A federal appeals court has ruled that a controversial law requiring prisoners, parolees, and others on probation to submit DNA samples to an FBI DNA identification database in constitutional. Judge Jane R. Roth, for the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals, wrote Monday that although such an intrusion into the lives of ordinary citizens would [...]
Japan's Justice Ministry said Wednesday that despite US requests to hand over fugitive former US chess champion Bobby Fischer, it would release him so that he could go to Iceland , which Monday granted him citizenship . Fischer became a hero in Iceland in 1972 when he played and defeated Russian chess champion Boris Spassky [...]
The United States Tuesday presented three draft resolutions on Sudan to the UN Security Council in an effort to obtain agreement on critical issues that to this point has been stymied by a deadlock over the locus of criminal prosecutions for war crimes committed in Sudan's Darfur region. Earlier this year a UN panel recommended [...]
A federal lawsuit has been filed against the Associated Press by several Navy SEALs and the wife of a US special forces member claiming that the wire service published photos of the servicemembers with Iraqi prisoners without permission and that the publication of the photos endangered the servicemembers' lives. AP ran the photos with a [...]
Federal prosecutors have asked to intervene in the Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against former Hollinger CEO Conrad Black , former company president David Radler, and Hollinger, Inc., confirming for the first time that they are conducting a criminal investigation into the newspaper tycoon and his former company. Last year, the SEC filed civil charges [...]
European leaders are rallying around French President Jacques Chirac and trying to avoid a negative French vote on the European constitution by calling for revisions of European Union economic reform plans at the ongoing Council of the European Union summit. Recent opinion polls in France show that French voters could vote against the EU constitution [...]
Schiavo v. Schiavo, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, March 23, 2005 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
In a 2-1 decision issued early Wednesday morning, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit refused to order that Terri Schiavo's feeding tube be re-inserted. The appeals court agreed with the earlier district court decision that Schiavo's parents "failed to demonstrate a substantial case on the merits of any of their claims." In [...]
Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Wednesday, March 23. The US Senate and US House are in recess until April 4. The European Council session continues today, with the second working session set to begin at 9:30 AM local time . View the session agenda , [...]
Brown v. Payton, Supreme Court of the United States, March 22, 2005 . Excerpt from the Court's opinion by Justice Kennedy: Testimony about a religious conversion spanning one year and nine months may well have been considered altogether insignificant in light of the brutality of the crimes, the prior offenses, and a proclivity for committing [...]