One North Carolina electronic voting machine is thought to have lost more than 4,500 votes, which could affect the result in several local races; election officials have said that the manufacturer, UniLect, told them that each machine could handle...

Senior aides said today that controversial Attorney General John Ashcroft was likely to step down before January's inauguration, citing exhaustion and stress. Possible replacements include Ashcroft's former deputy, Larry Thompson, who would become the first African-American attorney general; Marc...

In the wake of Tuesday's election, which saw 11 states ban gay marriage, two Oklahoma lesbian couples have filed a federal lawsuit challenging both their state's ban and the federal Defense of Marriage act. The plaintiffs--one couple that has...

The Republican lawmaker expected to head the Senate Judiciary Committee early next year has issued a stern warning to President Bush against appointing Supreme Court justices who would seek to overturn abortion rights, or who are otherwise too conservative...

Taiwan's High Court ended seven months of debate and controversy Thursday by refusing to nullify the country's March presidential election, rejecting opposition claims of fraud and complaints about a shooting that injured President Chen Shui-bian just one day before...

CBC News is reporting that, according to reports on Israeli television, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has died in Paris. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the succession process detailed in the Palestinian Constitution.UPDATE: According to the latest updates from...

Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who is on trial for last year's hotel bombing in Bali, has called his trial a joke Thursday, saying that the US and Australia are masterminding his trial. Bashir, who is alleged to be...

Lawyers for convicted DC sniper John Allen Muhammad have told the Virginia Supreme Court that Muhammad cannot be sentenced to death because he did not pull the trigger in the 2002 killings. As reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, Muhammad...

Florida's Supreme Court is considering whether to restore a $145 billion class action verdict awarded to sick Florida smokers in their suit against the tobacco industry. After the two-year trial, Florida's 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled that its...

Elections officials will begin counting provisional ballots Thursday in Ohio and around the country. Due to John Kerry's concession speech Wednesday (reported here on JURIST's Paper Chase) and President Bush's acceptance speech (text from the White House), the ballots...