Adrienne Lester, Pitt Law '11, interned at the Honorable House of Representatives for the Republic of Liberia this summer… West Africa evokes images of Juju child soldiers, dismembered limbs, and volatile men in short-sleeved safari suits with aviator sunglasses. When I had the opportunity to intern with the House of Representatives for the Republic of [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in three cases. In Salazar v. Buono , the Court heard arguments on whether an individual has Article III standing to bring a suit under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment challenging the display of a religious symbol on government land and if an Act of [...]
Judge Royce Lamberth of the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday granted the government's motion to dismiss the petition for habeas corpus brought on behalf of Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee Idris Ahmad Abdu Qadir Idris . The petition was filed in 2005 by the Federal Public Defenders with Guantanamo detainee Sami [...]
US Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters Tuesday that the Obama administration may miss its January deadline for closing the military prison at Guantanamo Bay . Holder said that is concerned with US lawmakers' claims that detainees are too dangerous to be housed on US soil. On Tuesday, the US Senate passed a defense spending [...]
The Canadian Federal Court released a decision Tuesday ruling that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service may monitor the communications of Canadian citizens abroad. The case arose from two Canadian nationals who had their communications abroad monitored after a judge issued an emergency warrant permitting the interception. Judge Richard Mosley, who also issued the emergency warrant, [...]
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday announced a plan for improving immigration detention policies and facilities in response to recent widespread allegations of poor conditions and abuse. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano explained that the emphasis is to move detained illegal immigrants awaiting deportation or processing out [...]
The head of the Honduran interim government Roberto Micheletti on Monday convened his council of ministers to repeal the executive decree issued last week that suspended several constitutional rights. The repeal was scheduled to become official when published on Tuesday in the official newspaper, but ousted president Manuel Zelaya warned on Tuesday that this had [...]
Former Costa Rican president Rafael Calderon was convicted Monday on corruption charges and sentenced to five years in prison. Calderon was unanimously convicted by three judges at the Second Judicial Circuit Courts of Goicochea, who found him guilty of embezzling $520,000 during a nine-month period in his 1990 to 1994 term, a crime punishable under [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in three cases. In United States v. Stevens , the Court heard arguments on whether a federal law that bans depictions of animal cruelty, violates the First Amendment. The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that the law illegally restricts speech, overturning the conviction [...]
Former Hutu intelligence chief Idelphonse Nizeyimana , wanted for his role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide , has been arrested in Uganda, officials announced Tuesday. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) indicted Nizeyimana in 2000 for genocide and crimes against humanity, but the military leader had evaded authorities until his arrest Tuesday. Prosecutors claim [...]
