JURIST Guest Columnist S. David Mitchell of the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law says that in light of the disproportionate and disparate effects of felon exclusion laws on individuals and their communities, ex-felons should have their rights restored automatically when they have completed their sentences… "What will Roger Goodell do?" National pundits recently pondered [...]

An Afghan terror suspect has been transferred to Guantanamo Bay , the US Department of Defense (DOD) announced Wednesday. Known only as Inayatullah, DOD said the detainee has admitted to being the head of al-Qaeda operations in Zahedan, Iran, and to orchestrating al-Qaeda terrorist attacks. DOD indicated that Inayatullah's status will be determined by a [...]

The US District Court for the District of Vermont ruled Wednesday that states have the power to regulate automobile greenhouse gas emissions. In Green Mountain Plymouth Dodge Jeep v. Crombie the court held that the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) does not preempt state regulation of emission standards. Auto industry insiders, including General [...]

The New Jersey Supreme Court Wednesday ruled 5-0 that New Jersey doctors do not have a duty to inform abortion-seeking patients that an embryo is an "existing human being." The court declined to use the case of Acuna v. Turkish to weigh in on the issue of when life begins, holding that a physician has [...]

A group of six US states and the District of Columbia, collectively called the "California group," Tuesday requested that the terms of the 2002 Microsoft antitrust settlement be extended from their scheduled expiration this November until 2012. Lawyers for the group, arguing in front of Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the US District Court for the [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Tuesday rejected an appeal by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of rulings creating a federal panel to supervise California's overcrowded prison system . In July, two separate district court judges held that while California may appeal specific orders made by a special three-judge panel, the state cannot [...]

A Chinese bank official convicted of corruption was executed Tuesday for taking bribes and embezzling the equivalent of almost $2 million USD. Wen Mengie, the former IT head of the Beijing branch of the Agricultural Bank of China , bought three houses in Beijing with money received during bank purchases of ATM machines and computer [...]

Former British Guantanamo Bay detainee Tarek Dergoul is suing the UK's MI5 (domestic) and MI6 (foreign) intelligence services over complicity with Dergoul's alleged torture, according to a Wednesday report in the Guardian. Dergoul alleges that he was subjected to beatings, sexual humiliation, extremes of cold, and insults to his religion while being held by US [...]

Peruvian President Alan Garcia criticized the Supreme Court of Chile on Tuesday for delaying until after September 19 its ruling on whether to allow the extradition of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori . Garcia said that he was confident the judges would come to the right decision, but expressed disappointment that the verdict has been [...]

The directors of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and National Security Agency (NSA) have said that a July 20 appeals court decision mandating the disclosure to federal appeals courts of all evidence on Guantanamo detainees will pose a serious risk to national security. In court filings, the intelligence officials argued [...]