JURIST Contributing Editor Haider Ala Hamoudi of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law says that a look at recent decisions by Iraq's Federal Supreme Court illustrates the court's growing authority as an independent and legitimate voice in matters of constitutional interpretation…. There has been much attention recently devoted to the Iraqi elections and the [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday that it will appeal last week's ruling that the National Day of Prayer is an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion. The DOJ filed a notice of appeal Thursday with the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin , where last week Judge Barbara Crabb ruled [...]
Chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno Ocampo has asked judges to report Sudan to the UN Security Council for failing to comply with arrest warrants for two government officials. Ocampo filed the request Monday for a finding of non-cooperation pursuant to Article 87 of the Rome Statute for the government's refusal [...]
Kyrgyzstan interim deputy leader Omurbek Tekebayev announced Thursday that the country would hold a referendum on a new constitution on July 27. Tekebayev, part of the interim government that took power two weeks ago amid an anti-government uprising , said the new constitution would guarantee a parliamentary republic and reduce the powers of the president [...]
Former Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka appeared before parliament Thursday to call for both his freedom and respect for the "rule of law." Fonseka argued for his release from what he characterized as an "illegal detention" and a byproduct of injustice, while also insisting on democratic improvements and institution of the "rule of law." [...]
The Netherlands Utrecht District Court on Thursday acquitted members of the Arab European League (AEL) of hate speech charges resulting from the posting a cartoon on their website that insinuated that the Holocaust was fabricated. The criminal complaint against the group alleged that the cartoon violated Article 137c of the Dutch Penal Code, which punishes [...]
The Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) war crimes court on Thursday convicted Radomir Vukovic and Zoran Tomic for their alleged roles in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian civil war . The accused were found guilty of genocide under Article 171 paragraph a) of the BiH criminal code and were each sentenced to 31 years [...]
Matthew Liebman : "The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed an amicus brief in defense of 18 U.S.C. Section 48, so we are obviously disappointed by the Court's opinion in United States v. Stevens. Nevertheless, we are heartened by Justice Alito's dissent and the way in which the majority chose to frame its decision. First of [...]
A US military panel in Iraq on Thursday acquitted Navy SEAL Julio Huertas of any wrongdoing in connection with the alleged assault of a high-profile Iraqi detainee. A six-person jury found Huertas not guilty on charges of dereliction of duty and impeding an investigation for taking no action while a fellow SEAL allegedly punched and [...]
A group of more than 30 privacy and civil liberty groups on Wednesday asked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to suspend the full body scanner program being implemented by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) . The petition states that use of the full body scanner program is an invasion of privacy and that: deployment [...]
