The National Center for State Courts has asked Congress to earmark 1-3 percent of new homeland security grants to states for use in improving security at courthouses. The request comes in the wake of recent incidents at several courthouses, including last month's murder of Judge Rowland Barnes in Atlanta . The US Department of Homeland [...]

The lower house of the Spanish Parliament has approved a bill to legalize same-sex marriages, a measure sponsored by Spain's ruling Socialist Party. The bill, passed Thursday, now moves to the Senate , where the Socialists have strong support. Adoption of the bill reflects significant changes in Spain, where 80 percent of the population considers [...]

AP is reporting that the Virginia Supreme Court has affirmed the death penalty for DC sniper John Allen Muhammad. 9:47 AM ET – Review the 138-page opinion . Three justices issued a partial dissent.

One day after a Michigan probate court ordered Yahoo! to release the contents of an e-mail account belonging to deceased Marine Justin Ellsworth , the company complied Thursday by delivering a CD of the private documents to Ellsworth's father, John Ellsworth. The case highlighted a conflict between the privacy policies of Internet Service Providers and [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Friday, April 22. The US Senate convenes at 9:30 AM ET today. Watch a live webcast of the session. The US House is not in session today. The Republican National Lawyers Association is holding a national conference to celebrate its [...]

HR 6, Energy Policy Act of 2005, passed by the United States House of Representatives on April 21, 2005 . Read the full text of the bill here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

In re: Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether Products Liability Litigation, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Shira Scheindlin, April 21, 2005 . Read the full text of the opinion here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) , ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has called for a congressional investigation of the role played by US intelligence officials in prisoner abuse scandals in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, citing inadequate inquiry into the role of intelligence agents by previous probes of the incidents. Rockefeller expressed concern [...]

The US House of Representatives passed a Republican-backed energy bill late Thursday aimed at increasing domestic production, including provisions that would permit drilling in the Alaska wildlife refuge and protect the manufacturer of gasoline additive MTBE from liability for water contamination. The Energy Policy Act of 2005, which has received the strong support of the [...]

US military spokespersons issued statements Thursday clarifying proposed changes to the military’s policy on consensual sodomy, refuting earlier interpretations by rights groups that the amendments would decriminalize consensual sodomy among members of the armed forces. Pentagon officials did ask Congress to approve a change to the military justice code’s treatment of consensual sodomy, but claim [...]