Supporters of Frances Newton , slated to become the first black woman executed in Texas since the state took over executions from county authorities in 1923, held protests Saturday while her attorneys fight a last-minute battle to stop her death. They have filed a request for clemency with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles [...]

The US government has said that it will appeal a 22-year sentence given to Ahmed Ressam , an Algerian convicted of planning to kill travelers at Los Angeles International Airport on New Year’s eve in 1999. In delivering Ressam’s sentence, Judge John C. Coughenour of the Western District of Washington used the opportunity to point [...]

Sunni Arab negotiators met with Iraqi parliament speaker Hajim al-Hassani Saturday and presented him with a counter-proposal to the Iraqi draft constitution . A meeting with the US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad was also planned for Saturday, Sunni negotiator Fakhri al-Qaisi said. According to Al-Qaisi, if the amendments in the counter-proposal are not incorporated into a [...]

Declaration of a state of emergency in the state of Louisiana, Proclamation No. 48 KBB 2005, Governor Kathleen Blanco, August 26, 2005 . Excerpt: SECTION 1: Pursuant to the Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency Assistance and Disaster Act, R.S. 29:721, et seq., a state of emergency is declared to exist in the state of Louisiana [...]

ACLU and unnamed library v. Gonzales, United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, August 25, 2005 . Read the full text of the complaint here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Leading Friday's corporations and securities law news, US Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff has granted United Airlines an extension to file its final bankruptcy plan. The plan, which was due in September, will now be due November 1st. The judge said the 60-day extension will be the last. Some of United's flight attendants, whose pension Wedoff [...]

AP is reporting that as the deadline on Thursday's one-day extension for an Iraqi constitutional accord expires early Saturday morning local time in Baghdad a Sunni Arab negotiator has said no agreement has been reached with Shiites and Kurds on the proposed Iraqi charter and has called on Iraqis to reject the draft in a [...]

A British High Court judge has warned that forcible returns of failed asylum seekers to Iraq could be unlawful. While not blocking removals during the urgent judicial review application brought by a Kurdish Iraqi, Justice Lawrence Collins said it was "improper" to enforce removals of people who may be protected and that removal is not [...]

US District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania John R. Padova ruled Friday that the US Department of Defense does not have the authority to dissolve a Pennsylvania National Guard division without approval of Governor Ed Rendell . The judge held that the DOD's recommendation to deactivate the 111th Fighter Wing of the Pennsylvania [...]

Sexual Harassment & Violence at the Military Service Academies Report, United States Department of Defense, August 25, 2005 . Excerpt: Both the Naval and the Military Academies have made progress in addressing these issues over the last several years. The Academies need resources and support from the Services, DoD, and Congress to ensure success. The [...]