In re Iraq and Afghanistan Detainees Litigation, Arkan Mohammed Ali, et al., v. Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense of the United States of America, Defendant's and the United States' Motion to Dismiss, March 6, 2006 . Read the full text of the motion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

A new report released Tuesday by the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that the total number of illegal immigrants in the US has risen to some 12 million, despite US government attempts to crack down on inflow. The US House of Representatives passed a controversial bill late last year to tighten border security, but the Pew [...]

Gordon Goldsmith : "Greetings from the Bayou and the ACORN team, consisting of Hannah Burke, Gordon Goldsmith, Robert Lionel Hawkins, Marni Richman and Pete Vitelli, all 2L and 3L law students from the University of Pittsburgh. ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is a national non-profit program designed to assist low-income families [...]

The US House of Representatives has approved renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act , sending the reauthorization bill to President Bush for his signature. The US Senate approved the USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005 last week. Sixteen key provisions of the Patriot Act were set to expire at the end of [...]

The Netherlands cabinet is set to decide later this month whether to go forward with a ban against Muslim women wearing the niqab , the Muslim religious veil similar to a burqa that leaves only a woman's eyes visible. The specific idea was first floated in October. Last year the Dutch Parliament voted in favor [...]

The US House of Representatives Tuesday approved a bill to bolster anti-counterfeiting laws expected to prevent billions of dollars in losses to US manufacturers. The Stop Counterfeiting in Manufactured Goods Act , passed by the Senate last month, mandates the elimination of all equipment used to make counterfeit goods and strengthens laws which prohibit the [...]

Elizabeth Seitz : "The Student Hurricane Network (SHN) is a national association of law students dedicated to providing long-term assistance to communities impacted by Hurricane Katrina (www.studenthurricanenetwork.org). In December, SHN facilitated sending 240 students from about 50 schools to the Gulf coast region. While the first wave of students was volunteering their time, I received [...]

A UN expert on racism warned Tuesday that instances of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia are on the rise worldwide, and pose a special danger as they are not confined to extremist groups but have become integral to mainstream democratic systems. Senegalese lawyer Doudou Diene, UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, [...]

Jordan Paust : "A DOJ filing in the lawsuit against Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld concerning detainee abuse attempts to defend torture, cruel treatment, inhuman treatment, degrading treatment, and humilitaring treatment of detainees expressly authorized by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld in at least two memos (e.g., the stripping of persons naked and hooding for interrogation and [...]

A CIA information review officer providing a sworn statement to US District Judge Reggie B. Walton has indicated that clearing top-level information requested by former vice-presidential Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby could take as long as nine months. Marilyn Dorn filed the statement Friday but it was only unsealed Tuesday. Libby, who faces [...]