The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has been hit with new voter fraud allegations stemming from an aggressive voter registration drive focusing on helping poor people overcome obstacles to the ballot. Philadelphia has reported 3,000 invalid voting cards submitted by ACORN since April because of missing or inaccurate information, noting that four [...]
UK Conservative Party shadow Home Secretary David Davis attacked the ruling Labour party Monday for passing anti-terror laws limiting traditional freedoms, valuing the rights of criminals over those of defendants, failing to prosecute terrorists, and releasing foreign prisoners, among other complaints. In a wide-ranging speech before the Conservative party annual conference, Davis declared: has always [...]
A new law coming into effect Monday in England and Wales requires criminal defendants to pass a financial means test to qualify for free legal aid in cases before magistrates' courts. The Criminal Defence Service Act of 2006 , which received royal assent at the end of March, aims to cut down on legal expenses [...]
France has issued arrest warrants for two high-ranking officials of the east African country of Djibouti in connection with the investigation into the alleged assassination of a French judge in 1995. French officials suspect Djibouti state prosecutor Djama Souleiman and security chief Hassan Said of interfering with witnesses in the ongoing investigation. The judge's death [...]
An Australian man who was convicted in February of receiving money from an al-Qaeda associate but then successfully appealed has appealed the Australian government's issuance of a control order limiting his freedom of movement. Joseph Terrence "Jihad Jack" Thomas won his appeal in August, but the federal government immediately sought and obtained a control order [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Adam Samaha of the University of Chicago Law School says that this Term's US Supreme Court cases will likely reveal whether we have a new boss on the Court who can push its decisions in new directions, or whether we have an old boss in the form of precedent slowing drives for [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Douglas Branson of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law says that a comparison of the Andrew Fastow and Bernard Ebbers corporate fraud cases suggests that the sentences handed down for the two former high-flying executives – 6 and 25 years respectively – are unduly disparate and even perhaps backwards… For Andrew [...]
The US Supreme Court begins its fall term on Monday, assembling briefly to issue Orders and to swear in several lawyers to the Supreme Court bar. As its usual opening on the first Monday in October falls this year on Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, the court will only start hearing arguments Tuesday; [...]
King Abdullah II of Jordan issued a "special amnesty" on Saturday for two opposition party lawmakers who were convicted of incitement in August for expressing sympathy after the death of al Qaeda Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi when they visited Zarqawi's relatives in his native Jordan. A military court in September had sentenced Mohammed Abu [...]
US House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) sent a letter to the Justice Department Sunday seeking an investigation into the developing sex and ethics scandal involving Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) . Foley resigned Friday after ABC News reported that he had sent congressional pages inappropriate text messages, some sexually explicit in nature. On Friday, the House [...]
