Six Army reservists have been court-martialed for salvaging parts and vehicles abandoned in Kuwait for a fuel delivery mission in Iraq, AP reported Monday. News of the court-martials comes shortly after Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was questioned by a soldier last week about why some units in Iraq were not adequately equipped. According to [...]

Jack Balkin, Yale Law School: "There are more hints (this from the Washington Post) that the Republicans in the Senate will try the "nuclear option" to end filibusters on judicial nominations. The Republicans hold all the levers of power and now would like to leverage that power to kick away the last major support of [...]

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin has joined opposition leaders in rejecting a call for a national referendum on same-sex marriage in the wake of Thursday's Supreme Court of Canada ruling (reported in JURIST's Paper Chase) that opened the way for federal legislation legalizing the unions. Maverick Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, known for his conservative views [...]

Brousseau v. Haugen, United States Supreme Court, December 13, 2004 . Read the per curiam opinion here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

AP is reporting that a judge has indicted former Chilean president General Augusto Pinochet for human rights violations. 11:50 AM ET – BBC News is now reporting that the former leader has been put under house arrest. From Santiago, El Mercurio has more (in Spanish). 3:30 PM ET – A full story in English is [...]

The US Supreme Court handed down four rulings Monday on its last decision day of 2004. In Florida v. Nixon, the Court ruled that an accused Florida man was not due a new trial even though his lawyer had conceded his guilt without his consent. Read the opinion here. AP has more. In Cooper Industries [...]

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson has ruled against sanctioning Global Crossing founder Gary Winnick with a fine or charges in an unusual move that saw him side with two other commissioners in voting against the recommendation of an SEC staff panel. A settlement with Global Crossing on overstatement of revenues is pending. Observers [...]

Oral arguments due to take place Monday afternoon before a full bench of the US Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals were cancelled Sunday night as a Unocal spokeman announced the settlement of a lawsuit against the oil company in connection with slave labor, rape, and forced relocation in connection with its construction of an oil [...]

Hundreds of Russian rights activists allied with both liberal and communist groups rallied in Moscow Sunday to mark the country's Constitution Day and protest what they see as an undemocratic and dangerous centralization of power by the Kremlin. Not coincidentally, Sunday was also marked by President Vladimir Putin's signing of a bill that would make [...]

Oracle Corporation announced Monday that it has signed a $10.3 billion dollar merger deal with PeopleSoft, ending an 18-month hostile takeover bid plagued with legal challenges. Read the Oracle press release on the merger here. Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase: Corporations & securities brief: Oracle likely to win PeopleSoft takeover bid Corporations & securities brief: [...]