Consumer protection organization Public Citizen Tuesday filed suit in federal court in Washington, DC, challenging the constitutionality of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 , which cuts approximately $39 billion in federal programs. In its suit, Public Citizen alleges that the version of the bill signed by the President was passed by the US Senate, [...]

The government of Afghanistan said Wednesday that a court would rule on whether Abdul Rahman, accused of converting to Christianity, will face the death penalty for his conversion. Under Islamic law, apostasy is a capital offense. The case against him has shocked many members of the international community, including the US , and has prompted [...]

Chilean Judge Victor Montiglio on Tuesday announced indictments and ordered the arrests of 13 retired Chilean military officers accused of directly participating in the Caravan of Death , one of the most notorious events during the reign of former dictator Augusto Pinochet . The Caravan of Death occurred in the month following Pinochet's Semptember 1973 [...]

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday held that a police search of a couple's home, where one resident gave permission for the search but the other resident "unequivocally refused to give consent", is unconstitutional as to the resident who refused consent. The Court considered an appeal in Georgia v. Randolph , 04-1067, a case which [...]

As preparations continue to establish a tribunal to prosecute those accused of killing former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri , UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday said that a mixed tribunal, with both international and Lebanese participation, is necessary to ensure that justice is done in the case. He noted particularly that Hariri's murder has [...]

The New Hampshire House of Representatives on Tuesday voted down a bill that would have broadened the right to use deadly force in self defense when in public by a margin of 194-138. The State Senate approved a similar proposal, to remove the requirement that a person retreat and refrain from using deadly force when [...]

Russian diplomat Konstantin Dolgov has requested a UN briefing on conditions in UN detention facilities following the recent deaths of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and Croatian Serb Milan Babic . Dolgov also asked Tuesday for information from UN officials on the state of an investigation into both deaths. Earlier this week, the court-appointed advocates [...]

In an effort to bring closure to the contentious issue of the fate of former Liberian President Charles Taylor , Liberia's new president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf on Tuesday called on African leaders to decide whether to place Taylor in the hands of a UN tribunal to face war crimes charges. On Friday, Liberia formally asked the [...]

For the fourth day in a row, hundreds of protestors gathered at a central square in Minsk on Wednesday to oppose what they claimed were the rigged results of the Belarus presidential election, defying threats of a government crackdown and the possibility of arrest . Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko , who has ruled for 12 [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist David Crane, former Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, now at Syracuse University College of Law, says it's time for Nigeria to hand over former Liberian president Charles Taylor for trial on war crimes charges… A little over three years ago, on 3 March 2003, I signed the international [...]