British Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith provided new details in a speech Tuesday on the creation of a proposed UK crime-fighting agency similar to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. The new institution, to be called the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA), would combine the National Crime Squad, the National Criminal Intelligence Service, and Customs [...]
The Illinois General Assembly Tuesday passed a bill that would require state protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation. The House gave its approval on the last possible day by a vote of 65-51; the Senate had approved the bill 30-27 on Monday. The bill now goes to Governor Rod Blagojevich , a proponent of [...]
Echoing comments made last week by President Bush , Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator Arlen Specter urged Congress Tuesday to put limits on asbestos liability lawsuits. Specter said asbestos lawsuits are causing companies to go bankrupt, leaving victims with little or no compensation. Proposed reforms include a multi-billion dollar compensation fund in exchange for a [...]
In Tuesday's corporations and securities law news, Thom Calandra, former chief commentator for CBS MarketWatch , will pay at least $540,000 in penalties to settle fraud charges with the SEC . The charges stem from allegations Calandra made over $400,000 in illegal profits by buying shares of certain companies and then writing favorable things about [...]
AP is reporting that voters challenging the presidential election results in the Ohio Supreme Court have asked to drop their lawsuit, saying the issue is now moot after last week's certification of the electoral vote and the upcoming inauguration.
The trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic resumed Tuesday at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague with testimony by a French nurse who worked in Croatia during the Bosnian war. Milosevic, who has chosen to defend himself against charges of genocide, questioned the witness whom he had called for [...]
Attorneys for Zacarias Moussaoui {JURIST Newsmaker] have filed a petition to the US Supreme Court seeking to overturn a lower court ruling that reinstated the US government's right to seek the death penalty against Moussaoui for his alleged involvement in the 9/11 terror attacks. In government custody since December 2001 on 6 charges of terrorism [...]
Sixty-one members of the European Parliament have presented a plan to eliminate the European Union's current legislative process related to IT patents. The proposed changes reflect the debate over current European law that prohibits software patents, and the Directive on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions . The directive, which places significant limits on the patentability [...]
Eric Muller, University of North Carolina School of Law: "A source (my mom) just called to tell me that my old boss Mike Chertoff is going to be the new head of Homeland Security. This does not surprise me, and I think him a strong choice. Chertoff is a straight shooter and one of the [...]
Ellen Podgor, Georgia State University College of Law: "Although the Supreme Court did not issue an opinion in the much awaited sentencing cases of Booker and Fanfan, it did rule in Whitfield v. United States. The Court held that a conspiracy to commit money laundering premised upon 18 U.S.C. 1956(h) does not require an overt [...]
