The UK-based group Military Families Against the War delivered a letter of claim to Prime Minister Tony Blair Tuesday demanding a full independent public inquiry into the deaths of their relatives and the legality of UK participation in the war in Iraq. In a supporting press release, the Stop the War Coalition outlined crimes allegedly [...]

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on American political and religious leaders to repudiate remarks by evangelist Pat Robertson who said Sunday on This Week with George Stephanopoulos that Muslims should not be appointed to positions in the US government, including judgeships. Robertson is quoted as saying "They have said in the [...]

Dennis Rader , the man accused of being Kansas's BTK (bind, torture, kill) serial killer, pleaded not guilty Monday to 10 counts of murder. The BTK killer was suspected of eight murders from 1974 to 1991, but authorities linked two additional victims. AP has more.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Monday heard a bid to restrain same-sex couples from marrying until state residents can vote on a proposed state constitutional amendment banning such marriages. The action was brought by C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts. Members of the full court, which heard Monday's bid, were [...]

In an attempt to break a ten-year deadlock over reforming the United Nations Security Council , Italy suggested Monday that a new system be instituted by which the council would award 10 new seats to regional groups rather than individual countries. The novel idea arose as Jean Ping , president of the UN General Assembly [...]

Ziad al-Khasawneh , the Jordanian head of Saddam Hussein's legal defense team, claimed Monday that Iranian-backed Iraqi politicians are plotting to assassinate Hussein in prison. Al-Khasawneh based his claim on information received from a former Iraqi government official he identified as Hazem al-Obeidi, although the authenticity of the warning has not been otherwise verified. An [...]

A Danish intelligence officer, Reserve Capt. Annemette Hommel, and four military police sergeants pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of abuse of Iraqi prisoners . The military prosecutor, Benny Holm Frandsen, told a Copenhagen court that the soldiers were guilty of inhumane treatment of prisoners . Hommel, who could face up to one year in [...]

In an escalation of the controversy over judicial nominations, the conservative group Progress for America began running television advertisements in six states Monday at the outset of a $3.3 million dollar TV ad campaign that will go nationwide next week. The first two ads highlight Judge Janice Brown and Judge Priscilla Owen, blocked by Democrats [...]

Report on the death of Italian security agent Nicola Calipari and the wounding of two others in Baghdad in the wake of the release of Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena on March 4, 2005, Italian investigative commission, released May 2, 2005 . Read the full text of the report in Italian. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase [...]

Florida HB 1877, the Jessica Lunsford Act, signed into law by Florida Governor Jeb Bush on May 2, 2005 . Review the full text of the bill . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.