South Dakota voters roundly rejected the so-called Jail 4 Judges ballot initiative Tuesday, meaning the state will not establish a 13-person oversight committee with the power to sanction judges, prosecutors, and other decision makers who make judicial decisions that break certain rules to be established by the panel at a later date. The panel would [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has upheld a lower court order vacating the criminal conviction of the former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay . Lay died of a heart attack in July, six weeks after being convicted on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy . Russell P. Butler, a former Enron shareholder [...]
A British immigration judge Wednesday adjourned a hearing after a lawyer in his courtroom refused to remove her Muslim niqab despite being ordered to by the judge because he claimed he could not hear her speak. Shabnam Mughal refused to take off the black veil covering all but her eyes, telling the judge it would [...]
South Dakota voters Tuesday rejected a controversial law banning most abortions passed by the state legislature earlier this year. With 818 out of 818 precincts reporting Wednesday, the final unofficial results for Referred Law 6 were: NO 185948 56% YES 148666 44% The abortion ban, seen as a direct challenge to the US Supreme Court’s [...]
Five senior judges from Shenzhen, China have been arrested and 20 other judges implicated in a crackdown on corruption during the months of June to October, the China Daily reported Wednesday. The raids begun after prosecutors arrested retired judge Liao Zhaohui and the head of a Shenzhen auction house, accusing Liao of accepting bribes from [...]
Rhode Island on Tuesday granted some convicted felons the right to vote, according to the latest unofficial count of ballots on the state's Question 2 . Question 2 would amend the Rhode Island constitution to grant the voting franchise to those felons who are currently serving parole or a probation sentence. Here are the latest [...]
The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that it would review a lower court decision allowing a class action lawsuit filed against the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program to proceed to trial. The lawsuit, brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation , alleges that AT&T violated US citizens' rights to privacy and several federal [...]
New UK legislation pardoning 306 World War I soldiers who were executed for various offenses, including cowardice, sleeping while on duty, striking a superior officer, disobedience and desertion, received final approval Wednesday after the Armed Forces Act received royal assent . Royal assent came a day after Britain's House of Lords approved an amendment to [...]
India will try the 19 suspects in the July Mumbai train bombings case using special courts to speed up the legal process, the leader of the Mumbai Police anti-terrorism squad told Reuters Wednesday. India's legal system is notoriously slow, and special courts are often used in high-profile cases to focus efforts on ending these trials [...]
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told the BBC Wednesday that he expects Saddam Hussein to be executed before the end of the year , pending the conclusion of the appeal process. Al-Maliki seemed undeterred by the predictions of chief prosecutor Jaafar Moussawai, who indicated Monday that he expects that an appeals panel would likely rule [...]
