Joseph Schaeffer, Pitt Law ’12, recently attended a Coal Law Short Course sponsored by the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation and hosted at the West Virginia University College of Law… In Appalachia, Coal is King. Coal-fired power plants provide the majority of the region’s electricity, and it’s difficult to find someone from the major coal [...]
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki signed a new constitution into law Friday as part of a reform movement aimed at curbing vast presidential powers. Kenya’s new constitution includes numerous checks on presidential authority , among which are the creation of a supreme court and senate. The constitution also requires reforms to the nation’s judiciary and land [...]
US District Judge Laurie Smith Camp ruled Wednesday that the Nebraska Supreme Court should be the first forum to address a city of Fremont ordinance banning the hiring, harboring or renting of property to illegal immigrants . The order requests that the parties attempt to agree upon the language of a question to be submitted [...]
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Presidency Chairman Zeljko Komsic announced Thursday that Spanish officials extradited accused Montenegrin war criminal Veselin Vlahovic to Sarajevo. Vlahovic, known as the “monster of Grbavica,” is wanted on three international arrest warrants, including one for the rape, torture and murder of more than 100 women and children during the 1992-1995 Bosnian civil [...]
Federal prosecutors announced Thursday that they would dismiss all charges against Robert Blagojevich, the brother of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich . Robert Blagojevich faced four counts for his suspected involvement in the alleged conspiracy to sell the Senate seat left vacant by President Barack Obama. In a hearing Thursday before Judge James Zagel of [...]
The EU Parliament Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats on Thursday accused France of violating EU law by deporting up to 1,000 Roma migrants from the country. The group cited EU directive 38/2004 for the proposition that EU citizens are free to move within EU territory. The group also raised concerns about [...]
The German Federal Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that German courts must follow precedent established by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) unless it is clearly a violation of the court’s power. The court noted that minor violations of the ECJ’s authority would not be enough to disqualify a ruling and that a ruling can be [...]
The UN Security Council on Wednesday began considering several options to help counter ongoing piracy off the coast of Somalia , including the creation of a new international tribunal. In a report released last week, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon suggested that the UN must establish, or continue to help countries establish, the means to prosecute [...]
Croatian authorities on Wednesday extradited a man to Serbia for his connection with the 2003 assassination of former Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic . Sretko Kalinic was discovered by authorities in Zagreb in June after he was shot by a member of the Zemun gang, a Serbian organized crime ring. Kalinic, a dual citizen of [...]
Wal-Mart petitioned the US Supreme Court Wednesday to reconsider a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirming class action certification in a gender discrimination case. The company has asked the court to examine whether the appeals court’s April ruling was proper under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of [...]
