulatory text. Whatever a "logical outgrowth" of this proposal may include, it certainly does [...]

Doe v. Gonzales, Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, October 7, 2005 . Read the full text of the order here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Twenty-one Sunni Arab organizations Saturday jointly condemned the proposed Iraqi constitution , saying in a statement that it “bears in it the germs of Iraq's division, the loss of its Arab identity and the plundering of its national wealth.” The draft charter, the subject of a much-anticipated October 15 referendum, contains federal provisions that the [...]

House Republicans said Friday they will resist a Senate amendment to a $445 million military appropriations bill that would require the US military to follow stricter rules when conducting detainee interrogations. The amendment, approved by the Senate in a 90-9 vote on Wednesday, was omitted from the House version of HR 2863 currently under consideration. [...]

US Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Friday rejected an emergency appeal filed by the ACLU on behalf of Connecticut libraries seeking to overturn a gag order that prevents a library involved in the litigation from revealing its name, and bars its librarians from testifying in upcoming congressional hearings on the Patriot Act. The lawsuit, [...]

The US DC Circuit Court of Appeals Friday rejected a Bush administration interpretation of EPA requirements that weakened the EPA’s ability to monitor air pollution from industrial sources. The appeals court held that a 2004 EPA settlement with several utility and industry groups ran afoul of previous EPA interpretations of the 2002 Clean Air Act [...]

The White House issued a brief statement Friday withdrawing the nomination of corporate attorney Timothy Flanigan to be US Deputy Attorney General. Flanigan forwarded a letter to President Bush Friday requesting that the nomination be recalled, citing concerns about the timing of his confirmation. Flanigan's decision comes one week after the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed [...]

Attorneys for Tom DeLay, (R-TX) have filed a motion to dismiss grand jury indictments against the former House majority leader. DeLay's legal team alleges that Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle and his staff engaged in prosecutorial misconduct when they tried to coerce members of a grand jury into filing a second indictment against DeLay. [...]