Jones v. City of Los Angeles, US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, April 14, 2009 . Excerpt: We hold only that, just as the Eighth Amendment prohibits the infliction of criminal punishment on an individual for being a drug addict, Robinson, 370 U.S. at 667; or for involuntary public drunkenness that is an [...]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is re-examining the last unsolved public lynching in the US, according to an FBI agent. FBI agent Stephen Emmett did not say whether the FBI will officially reopen the case, but said that recent technology and techniques may help unlock an earlier investigation surrounding the 60-year-old crime . Civil [...]

Leading Friday's environmental law news, Magistrate Judge Robert Collings of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts has ruled that the US Environmental Protection Agency must release internal documents relating to the Clean Air Mercury Rule . The rule, which has proposed a cap-and-trade emissions program for coal-fired power plants, has been controversial [...]

A Japanese court on Friday rejected a suit filed by 3,200 citizens who argued that Japan's deployment of troops to Iraq violates the country's pacifist constitution , which bans the use of force to settle international disputes. The plaintiffs also argued that the Iraq war is a war of invasion which violates international law. They [...]

US District Judge Reggie Walton has threatened to ban public statements about the case of former vice presidential adviser I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby after one of the prosecution's court filings was released to the media before it was officially filed. On Thursday, Walton issued an order in which he stated that he "would not tolerate [...]

A federal district judge on Thursday urged the US government to make a decision regarding the visa application of prominent European Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan . Ramadan was originally denied a visa in August 2004, when he was offered a teaching position at the University of Notre Dame. A Swiss native, Ramadan teaches at Oxford [...]

The victory of former Prime Minister Romano Prodi over incumbent Silvio Berlusconi in the disputed April 9-10 parliamentary elections seemed confirmed Friday after reports that the number of disputed ballots in the election for the lower house of the Italian parliament – originally estimated at 43,000 by the Interior Ministry – may be as few [...]

The French Senate Thursday voted 158-123 to approve compromise labor legislation to replace the controversial CPE First Employment Contract , completing a governmental retreat from the controversial youth job plan that would have stripped young workers of job protection. The bill, passed Wednesday by the National Assembly, is expected to be signed into law by [...]

A spokesman for the Swedish Foreign Ministry told AFP Thursday that under its current legal structure, Sweden would not be able to incarcerate former Liberian President Charles Taylor following his war crimes trial, but that it could reconsider the request if its parliament passes appropriate legislation this summer. The UN-supported Special Court for Sierra Leone [...]

Iran is permitted to develop a civil nuclear program and its resumption of uranium processing does not violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a leading British lawmaker said Thursday. Labor Party MP Jeremy Corbyn , vice-chairman of the parliamentary Human Rights group, said in a letter to the Guardian newspaper that Iran's decision to halt [...]