Spector et al. v. Norwegian Cruise Lines Ltd., United States Supreme Court, June 6, 2005 . Excerpt from the Opinion by Justice Kennedy: Our cases hold that a clear statement of congressional intent is necessary before a general statutory requirement can interfere with matters that concern a foreign-flag vessel's internal affairs and operations, as contrasted [...]

Gonzales v. Raich, United States Supreme Court, June 6, 2005 . Excerpt from the Opinion by Justice Stevens: Given the enforcement difficulties that attend distinguishing between marijuana cultivated locally and marijuana grown elsewhere, 21 U. S. C. §801(5), and concerns about diversion into illicit channels, we have no difficulty concluding that Congress had a rational [...]

Following up a story reported this morning in JURIST's Paper Chase, states have already begun responding to the US Supreme Court's decision to grant Congress the power to criminalize the growth and use of marijuana for personal medical reasons. In Oregon, officials have stopped issuing medical marijuana cards to qualified citizens. Authorized under the Oregon [...]

A jury in the US District Court of Central California found Monday that computer giant Microsoft , infringed on a 1994 patent owned by Guatamalan inventor Carlos Amado, and ordered the company to pay $9.9 in damages. The jury found that Microsoft added an application that mimicked Amado’s software to its 1995 version of Excel [...]

Lea Fastow, wife of former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, was released from prison Monday after serving a one year sentence. Fastow, a former assistant treasurer at the Texas corporation, pleaded guilty last June to filing a false federal tax return related to money she and her husband received from Enron financial dealings. Fastow [...]

In some of his most pointed remarks since becoming pontiff in April, Pope Benedict XVI spoke out against same-sex marriage , artificial birth control and divorce Monday while speaking to a group at Rome's St. John's Cathedral. The Pope called marriage between persons of the same sex and other departures from traditional church views on [...]

Former Massachusetts Speaker of the House of Representatives Thomas Finneran was indicted Monday on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for lying about his role in a redistricting plan . Finneran, considered for many years the most influential state politician, resigned to run the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council in September 2004. A lawsuit was originally [...]

Lawyers for former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy said Monday he is unwilling to reach a plea bargain with prosecutors and is prepared for a retrial if necessary. Scrushy denies wrongdoing in the $2.7 billion accounting fraud case in which prosecutors have charged him with wire and mail fraud, money laundering, and violations of the Sarbanes-Oxley [...]

Taiwan's largely ceremonial National Assembly will conduct its final business Tuesday as it votes on proposed amendments to the island-nation's constitution . The passage of the amendments is virtually guaranteed, as the two largest political parties in Taiwan are both in favor of them and both have threatened to fire their delegations for failure to [...]

The Nepal Bar Association has called for the immediate dissolution of the royal government and new parliamentary elections after approving a resolution Sunday that characterized the 1 February declaration of a state of emergency by King Gyanendra as an 'extreme violation' of the Nepalese Constitution. The association representing over 10,000 legal professionals in Nepal made [...]