Attorney General John Ashcroft has prepared to step down from his post and said goodbye to members of the Department of Justice, whom he has led for the past four years. A crowd of several hundred gathered Monday to hear Ashcroft speak, and he praised the department members' record during his tenure. Ashcroft has been [...]

Iraqi prisoners are routinely subject to torture by Iraqi authorities, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Tuesday. Iraqi prisoners told HRW investigators that they had been tortured or mistreated by kicking, slapping and punching; prolonged suspension from the wrists with the hands tied behind the back; electric shocks to sensitive parts of the [...]

Twenty-three terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay tried to kill or harm themselves as part of a "coordinated effort to disrupt camp operations" in August 2003, US Southern Command officials confirmed Monday. Only two of the incidents were classified as suicide attempts, where the detainee could have died had a guard not intervened. The remaining [...]

US District Judge K. Michael Moore began hearing a case Monday against the US government brought by supporters of Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez . The plaintiffs in the case, who were protesting outside the Miami home of Gonzalez's relatives when FBI agents seized the boy in 2000, say the agents used excessive force and are [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Tuesday, Jan. 25. On Capitol Hill, the US Senate will open its session at 9:45 AM ET, and it is scheduled to consider the nomination of Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State. AP has more on the Rice nomination. C-SPAN [...]

Illinois v. Caballes, Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Stevens, January 24, 2005 . Excerpt: Accordingly, the use of a well-trained narcotics-detection dog —one that "does not expose noncontraband items that otherwise would remain hidden from public view," Place , 462 U.S., at 707 —during a lawful traffic stop, generally does not implicate legitimate [...]

Commissioner v. Banks, Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Kennedy, January 24, 2005 . Excerpt: To clarify why the issue here is of any consequence for tax purposes, two preliminary observations are useful. The first concerns the general issue of deductibility. For the tax years in question the legal expenses in these cases could [...]

Michael Froomkin, University of Miami School of Law: "I am very reluctantly coming to believe that there's about a 50% chance that a senior administration official will face a war crime trial either for ordering or condoning torture, or for the excessive bombing and civilian casualties in Iraq. I think it's most likely to happen [...]

US Senate Republicans Monday announced that in the new Congressional session they will consider putting limits on awards in class-action lawsuits before taking on President George W. Bush's top domestic goal of Social Security privatization. In an attempt to limit forum-shopping, a proposed GOP bill would remove to federal court most lawsuits seeking more than [...]

Senators supporting a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage said Monday they will press for passage of the amendment in the new Congress despite President Bush's recent indication that he will not lobby for its passage . GOP Senate leaders are expected to bring the amendment to a vote before the 2006 mid-term elections. The [...]