JURIST Special Guest Columnist William Lerach, senior partner of the Lerach Coughlin complex litigation firm headquartered in San Diego who has led the prosecution of hundreds of securities class and stockholder derivative actions recovering billions of dollars, says that the new federal class action legislation may deny justice to millions of Americans… President George W. [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Monday, April 25. The US Supreme Court hears oral arguments in two cases beginning at 10 AM ET today. In the first, Halbert v. Michigan , 03-10198, the Court will consider whether Michigan's practice of not appoint counsel to indigent [...]

Francois Roux, a French lawyer advising Aicha El Wafi, the mother of indicted US terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui, the French citizen who earlier this week pleaded guilty to six counts of conspiracy stemming from the September 11th terrorist attacks, said Sunday he was disappointed about Moussaoui's plea but promised that the family would nonetheless "fight [...]

Senate majority leader Bill Frist, in a taped statement to be aired Sunday evening, urged conservatives to recognize that judges "deserve respect, not retaliation no matter how they rule," and defended his actions to stop Democrats from blocking conservative judicial nominations. FRC Action , the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council , and Focus [...]

Getting Away with Torture? Command Responsibility for the U.S. Abuse of Detainees, Human Rights Watch, April 24, 2005 . Excerpt from the executive summary: It has now been one year since the appearance of the first pictures of U.S. soldiers humiliating and torturing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Shortly after the photos came [...]

Pope Benedict XVI was officially installed as the 265th head of the Catholic Church on Sunday, receiving the symbolic pallium and the Ring of the Fisherman , and celebrating Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. Dignitaries from 131 countries attended, including Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of the Pope's native Germany, Prince Albert II of [...]

Syria, listed by the US since 1979 as a state sponsor of terrorism, has signed on to a UN treaty designed to block funding of terrorist activities, according to a UN official speaking Sunday. Syria becomes the 136th nation to sign on to the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism .

Four current leaders and a former European Commission president have this weekend urged French voters to adopt the new European constitution in a May 29 referendum, warning that rejection could have dire consequences, extending even to the "fall of Europe" as a major international player. A poll conducted Wednesday shows that 62% of French citizens [...]

Days after being removed from power by Congress, Ecuador's former president Lucio Gutierrez fled the country aboard a Brazilian air force plane on Sunday. Brazil granted Gutierrez political asylum Thursday; new Ecuadorian president despite Alfredo Palacio said Friday he would allow Gutierrez to leave despite the fact that many Ecuadorians wanted him to remain in [...]

Muhammad v. Commonwealth of Virginia, Virginia Supreme Court, Justice Lemons, April 22, 2005 . Excerpt: If society's ultimate penalty should be reserved for the most heinous offenses, accompanied by proof of vileness or future dangerousness, then surely, this case qualifies. Read the full text of the opinion here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.