The Coalition for an Effective African Court on Human and People's Rights , an NGO based in South Africa, on Saturday criticized the process of nominating judges to the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights during the ongoing African Union summit in Khartoum, Sudan. The coalition said that the nomination process lacked transparency and [...]

Defense lawyers for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby , the former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney indicted last October in the CIA leak case , said Friday they plan to subpoena journalists and news organizations for additional documents, such as reporters' notes and records pertaining to the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's [...]

In anticipation of US Senate Judiciary Committee hearings next month, Democratic Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced a proposed Senate resolution Friday, criticizing the Bush administration's authorization of domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA) . Presenting the administration's legal authorities for the NSA's interception of international communications with suspected terrorists [...]

US Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff from the Northern District of Illinois signed off on the United Airlines reorganization plan Friday, in a move that will allow the airline to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy by February 1. The plan was submitted by United's parent company, UAL Corporation, in September and United is now on track [...]

US v. Joseph Bibee et al., United States District Court for the District of Oregon, January 19, 2006 . Read the full text of the indictment . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Gitanjali Deane and Lisa Polak et al. v. Frank Conoway et al., Judge M. Brooke Murdock, Baltimore City Circuit Court, January 20, 2006 . Read the full text of the Order and Memorandum . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The US Department of Defense announced Friday that it has brought charges against a tenth Guantanamo Bay detainee. Abdul Zahir has been formally charged with conspiracy, aiding the enemy and attacking civilians, and is accused of working as a translator and money-man for former Taliban rulers in Afghanistan and with al Qaeda. The accusations also [...]

A Chilean appeals court Friday stripped former dictator Augusto Pinochet of immunity so he can face charges involving the torture of thousands of people at Villa Grimaldi , an infamous political detention center that was run by Pinochet’s secret police between 1974 and 1977. President-elect Michelle Bachelet and her mother were detained at Villa Grimaldi [...]

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw denied Friday that he withheld any information from Parliament concerning Britain's involvement in secret CIA rendition flights and also said that there had not been any flights through Britain since the September 11 attacks. Straw's statement to legislators came in response to a leaked memo Thursday suggesting that there had [...]

A California proposal for a two-year death penalty moratorium hit a permanent stumbling block in the California Assembly's Appropriations Committee Thursday. The moratorium proposal intended to suspend executions in California until a commission completed a review of California's death penalty, including an analysis of any condemned inmates who were wrongly convicted. Democratic Assemblyman Paul Koretz, [...]