Leading the international brief, the International Criminal Court held its first-ever hearing Tuesday, a status conference focusing on the need for witness protection and evidence preservation in the investigation of Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo into alleged war crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo . The investigation into possible crimes in the [...]

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Wal-Mart violated labor laws when it disciplined an employee for wearing a union t-shirt and announcing a union meeting to co-workers. In its ruling, issued Monday, the court held that the employee had not violated a company policy against solicitation inside stores. The court did rule [...]

Turkey is on track with reforms it pledged to undertake in its pursuit of EU membership, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Tuesday in an interview with the Financial Times. Gul rejected criticism that the country had not lived up to previous agreements and would not be prepared for more negotiations scheduled in October 2005. [...]

A French court Tuesday sentenced six to jail terms for an alleged plot to bomb the US embassy in France in 2001. French-Algerian Djamel Beghal received a 10-year sentence as the leader of the group, while five others all received terms between one and nine years. Beghal testified that a confession he made after being [...]

Twenty-eight people died Tuesday during a raid on a Philippine maximum security prison as police acted to suppress an uprising headed by prisoners affiliated with the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group . Abu Sayyaf is linked to al-Qaida and has been responsible for deadly attacks and ransom kidnappings in which hostages have been beheaded. The inmates [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour told the 61st session of the UN Commission on Human Rights Monday that nations are falling short of their responsibilities to protect and promote human rights and that greater action must be taken against violating states. Arbour said: At the outset of this sixty-first session of the [...]

Addressing an audience at DC's Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars Monday, Justice Antonin Scalia of the US Supreme Court called the recent 5-4 ruling striking down the juvenile death penalty the latest example of politics on the court. Scalia said the decision, which was based on "evolving notions of decency," was a mask for [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Tuesday, March 15. The US Senate convenes at 9:30 AM ET, when it will consider S. Con. Res. 18 , the FY 2006 budget resolution. Watch a live webcast of proceedings. In committees, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold [...]

Woo v. Lockyer, Superior Court of the State of California, County of San Francisco, Judge Richard A. Kramer, March 14, 2005 . Excerpt: The state's protracted denial of equal protection cannot be justified simply because such constitutional violation has become traditional…. Simply put, same-sex marriage cannot be prohibited solely because California has always done so [...]

The Prosecutor v. Vicent Rutaganira, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , March 14, 2005 . Excerpt: The Accused knew that during the disturbances that occurred earlier in Kibuye préfecture, Tutsi civilians used to seek refuge in churches, and especially that between 8 and 15 April 1994, thousands of Tutsi civilians took refuge in the Mubuga [...]