In February, Toronto 18 member Shareef Abdelhaleem was convicted [JURIST report] after a Canadian judge found [Toronto Star report] that virtually no evidence existed to support his claims of entrapment. In January, Amin Mohamed Durrani was released [JURIST report] after pleading guilty to participating in and assisting a terrorist group. Also in January, a Canadian court sentenced [JURIST report] two members of the group, Zakaria Amara and Saad Gaya [JURIST op-ed], to life and 12 years in prison, respectively, for their roles in the plot. Abdelhaleem was the first adult to be tried among the "Toronto 18" originally arrested and charged under Section 83 [Canadian DOJ backgrounder] of the Anti-Terrorism Act [text], Canada's post-9/11 legislation.

The NMB originally proposed the rule change in October after a request from the AFL-CIO. The proposal came shortly after US President Barack Obama named Linda Puchala to the three-member board, giving Democrats a 2-1 majority. Board chairman Elizabeth Dougherty issued a strongly worded dissent [text, PDF] against the rule change, accusing the board of acting out of political motivation. Airlines and railroads employ more than 500,000 workers, with approximately two-thirds of those already in unions.

In January of this year, Zimbabwe's high court rejected [JURIST report] evidence from a key witness in Bennett's trial, ruling that statements the state intended to use to impeach Peter Michael Hitschmann's testimony were not freely made by Hitschmann and were invalid as evidence. Bennett's trial began in November after delays in October to allow his counsel to develop a defense. Bennett was originally arrested on weapons charges in February 2009, and was released [JURIST reports] on bail the following month. He was then re-arrested on the same charges in October, only to be released on bail again. Treason charges against him were dropped in favor of the terrorism and other charges. Bennett was originally sought for questioning [JURIST report] in relation to similar allegations in 2006 but had obtained asylum [IOL report] in South Africa.

US courts have also conducted numerous trials for those accused of plotting against the military. In February, a US federal court convicted [JURIST report] Pakistani Aafia Siddiqui [JURIST news archive] on charges that she tried to kill US personnel on a base in Afghanistan where she was being held. Last year, a federal court sentenced five men [JURIST report] to life in prison for their roles on an attempted attack on Fort Dix [official website] in New Jersey. Last year, Iraqi insurgent Wesam al Delama, the first insurgent tried in US federal court, was sentenced to 25 years in prison [JURIST report] for planning attacks on US troops in Iraq.

Obama said last month that he would take into account a potential nominee's position on individual liberty [JURIST report], including women's rights, when nominating a Supreme Court justice. Earlier in April, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official website] predicted that Obama would nominate a replacement for Stevens in time for hearings to be concluded over the summer [JURIST report]. Kagan became the first woman solicitor general [JURIST report] when she was confirmed by the Senate in March 2009 by a vote of 61-31. Prior to that, she served as dean of Harvard Law School [JURIST report] since 2003.

Last week, lawmakers introduced a bill [JURIST report] that, if passed, would strip US citizenship rights from those suspected of engaging in terrorism. Earlier last week, Shahzad was charged with terrorism [JURIST report] for his role in attempted the Times Square bombing. In March, Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) proposed a law [JURIST report] that would require terror suspects to be stripped of their Miranda rights and to face military interrogation and trial. Amos Guiora of the University of Utah College of Law criticized the proposed legislation [JURIST op-ed], claiming its impact "would be a fundamental miscarriage of justice." In February, Holder defended his decision [JURIST report] to try Abdulmutallab in federal court as well as the decision to read him his Miranda rights.