A dozen prominent legal scholars submitted an amicus curiae brief on behalf of former vice-presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Thursday, arguing that Libby's conviction could be overturned on appeal because the appointment of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald raises serious constitutional issues involving the separation of powers. The legal scholars, including Harvard law professor Alan [...]

Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen Thursday signed legislation which starting on July 1 will allow those who were convicted for protesting laws designed to enforce racial segregation to receive a full pardon and to have their criminal records destroyed. The Rosa Parks Act , named after the late Alabama civil rights activist, also allows an estate [...]

Secret detentions and illegal transfer of detainees involving Council of Europe member states: second report, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights – Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), June 8, 2007 . Read the full text of the report , Appendix 1 , Appendix 2 , Appendix 3 . Reported in JURIST's [...]

Chilean Supreme Court judge Urbano Marin Vallejo ordered the house arrest of Alberto Fujimori Friday, responding to concerns that the former Peruvian President held in Chilean custody since 2005 will try to flee the country. Judge Orlando Antonio Alvarez Hernandez, also on the Supreme Court, is currently reviewing a recommendation by Chile's chief prosecutor that [...]

Indicted US Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) pleaded not guilty Friday to charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act , including bribery, racketeering, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. Jefferson allegedly accepted approximately $500,000 in bribes from numerous companies both in the US and in Africa and faces a maximum sentence of 235 years in prison [...]

The Supreme Court of Pakistan Friday delayed its ruling on whether it has jurisdiction over the legal disputes involving the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry , putting that off until next week. Legal observers say the delay may reflect internal disagreement amongst the thirteen justices that sit on the bench. Chaudhry's defense team [...]

The New Hampshire State Senate voted 15-9 Thursday to repeal a 2003 law requiring parental notification for minors seeking an abortion . New Hampshire Governor John Lynch has indicated that he will sign the bill, which was initially passed in the New Hampshire House of Representatives on March 21 by a vote of 217-141. New [...]

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) established and operated secret detention centers in Romania and Poland between 2002 and 2005, according to a report adopted Friday by the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) . The report, compiled by PACE-appointed rapporteur and Swiss senator Dick Marty , accuses certain [...]

US Marines Staff Sgt. Justin Laughner testified Thursday at the Article 32 hearing for Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani , the commander in charge of the Marine battalion implicated in the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha , that a superior officer, Lt. Andrew Grayson, ordered him to delete photographic evidence taken hours after [...]

The trial of 26 US Central Intelligence Agency agents and two former Italian intelligence officials in the 2003 abduction and rendition of Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr opened in Milan Friday in the absence of all American defendants. This is the first trial based on the CIA rendition program, but US officials have said [...]