Amnesty International accused the government of Canada of having "abandoned" its citizen in Guantanamo Bay in an open letter Thursday to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The letter urged Harper to press the US for the repatriation of Omar Khadr , the sole Canadian in custody at the US military prison. Khadr has been detained since [...]

Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday voted against allowing a statewide vote on a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. A total of 50 votes were needed to advance the amendment, but only 45 lawmakers supported the proposal, with 151 voting against. Unlike previous joint sessions on the issue, [...]

US Department of Justice (DOJ) civil rights investigations in the Bush administration have focused on issues of religious freedom and discrimination at the expense of race, the New York Times reported Thursday. As an extreme instance, the Times pointed to DOJ intervention in a case helping a religious group secure the right to "distribute candy [...]

Permanent Mission v. New York, NY, US Supreme Court, June 14, 2007 . Read the Court's opinion per Justice Thomas, along with a dissent from Justice Stevens. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Davenport v. Washington Education Association and Washington v. Washington Education Association, US Supreme Court, June 14, 2007 . Read the Court's opinion per Justice Scalia, along with a concurrence from Justice Breyer. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

President George W. Bush told the Legislative Conference of the Associated Builders and Contractors Thursday that he supports an immigration bill amendment to provide $4.4 billion in immediate additional funding for border security , obtained through fines and penalties collected from illegal aliens. Bloomberg reports that several Senators reacted favorably to the proposed funding increase, [...]

The Status of Muslim Civil Rights in the United States 2007, Council on American-Islamic Relations, June 14, 2007 . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Javaid Iqbal v. Dennis Hasty, et al., US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, June 14, 2007 . Read the full text of the decision . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

A US district judge Thursday rejected a request by former US vice-presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby that his prison sentence for blocking the probe into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity be delayed pending appeal. Libby's lawyers had argued that because his Justice Department superiors recused themselves from the investigation, Special Prosecutor [...]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Thursday told the lower house of Germany's parliament that she hopes a road map to an eventual European constitution can be achieved at an EU summit in Brussels next week, but expressed doubts that any further progress would be made beyond that. Merkel recognized a number of stumbling blocks that have [...]