The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in the consolidated case of Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life , 06-969, and McCain v. Wisconsin Right to Life , 06-970, in which the Court must decide whether the restrictions on pre-election issue ads imposed by the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law unfairly restrict freedom [...]
Several hundred Thai monks rallied outside the parliament building in Bangkok Wednesday to demand that the new Thai constitution declare Buddhism the national religion. The ruling Council for National Security , headed by the Muslim General Sonthi Boonyaratglin , appears to be open to the suggestion. Although conservative Buddhists have long sought to have their [...]
The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) has opened an investigation into whether executive branch employees have improperly engaged in political activity in violation of the Hatch Act , an OSC spokesperson said Tuesday. The Hatch Act prohibits the use of government resources for political purposes, and the OSC has expanded current investigations into a broader [...]
The US House Judiciary Committee voted 32-6 Wednesday to grant Monica M. Goodling , former special counsel to US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, immunity from prosecution in exchange for her testimony on the firings of eight US Attorneys . The committee also voted to authorize a subpoena for Goodling's testimony, but committee chairman Rep. John [...]
Judges in Pakistan have postponed two separate proceedings in the case of suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry as criticism of President Pervez Musharraf's effective sacking of the country's chief magistrate continues. On Wednesday the Pakistan Supreme Court announced a week adjournment of its hearing on the alleged manhandling of the Chief Justice prior to a [...]
US Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said Tuesday that the Defense Department's controversial Threat and Local Observation Notice system, or TALON database would be discontinued. Documents released by the Defense Department showed that the Pentagon labeled anti-war activities as "potential terrorist activity" and monitored students, Quakers and other anti-war groups [...]
The Italian government adopted a draft law Tuesday that would criminalize a wide range of environmentally-unsound activities, including damage to environmental resources, polluting, illegal dumping, and causing environmental catastrophes. Proposed sentencing guidelines authorize up to 10 years in jail for the most serious crime, causing environmental catastrophes, and authorize fines ranging from 4,000 to 20,000 [...]
The US Supreme Court handed down opinions in two cases Wednesday, including Smith v. Texas , where the Court held that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals incorrectly required Smith to show "egregious harm" before correcting the constitutional violation found by the Supreme Court in an earlier decision in the same case. LaRoyce Lathair Smith [...]
Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said during a Tuesday radio interview that he may be able to issue an executive order to close the loophole that allowed Virgina Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho to purchase a firearm despite having been ordered to receive psychiatric treatment by a Virginia court in 2005. A federal law prohibits persons [...]
The constitutional crisis in Ecuador deepened Tuesday as the country's Congress struck back at high court judges who on Monday had ordered the reinstatement of 50 lawmakers opposed to President Rafael Correa and sought to have those legislators arrested, prompting some to flee the country. Earlier Tuesday Correa deployed a police cordon around the Congress [...]
