The US Supreme Court granted certiorari in two cases Friday to clarify the law on federal sentencing guidelines. The cases, Claiborne v. United States, 06-5618, and Rita v. United States, 06-5754, were selected from dozens of similarly-themed appeals to address the issue of the reasonableness of sentence lengths below and within the guidelines, and come [...]

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Friday began transferring inmates to private detention centers in other states to alleviate overcrowding under the terms California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's October 4 emergency proclamation . The first transfer flight of 80 inmates was delayed while a lawsuit was heard in the US District Court for the [...]

Saddam Hussein's defense team asked the Iraqi High Tribunal Friday to delay its now-expected Sunday verdict in the Dujail crimes against humanity case against the ousted Iraqi leader, saying in a letter obtained by AP that it needed more time to make final arguments. The verdict has already been postponed from an anticipated October date [...]

Brian Davis : "This was the best settlement that we could get in such a politically charged atmosphere. The state legislators wanted their law defended and demanded that the Attorney General defend the ID requirements for state of Ohio voters. What we got was uniform rules for the entire state. We got the absentee ballots [...]

The US Army said Friday that commanders on the ground have prevented Army Sgt. Santos A. Cardona , found guilty in June of abusing detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison , from being redeployed to Iraq out of fear for his safety. Cardona was convicted of two counts of abuse and dereliction of duty for [...]

British-based bank Barclays PLC announced Friday that it has reached an agreement with Enron to settle litigation in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York relating to Enron’s bankruptcy estate. Barclays has agreed to pay Enron $144 million in the settlement, which discharges all claims by Enron against Barclays in respect [...]

Canadian Justice Minister Vic Toews said Friday that the Canadian government will not appeal an October 19 Ontario Superior Court decision that threw out secrecy-related provisions of the Security of Information Act as unconstitutional. The Canadian Department of Justice announced that the government will instead consider future legislative options to address the constitutional issues raised [...]

The War Crimes Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina Friday convicted former Bosnian Serb military commander Marko Samardzija of crimes against humanity for ordering the massacre of at least 144 Muslisms from the Kljuc region in 1992 during the 1992-1995 ethnic war between Serbs, Bosnian Muslims, and Croats. The court sentenced Samardija to [...]

Iraq's defense minister Friday canceled leave for Iraqi soldiers and summoned all military personnel currently on leave to return to station in preparation for potential violence after the anticipated announcement of a verdict in the first Saddam Hussein trial on Sunday. The order was given in a video of a meeting between top Iraqi military [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has warned federal prosecutors about leaking information on ongoing investigations of legislators to the media in advance of the upcoming mid-term elections. In recent months, several news outlets have identified federal officials as sources for reports about probes into allegedly improper actions by prominent lawmakers, including former Florida representative [...]