The Virginia Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that Virginia state courts had a constitutional obligation to defer to the rulings of Vermont courts in a child custody dispute involving two lesbian partners who had entered into a Vermont civil union. Lisa and Janet Miller-Jenkins lived in Virginia but traveled to Vermont to be joined in [...]
In a Tuesday ruling , Judge James Robertson of the US District Court for the District of Columbia declared that "the Treasury Department’s failure to design and issue paper currency that is readily distinguishable to blind and visually impaired individuals violates section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act." Section 504 provides that no disabled person shall [...]
Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has had to put its operations on hold due to lack of funds, according to its acting chairman. The TRC is charged with investigating and documenting crimes that occurred during Liberia's 14- year civil war . Despite urgings from the UN to accelerate its operations, the TRC had to [...]
Saddam Hussein sought to bar testimony of an American forensic scientist during proceedings at his genocide trial Tuesday, demanding a neutral witness from a country that was not involved in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The chief judge allowed the expert, Clyde Snow , to testify about a mass grave he encountered in the northern [...]
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court urged the court Tuesday to confirm war crimes charges against Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga . Lubanga, founder of the militant Union of Patriotic Congolese , could be the first war crimes suspect to be tried by the ICC since it opened in 2002. He is accused of enlisting [...]
Many European countries were aware that the US Central Intelligence Agency operated secret prisons or used their territory for the transfer of terror suspects, according to a report released Tuesday by a European Parliament committee investigating the CIA's alleged use of European countries for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners. The committee's rapporteur, Italian [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc. , 04-1350, a case involving a fight over a patent on adjustable pedal assemblies for engines. At issue is what constitutes a patent claim that is "obvious" under 35 USC 103(a) . In January 2005 the US Court of Appeals [...]
The National Education Association (NEA) joined three school districts on Tuesday in appealing the dismissal of a lawsuit that challenged the funding of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) . In an appeal filed with the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the NEA and school districts argued that Congress has failed [...]
A three-judge panel of the UK Court of Appeal on Tuesday dismissed an appeal by Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri to overturn his conviction on incitement-to-murder charges . In February, Hamza was convicted of 11 counts for urging his followers to kill Jews and other non-Muslims and using "threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior" [...]
A motion recognizing the people of Quebec as a "nation" within Canada passed the Canadian House of Commons Monday by a vote of 266-16. The motion, introduced last week by Prime Minister Stephen Harper , represents a compromise on an earlier proposal by the Bloc Quebecois that would have defined the territory of Quebec as [...]
