2009 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary, US Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Judicial Conference of the United States, December 31, 2009 [reporting in a one-page document that the federal courts were "operating soundly" and thanking judges and court...

United States of America v. Slough, et al., US District Court for the District of Columbia, December 31, 2009 [dismissing voluntary manslaughter and weapons charges against five Blackwater guards indicted for involvement in the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians in...

A plethora of state laws set to take effect after Friday, New Year's Day, seek to regulate everything from social policy to highway safety. Texting while driving will become illegal in Illinois, Oregon, and New Hampshire, which...

Thirteen state attorneys general, all Republicans, demanded in a letter sent Wednesday to the Speaker of the US House of Representatives and the Senate Majority Leader that a controversial provision in the health care reform bill [text,...

US President Barack Obama effectively issued his first veto of congressional legislation Wednesday, rejecting as "unnecessary legislation" a stopgap spending bill that was drafted in case inclement weather would have...

Wilner, et al. v. National Security Agency, et al., US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, December 30, 2009 [holding that the National Security Agency and the Department of Justice are not required to confirm or deny the existence...

The French Constitutional Council rejected a tax on carbon emissions Tuesday, stating there were too many exemptions for polluters in the plan. The tax, set to go into effect on January 1,...

Bryan v. McPherson, et al., Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, December 29, 2009 .Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest...

South Korean officials announced Monday that President Lee Myung-bak plans to pardon former Samsung Chairman and CEO Kun-Hee Lee on tax fraud charges he was convicted of in 2008. Lee had faced...

The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) confirmed Tuesday that police have detained a US citizen for illegally entering North Korea. The KCNA did not disclose the identity of the individual, but it is suspected to be...