JURIST Contributing Editor William G. Ross, Professor of Law at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law in Alabama, says that in his upcoming Senate confirmation hearing US Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. may not reveal how he'll decide particular legal questions, but that doesn't mean that the questioning process itself won't be interesting [...]

READ MORE

Leading Monday's states brief, the Utah Supreme Court will hear oral arguments tomorrow on whether former lesbian Keri Lynn is legally entitled to a parental relationship with a child born to a former girlfriend, when the child's biological mother objects. Utah has previously allowed visitation by divorced stepparents, but US Supreme Court decisions have stressed [...]

READ MORE

Arguments over Kenya's draft constitution have intensified after former Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi spoke out in opposition to the document over the weekend, saying it would cause "animosity and distrust" in the country. Religious groups have also opposed the proposals championed by current President Mwai Kibaki , arguing that the draft released early last [...]

READ MORE

China's Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC) has ratified the international World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control , created earlier this year as the first international legal means to lessen tobacco-related deaths and diseases. The treaty creates a national regulation in China banning tobacco vending machines; prohibits radio, television, internet, [...]

READ MORE

The former chairman of Egypt's largest state-owned newspaper allegedly took millions of dollars in secret payments, according to a report by Cairo's El-Osboa newspaper . Ibrahim Nafie became chairman of the Al-Ahram press group in 1979 and allegedly gave himself $14,400 daily from the distribution and advertising budgets, and threw yearly birthday parties costing the [...]

READ MORE

The New Mexico Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in a lawsuit filed by 2004 presidential candidates David Cobb and Michael Badnarik . Attorneys for Cobb and Badnarik argued that New Mexico election officials deliberately obstructed justice by giving counties permission to clear electronic voting machines while their demand for a recount of New Mexico's [...]

READ MORE

Several civil rights organizations, including the University of Chicago Law School's MacArthur Justice Center and the ACLU of Illinois announced Monday that they have asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to investigate allegations that as many as 20 Chicago police detectives used torture to obtain confessions from black suspects between 1971 and 1992. According [...]

READ MORE