JURIST Guest Columnist Lawrence Douglas, Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought at Amherst College, says that the trial of Saddam Hussein must not only do justice, but show that justice is done, and wonders whether the relatively-inexperienced jurists of the Iraqi tribunal will be up to the task… How much better a trial before [...]

The Israeli Supreme Court has authorized the construction of the West Bank security fence across Palestinian land. Last month, the Court ruled that Israel had a right to construct the barrier to protect itself from potential terrorist attacks, but urged the rerouting of sections of the barrier in those areas which do not pose heightened [...]

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour Monday signed legislation to let the 13 hotel-casinos destroyed by Hurricane Katrina to be rebuilt 800 feet inland, despite opposition from religious conservatives. The law was approved in a special legislative session where the Mississippi Legislature convened to specifically work on the aftermath of the hurricane's devastation. The legislation was passed [...]

Officials from the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq resumed counting ballots Tuesday as part of an effort to recheck an unusually high number of votes in this weekend's referendum on the Iraqi constitution . The recount had been disrupted by a sandstorm, but ballot boxes from 12 Shiite and Kurdish provinces are now back on [...]

US Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers Tuesday will turn in her responses to a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire devised to reveal how she might rule on cases brought before the Supreme Court. In meetings with Senators following her nomination to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Miers has revealed that she believes the Constitution contains [...]

Crime in the United States 2004, Federal Bureau of Investigation, October 18, 2005 . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

A lawyer who has worked with Saddam Hussein's defense team said Monday that the defense will likely begin pre-trial proceedings on Tuesday by once again requesting a six month delay. The defense is expected to argue that it has not been given 45 days to review all prosecution documents as provided by Rule 45 of [...]

Dora B. Schriro, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections v. Robert Douglas Smith, Supreme Court of the United States, October 17, 2005 . Read the per curiam opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Susan Wood, former director of the US Food and Drug Administration's Department of Women’s Health said Monday that the FDA’s refusal earlier this year to consider over-the-counter sales of Plan B , also known as the morning-after pill, was based on political considerations rather than scientific facts. Wood, who resigned in August in protest over [...]

A tax reform interest group chairman says that the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform created last January to consider alternatives to the current US income tax system will probably not recommend any major changes to the code when it submit its report to the Treasury Department by November 1st. The panel is considering [...]