US District Judge Ralph Tyson released a ruling Friday indicating he will not overturn the conviction of ex-Governor Edwin Edwards. After serving four terms as Louisiana's Governor from 1972-96, Edwards was convicted in 2000 for extorting payoffs from businessmen seeking riverboat casino licenses. The rejected defense motion claimed a political bias on the part of [...]

Attendance at a number of Arizona public schools has dropped dramatically in the past few days in what Hispanic community leaders are calling a parental response to Proposition 200 , approved by state voters on Tuesday. The new law requires a person to show proof of citizenship when seeking publicly funded benefits. It also mandates [...]

The Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled Friday against a recent government decision to allow newlyweds in the province of Punjab to serve food to wedding guests. The court held that the original ban against food service, imposed by the provincial government in 1997, should remain in force to discourage public displays of wealth. The three-judge [...]

In re: Personal Restraint Petition of Cecil Emil Davis, November 5, 2004 . Read the majority opinion, a concurrence and a dissent.

The Department of Justice has announced that a federal judge has ordered a freeze of $500 million in assets held by San Diego tax-planning company Xelan and its subsidiaries. The company has sold tax-reduction plans to about 4000 doctors and dentists worth at least $420 million in the past several years, prompting the DOJ to [...]

Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, November 5, 2004 . Read the full text of the Protocol here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

N.W. and J.R. et al. v. Attorney General of Canada et al., November 5, 2004 . Read the opinion here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The US military has provided Associated Press details of eight cases of abuse of detainees at Guantanamo Bay in response to a written inquiry by the news organization. The response provided details of eight cases of abuse mentioned by James R. Schlesinger, who led a committee investigation into abuses in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo culminating [...]

Members of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights have harshly criticized a proposal by Russian officials to detain relatives of terrorists to discourage hostage-taking. Such a proposal would violate international law, according to UN human rights experts Leila Zerrougui and Stephen Toope. The plan was put forth by Russian Prosecutor General [...]

The Washington state Supreme Court has overturned a death sentence, ruling that the jury may have been prejudiced by the sight of ankle shackles on the defendant, Cecil E. Davis. Davis was convicted of murdering a 65-year-old neighbor, but the court ruled in an 8-1 decision that the jury may have had a negative view [...]