A new Army investigative report has cleared four top US military officers – including former Iraq commander Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez – of wrongdoing in the Iraq prison abuse scandal, according to officials speaking Friday. The as-yet-unreleased report conducted by US Army Inspector General Lt. Gen. Stanley E. Green found that allegations made against the [...]

Zacarias Moussaoui has pleaded guilty to six conspiracy charges connected with the 9/11 attacks that killed more than 3000 people. Upon conviction, he could face the death penalty. Earlier today, Moussaoui's own lawyers had asked the judge to reject a guilty plea, citing mental incompetence. 6:15 PM ET – US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales confirmed [...]

Vice President Dick Cheney said Friday that, if necessary, he would cast the tie-breaking vote to ban Senate filibusters of judicial nominees. Speaking to the Republican National Lawyers Association , Cheney declared that "the decision about how to proceed will be made by the Republican leadership in the Senate. But if the Senate majority decides [...]

Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue Friday signed into law a bill that would require voters to show photo identification before being allowed to cast ballots. Supporters of the measure say that it will crack down on voter fraud, but opponents say that the law unfairly targets the elderly, the poor and minorities, groups most likely not [...]

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals has revived part of a 2000 lawsuit against gun manufacturers seeking to hold the companies liable for shootings carried out with automatic weapons. The entire lawsuit was dismissed in a 2002 DC Superior Court ruling, but on Thursday the full Court of Appeals ruled that DC's Assault Weapon [...]

The UN's independent expert on human rights in Afghanistan, Cherif Bassiouni says he has received reports of torture and other abuses by US and Afghan forces in Afghanistan. In a report of his own released Thursday Bassiouni said he has been told that security agencies in the nation engage in arbitrary arrests and detentions, and [...]

AP is reporting that lawyers for September 11 terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui have asked the judge in his case to reject his attempt to plead guilty. 1:02 PM ET – Moussaoui's lawyers argued in a late filing made just hours before a public hearing scheduled for Friday at 3:30 PM ET that he is unfit [...]

Leading Friday's corporations and securities law news, a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokesman said a federal grand jury is reviewing allegations of misspending within company. The investigation into Wal-Mart began after it handed over internal documents to the Justice Department related to allegations that former vice chairman Tom Coughlin misspent up to $500,000, some of it [...]

In Friday's environmental law news, today is the 35th celebration of "Earth Day", a day first started by US Senator Gaylord Nelson as a time to reflect on the environment and mankind's relationship to it. The first Earth Day in 1970 was marked with seminars held around the country on air and water pollution, wilderness, [...]

In a rare televised address to the nation , Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin apologized Thursday night for a sponsorship scandal that has shaken his Liberal Party . During his address, Martin acknowledged allegations of money laundering and kickbacks and took full responsiblility for the misuse of public funds. Martin’s comments come one week after [...]