Following up on previous consultations with Republican lawmakers , US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said on Capitol Hill Wednesday that Congress should clarify the definition of war crimes prohibited by Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions , suggesting that "a definite and clear list of offenses serious enough to be considered war crimes" would [...]
US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Wednesday ordered the full disclosure of records from a lawsuit filed by four Connecticut librarians against the FBI challenging a National Security Letter (NSL) they received last year. The four librarians refused to turn over the library records requested in the letter, which sought the identity of all [...]
US District Judge Marcia Cooke on Wednesday agreed to delay the trial of terror suspect Jose Padilla and two co-defendants until January 22 after defense attorneys said they will not be ready to begin the trial in September as scheduled. Padilla's attorneys complained that they have not had enough time to review summaries of 50,000 [...]
The US Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Wednesday postponed consideration of the Indian Trust Reform Act , legislation that would settle a decade-old class-action lawsuit brought by Native Americans alleging the mismanagment of American Indian money by the US Department of the Interior . Committee chairman Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and vice chairman Sen. Byron [...]
A California jury on Wednesday found Merck not liable for causing the heart attack of 71-year old Stewart Grossberg, determining Merck's painkiller Vioxx did not cause Grossberg's heart ailments. Merck general counsel Kenneth Frazier said Merck is "pleased with the verdict" and that it demonstrates why the company plans to defend each case independently. The [...]
US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales confirmed before a Senate panel Wednesday that the Bush administration is drafting legislation authorizing military commissions for terror detainees that will allow hearsay evidence and coerced testimony to be admitted against terrorism suspects, limit their rights against pretrial self-incrimination and withhold classified evidence from them. Those provisions would be key [...]
Lebanese Justice Minister Charles Rizk told Lebanese media Wednesday that Lebanon plans to send UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan a report outlining alleged war crimes committed by Israel in its conflict with Hezbollah that could be the basis for prosecuting it in a special international court. The first part of the document, prepared by the Lebanese [...]
US v. James A. Brown et al., US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, August 1, 2006 . Read the full text of the ruling . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
A federal appeals court Wednesday ordered the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to consider refund petitions filed by California state agencies and California businesses that claim refunds arising from the California energy crisis of 2000-2001 before the October 2, 2000 date set by the FERC. The refunds compensate the state for alleged energy price-fixing schemes, [...]
PC hardware manufacturer Rambus unlawfully monopolized four markets for dynamic random access memory (DRAM) computer chips and deliberately withheld information about forthcoming patents on the technology from a technology-standards-setting group, according to an opinion released Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In the unanimous commission opinion , Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour wrote: Rambus's conduct [...]
