Japan's first jury trial since World War II ended Thursday, with the Tokyo District Court convicting Katsuyoshi Fujii of murder. A mixed panel of six lay and three professional judges sentenced the 72-year-old Fujii to 15 years in prison for killing his neighbor in May. Fujii's trial began Monday after the six lay judges were [...]
The security company known formerly as Blackwater Worldwide and its former CEO and founder Erik Prince illegally smuggled weapons into Iraq, indiscriminately killed Iraqi civilians, and committed a number of other crimes, according to sworn affidavits of two former employees filed this week in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia . [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Robbie Sabel of the Hebrew University Faculty of Law in Jerusalem, Israel, says that despite its partisan nature, a report issued by Israel's government on the legal and factual underpinnings of the December-January Gaza offensive is a development that should be welcomed by the legal community…. The Israeli government has lately posted [...]
The US plans to implement large-scale changes to its immigration detention system, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Thursday. According to ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton , the goal is to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in jails and jail-like facilities, to improve the living conditions of detainees, and to make sure the detainees' [...]
The US Senate confirmed Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court by a vote of 68-31 Thursday. The vote split mainly along party lines, with only nine Republicans voting to confirm. Senate Judiciary Committee ranking Republican Jeff Sessions (R-AL) delivered closing remarks before the vote, repeating his previous concerns that Sotomayor would be guided by personal [...]
Former American International Group (AIG) executives on Thursday agreed to settle a suit brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging their involvement in inflating the company's reported financial records. The SEC accused former CEO Maurice Greenberg and former CFO Howard Smith of being "control persons" under the Securities Exchange Act , making [...]
Gordon v. Virtumundo, et al., US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, August 6, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has more on the CAN-SPAM Act.
Die Verfassungsbeschwerde betrifft ein bußgeldrechtliches Verfahren wegen Verstößen gegen die Schulpflicht, denen religiöse Erwägungen zugrunde liegen, Constitutional Court of Germany, August 6, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here.
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday ruled that the US Navy did not have to disclose the locations and potential blast ranges of explosive artillery stored at a Puget Sound military base. On appeal from a district court's denial of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the court reasoned [...]
A bill aimed at banning workplace discrimination motivated by an employee’s sexual orientation or gender identification was introduced in the US Senate on Wednesday by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) . The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), if passed, would protect employees from discriminatory hiring and firing practices, and from segregation or classification on the basis of [...]
