In a decision handed down Tuesday morning, the US Supreme Court ruled that the damages cap of $1,000 on recoveries under the Truth in Lending Act remained unchanged when Congress changed other TILA terms in 1995. The case is Koons Buick Pontiac GMC v. Nigh (case backgrounder from Duke Law School). Cornell's Legal Information Institute [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced legislation Tuesday to the state Duma that would set a maximum service age for judges and justices of the peace at 70 years old. The stated goal of the legislation is to create uniformity in Russia's courts and to protect the independence of the judiciary. Itar-Tass has more…. Following up [...]

The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights and four Iraqi citizens will file a criminal complaint in Germany Tuesday against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and seven other high-ranking US officials, seeking to hold the officials accountable for acts of torture allegedly carried out at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. German courts recognize the doctrine of universal [...]

Prompted by opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukrainian parliament debated the country's presidential poll crisis Tuesday, but did not adopt a motion of no-confidence in Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who was also the winner of the disputed election. The speaker of parliament said the debate was getting too confrontational and adjourned the debate until [...]

A confidential report of the International Committee of the Red Cross charges the US military with intentionally using psychological and physical coercion "tantamount to torture" on Guantanamo Bay detainees, according to Tuesday's New York Times. The report also concludes that some doctors and other medical workers participated in planning for interrogations, which, according to the [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Tuesday, November 30. The US Supreme Court will hear 10 AM ET oral arguments in the consolidated cases of Whitfield v. United States and Hall v. United States (case summary from Duke Law School), where the court will decide whether [...]

Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (FAIR), et al. v. Rumsfeld, et al., US Court of Appeals for the Third Citcuit, November 29, 2004 . Excerpt: The Solomon Amendment requires law schools to express a message that is incompatible with their educational objectives, and no compelling governmental interest has been shown to deny this freedom. [...]

The New Jersey Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a bear hunting permits case that presents the larger issue of whether the state Department of Environmental Protection has authority to block the hunt over the decision of the state Fish and Game Council (FGC). The New Jersey DEP has general authority over wildlife and natural [...]

Cuban authorities on Monday released three more of the 75 political prisoners they arrested in March 2003. The newly freed prisoners are Oscar Espinosa Chepe, Margarito Broche Espinosa and Marcelo Lopez Banobre. Chepe is a 64 year old economist and journalist. Broche is 45 and president of the National Association of Rafters for Peace, Democracy [...]

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staff have rejected a complaint that the Amazon online retail company violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act by targeting its toy area at children and allowing the posting of product reviews. The Act aims to protect children under 13 by forbidding websites directed at children from collecting personal information without [...]