Jack Balkin, Yale Law School: "There are two reasons why Bush might have nominated Gonzales to be Attorney General. The first is that he is grooming him for a further appointment to the Supreme Court. The second is that he never plans to appoint him but wants to send a strong signal that he might. [...]

Lawyers from the John Kerry presidential campaign are scrutinizing the results of voting in Ohio, especially the provisional ballots, to determine if any voting irregularities exist. Since President Bush is leading Kerry in the state by more than 136,000 votes with only 155,337 provisional ballots outstanding, the effort is not aimed at changing the outcome [...]

The Iowa Supreme Court has announced plans to begin disciplining the state's county prosecutors under the Court's Board of Ethics. Currently, an ethics committed of private Iowa County Attorneys Association handles complaints against prosecutors. However, this practice has come into question by recent actions which has led some Iowan attorneys to question how well the [...]

The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that a state law requiring candidates to reach a vote threshold in a primary election before appearing on the general election ballot violated "important constitutional rights that are central to the preservation of our democracy." Saying that the law served "no rational state purpose," the court concluded "that by [...]

Reaction to President Bush's nomination of White House Counsel, and former Texas Supreme Court Judge, Alberto Gonzales to succeed John Ashcroft as US Attorney General has been mixed, with most of the criticism citing Gonzales' role in setting administration policy on detaining and questioning people captured in the fight against terrorism. Gonzales was the author [...]

Britain's Foreign & Commonwealth Office has released its Human Rights Annual Report 2004, placing new emphasis on the denial of human rights by terrorist groups, not just governments. In introducing the report in London Wednesday, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said "in the past the gravest attacks on human rights came from states – the [...]

Lithuania became the first EU state to ratify the European Constitution on Thursday, when the Seimas, the Lithuanian Parliament, voted 84-4 (with 3 abstentions) to approve the international treaty. According to the process spelled out for ratification, all EU members must ratify the new constitution in 2005 and 2006. The process is fragile, as several [...]

Israeli police arrested nuclear whistle blower Mordechai Vanunu Thursday for allegedly revealing classified information. In April, Vanunu completed an 18-year prison sentence for leaking Israel's atomic weapons secrets. As part of the terms of his release, Vanunu was barred from meeting with foreigners and journalists and from discussing nuclear secrets. Vanunu has acknowledged violating the [...]

The US military announced Thursday that the courts-martial of Sgt. Javal Davis, Spc. Sabrina Harman and Spc. Charles Graner, who all face charges in connection with the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, will be transferred from Baghdad to Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. Read the official US Central Command news release here. Charges brought against [...]

Rauhi Fattouh, speaker of the Palestinian parliament, was sworn in Thursday to succeed Yasser Arafat as temporary president of the Palestinian Authority (website content has been replaced by a notice of Arafat's death). Under Article 54(2) of the Palestinian Basic Law, Fattouh will serve as caretaker president until elections are held to determine Arafat's permanent [...]