Omar v. Harvey, US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, February 9, 2007 . Read the full text of the ruling . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

A. Gregory Ramos : "On February 6 in Nashville, TN, the Metropolitan Council, the legislative body for Nashville and Davidson County, TN ("Metro Council"), passed a controversial and much debated English language ordinance. The announced purpose of this ordinance, according to its sponsor, is to prohibit certain Metro government communications from being translated or interpreted [...]

South African President Thabo Mbeki promised in his annual state of the nation address Friday to reduce crime by increasing the police force and reducing unemployment. South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world; averaging 50 murders a day. Additionally, last year there were more than half a million reported burglaries [...]

A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled unanimously Friday that US citizen and suspected terrorist Shawqi Omar has a right to argue his case before a US court. In a simultaneous 2-1 decision, the court upheld last year’s District Court injunction blocking the Pentagon from [...]

The US Environmental Protection Agency on Friday finalized a regulation intended to slash toxic emissions from automobiles and related sources through the year 2030. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson said the new standards will be phased in for fuel containers in 2009, for cars in 2010 and for gasoline in 2011. The EPA estimates that cutting [...]

A North Carolina State Senator proposed a bill Thursday that will protect doctors who assist in executions from disciplinary actions. Senate Bill 114, filed by Republican State Senator Phil Berger , will shield health care professionals including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists from any disciplinary or corrective measures by any board, commission, or other authority created [...]

Russian prosecutors said Friday their case against former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner, Platon Lebedev , is solely a criminal matter and not politically motivated. A spokesperson for the Prosecutor General’s Office said Khodorkovsky wreaked "serious damage" upon the Russian economy. Last December, Khodorkovsky was transferred to a Siberian remand prison for [...]

The US District Court of Maine has ruled that the Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) cannot compel Verizon Communications to disclose whether the telephone company participated in the warrantless domestic surveillance program run by the US National Security Agency (NSA) . In Bangor Thursday, US District Judge John Woodcock cited a "potential risk" to national [...]

The government of Spain agreed Friday to declassify and deliver to Spanish High Court Judge Ismael Moreno intelligence documents he ordered from Spain's National Intelligence Center pertaining to secret CIA "rendition flights" that transferred suspected terrorists between countries. The documents show that dozens of planes stopped at the Spanish holiday islands of Mallorca and Tenerife [...]

The European Commission proposed Friday that all EU member nations criminalize serious environmental offenses and impose minimum sanctions for violations. Commission Vice President for Justice, Freedom and Security Franco Frattini said the proposed directive would prevent environmental criminals from exploiting discrepancies between member states' criminal law systems. The directive would have all EU members treat [...]