Marshall v. Marshall, Supreme Court of the United States, May 1, 2006 . Excerpt from the Opinion per Justice Ginsburg: the probate exception reserves to state probate courts the probate or annulment of a will and the administration of a decedent's estate; it also precludes federal courts from endeavoring to dispose of property that is [...]

Hundreds of thousands of US immigrants boycotted work and participated in protests across the country Monday as part of the "Day Without Immigrants" , a nationwide, day-long effort to influence the ongoing immigration reform debate in Congress. Those boycotting work mostly consisted of Hispanic immigrants, both legal and illegal, and succeeded in shutting down numerous [...]

The retrial of two Enron broadband executives on conspiracy and fraud charges is set to begin Tuesday, nearly a year after a jury acquitted five former executives on some charges and failed to reach a verdict on several others. Lawyers for former accountant Michael Krautz and former CFO Kevin Howard argued that it would be [...]

South Africa is considering how to handle the recent declassification of a 1992 report made by a top general to former South Africa President FW de Klerk detailing involvement by the South African military in unofficial violence during the final years of apartheid . According to the Steyn report, named after General Pierre Steyn who [...]

The Istanbul Bar Association has urged the Turkish government to withdraw proposed anti-terror legislation, warning that the bill could harm freedom, while adding nothing to the previously adopted Turkish Penal Code . The Bar Association, in a written statement made Friday, argued that the anti-terror bill could result in stiff punishments for the media and [...]

Over 1,000 protesters gathered in Minsk Monday to call for the release of opposition politicians in Belarus , including Alexander Milinkevich , who was jailed last week for attending an illegal demonstration. Milinkevich and several other opposition politicians were detained after a rally to mark the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Milinkevich told the [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Monday in Marshall v. Marshall , 04-1544, that federal courts can in some cases decide disputes which involve state probate laws. In overturning a decision from the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Court handed a victory to model Anna Nicole Smith (Vickie Lynn Marshall) in her [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Monday in three cases, including Holmes v. South Carolina , 04-1327, where the Court struck down a South Carolina rule which prevented Holmes from introducing evidence that a third party committed the crimes for which he was on trial. The South Carolina Supreme Court upheld a trial court ruling that [...]

A federal judge has sentenced former University of South Florida computer science professor Sami Al-Arian to another 18 months in prison before being deported after Al-Arian pleaded guilty in the terrorism case last month. US District Judge James S. Moody formally imposed the maximum penalty of 57 months, but credited Al-Arian with time already served [...]

Shiite leaders in Iraq have indicated that they are willing to give up control of the Iraqi Interior Ministry, beleaguered in recent months by allegations of prisoner abuse and death squads . During negotiations on the formation of a new Iraqi government, Shiite representatives offered to give up control of the ministry, which controls police [...]