Military judge Colonel James Pohl ruled today that statements by President Bush and top military leaders relating to the alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib prison were not specific enough to taint the jury pool for next month's trial of Spc. Charles Graner Jr., the reputed ringleader in the case. Pohl, however, did indicate that he [...]

The Democratic Party has launched a probe into reported voting problems in Ohio. Outgoing Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe indicated Monday that the party will pay for a panel to study complaints from Ohio voters about uncounted votes, long lines, shortages of ballots, understaffed polling stations and voting machine errors. McAuliffe is also asking [...]

Eight soldiers have filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the Army's stop-loss program which requires troops to serve longer than the terms in their enlistment contracts. Under the stop-loss program, the Pentagon may extend enlistments during war or national emergencies. The program, which was invoked in June, may keep thousands of soldiers past their [...]

Judge Richard Posner, University of Chicago Law School: "The U.S. invasion of Iraq, the U.S. decision not to invade Afghanistan before the 9/11 attacks, and concern with the apparent efforts of Iran and North Korea to obtain nuclear weapons raise acutely the question when if ever a preemptive or preventive war is justified. If "preemptive [...]

Ruling on fraud in the Ukrainian presidential run-off of November 21, 2004; Ukraine Supreme Court, December 3, 2004. Read the full text in Ukrainian here, and an unofficial English translation here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Ukraine's opposition and pro-government factions reached a compromise on Monday on changes to election law and constitutional amendments, allowing for a new election on December 26. The Ukraine parliament, which failed to pass an initially-proposed set of electoral reforms Saturday, will vote on the new legislative package Tuesday. AP has more.

Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed has officially ordered a manual second recount of the ballots in the Washington governor's race. Republican governor-elect Dino Rossi, who defeated Democrat Christine Gregoire by 42 votes after the machine recount, called the hand recount a "sad and desparate" attempt to change the election results. Democrats have spent $730,000 [...]

Following up this story reported in Paper Chase yesterday, the US military on Monday took disciplinary action against 18 soldiers who refused to go on a mission in Iraq, believing it to be too dangerous. Although the military refused to release details of the sanctions, Article 15 of the U.S. military code of justice gives [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected hearing an appeal by the Church of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan challenging the constitutionality of New York Penal Law 240.35(4) that bans the wearing of masks at public gatherings. The decision lets stand a January appellate court ruling which reversed a district court decision, [...]

Twelve homosexuals who were expelled from the US military because of their sexual orientation filed a lawsuit in Boston on Monday, challenging the constitutionality of the Pentagon's 11-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The complaint relies in part upon last year's Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, which overturned state laws criminalizing homosexual sex. [...]