Connecticut serial killer Michael Ross was executed by lethal injection early Friday morning in New England's first execution in 45 years, made possible after the state Supreme Court ruled earlier this week that he was competent to end his appeals . Ross, convicted for raping and killing eight women in the 1980s, had previously chosen [...]
Citizens for Equal Protection v. Bruning, United States District Court for the District of Nebraska, Judge Joseph F. Bataillon, May 12, 2005. Excerpt: The reach of Section 29 is at once too broad and too narrow to satisfy its purported purpose of defining marriage, preserving marriage, or fostering procreation and family life. It is too [...]
Report On Oil Allocations Granted To Charles Pasqua & George Galloway, Staff Report, US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, May 12, 2005. Excerpt: This Report presents the evidence gathered by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (the "Subcommittee") establishing that Charles Pasqua, the former French Minister of the [...]
Federal officials with the US Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement , part of the US Department of Homeland Security, announced Thursday that a federal grand jury had indicted two Washington DC law firms, two associated lawyers and two legal assistants with conspiring to commit immigration fraud by improperly obtaining work visas for alien clients. [...]
KGW in Portland, Oregon, is reporting that a federal judge has just struck down Nebraska's ban on gay marriage, ruling that it interferes with the rights of gay couples and also with those of foster parents, adopted children and people in many other living circumstances. 5:41 PM ET – The Nebraska ban was enacted in [...]
The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has voted 10-8 to send John Bolton's nomination for US ambassador to the UN to the full Senate, but without committee endorsement. The move follows a refusal earlier today by Ohio Republican Senator George Voinovich to support Bolton's nomination as had been expected. 3:45 PM ET – The White [...]
Jordan's King Abdullah announced Thursday that he was willing to review the 1992 conviction of Ahmad Chalabi , sentenced in absentia by a Jordanian court to 22 years of hard labor for embezzling funds from Petra Bank, which Chalabi founded during a long residence in Jordan. The bank's 1989 collapse shook up Jordan's financial system. [...]
A bill approved by Estonian lawmakers Thursday authorized Internet voting for local elections in the country's capital, Tallinn, scheduled for October. The bill, initiated by the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu , Estonia's parliament, will require voters to have an electronic ID card, an ID-card reader, and Internet access. Estonia is said to have [...]
Spc. Sabrina Harman , the latest US soldier to stand trial for involvement in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, pleaded not guilty to charges of abusing detainees in the military prison at the beginning of her trial Thursday. Harman has been charged with conspiracy, dereliction of duty and maltreatment of subordinates, and could face six [...]
Ocalan v. Turkey, Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, May 12, 2005 . Read the full text of the judgment . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
