The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit heard oral arguments Tuesday in an en banc rehearing of Arar v. Ashcroft . Canadian citizen Maher Arar is seeking a declaratory judgment against US government officials for having deported him to Syria in 2002, where he was tortured despite Syrian assurances that he would not [...]
The Malaysian government has released six terror suspects, including Yazid Sufaat who allegedly gave assistance to the 9/11 attackers , according to a Wednesday statement from Malaysian Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar. Yazid, released last month, was a member of the Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) who was arrested in 2001 on suspicion [...]
American Sociological Association, et al. v. Michael Chertoff, and Condoleezza Rice, US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, December 8, 2008 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
Tuesday marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) , and is celebrated as International Human Rights Day . The occasion will be commemorated with a number of special events at the UN headquarters in New York City, including the presentation of the UN Prize in the Field of Human Rights [...]
Whole Foods Market filed an action in the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday requesting an injunction barring the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from holding an administrative trial regarding the company's merger with Wild Oats Market . The action also requests that any further proceedings be moved to federal court. The [...]
Three out of five Guantanamo Bay detainees, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed , the self-proclaimed architect of the 9/11 attacks , on Monday postponed their offers to plead guilty to the charges against them after the judge required competency hearings for two of the suspects. The five defendants indicated at a military commission pre-trial hearing on [...]
The US District Court for the District of Massachusetts on Monday ruled that it has the authority to review a decision by the US consulate in South Africa that denied a visa to a controversial South African scholar. The consulate had denied a nonimmigrant visa to Adam Habib , a Muslim scholar, political analyst, and [...]
A Russian government commission is examining the legality of the Soviet Union's pre-World War II artwork sales, an official from the State Hermitage Museum said on Tuesday. Museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky said in his St. Petersburg state-of-the-museum report that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has commissioned the group to investigate whether the sales were legal under [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in two cases. In Arizona v. Johnson , the Court heard arguments on whether the Fourth Amendment permits a police officer to search a vehicle passenger during a routine traffic stop if he believes that suspect may be armed and dangerous but has no justifiable reason to [...]
US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) on Monday told reporters that confirmation hearings for Attorney General nominee Eric Holder would begin in January, as soon as the Senate reconvenes. Leahy, who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee , met privately with Holder on Monday. Leahy hopes for a confirmation vote as soon as President-elect Barack Obama is [...]
