A federal jury convicted former Ku Klux Klan (KKK) member James Ford Seale Thursday of two counts of kidnapping resulting in death and one count conspiracy for Seale's role in the kidnapping and death of two 19-year old teens in Mississippi in 1964. Seale, who was previously arrested on suspicion of kidnapping Henry Dee and [...]
A Russian military court convicted four army soldiers in the January 2002 killing of six Chechen civilians Thursday, sentencing them to between 14 and 9 years in prison. The four defendants, three of which remain fugitives and were tried in absentia, had previously been tried and acquitted , but the Russian Supreme Court overturned their [...]
A top US Justice Department official testified Thursday that the Bush Administration remains opposed to a proposed shield law that would protect media from federal pressure to reveal sources. Assistant Attorney General Rachel Brand testified during a House Judiciary Committee hearing that the DOJ has a "longstanding commitment to striking a balance between the public's [...]
US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NE) and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in a joint statement Thursday that senators will return to the stalled Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 after they finish work on an energy bill. President Bush has pressed the immigration proposal, which stalled after failing a cloture vote [...]
Ali Khan : "The suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry provides a historic constitutional opportunity for the Pakistan Supreme Court to assert judicial independence. The preamble to the Constitution conceives Pakistan's legal order as a "sacred trust . . . wherein the independence of the judiciary shall be fully secured." Despite this elegant language, [...]
Amnesty International accused the government of Canada of having "abandoned" its citizen in Guantanamo Bay in an open letter Thursday to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The letter urged Harper to press the US for the repatriation of Omar Khadr , the sole Canadian in custody at the US military prison. Khadr has been detained since [...]
Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday voted against allowing a statewide vote on a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. A total of 50 votes were needed to advance the amendment, but only 45 lawmakers supported the proposal, with 151 voting against. Unlike previous joint sessions on the issue, [...]
US Department of Justice (DOJ) civil rights investigations in the Bush administration have focused on issues of religious freedom and discrimination at the expense of race, the New York Times reported Thursday. As an extreme instance, the Times pointed to DOJ intervention in a case helping a religious group secure the right to "distribute candy [...]
Permanent Mission v. New York, NY, US Supreme Court, June 14, 2007 . Read the Court's opinion per Justice Thomas, along with a dissent from Justice Stevens. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
Davenport v. Washington Education Association and Washington v. Washington Education Association, US Supreme Court, June 14, 2007 . Read the Court's opinion per Justice Scalia, along with a concurrence from Justice Breyer. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
