Judicial Watch, Inc. v. State, Vermont Supreme Court, November 4, 2005.. Read the full text of the opinion here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

A military jury Friday cleared a US Army sergeant of all charges related to his alleged abuse of a prisoner at the US-run Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan . Sgt. Duane Grubb had been charged with assault, maltreatment and making a false official statement, but testified that he had never hit prisoner Zarif Khan. Prosecutors [...]

The Vermont Supreme Court Friday ruled that a decision made by former state governor Howard Dean and Vermont's secretary of state to seal 93 boxes of sensitive papers collected during his term was legal. When he left office in 2003 Dean decided to seal the papers for ten years and joked with reporters that he [...]

US Senators Friday confirmed their support for an anti-torture amendment sponsored by Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and attached to the 2006 defense spending bill by unanimously re-passing the amendment by voice vote after approving it 90-9 last month. President Bush has threatened to veto the defense spending budget if it contains the anti-torture amendment. McCain [...]

A US Senate subcommittee referred British MP George Galloway Thursday evening to the US Department of Justice for potential prosecution because the committee said they found "probable cause" that Galloway lied to Congress regarding his role in the UN oil-for-food scandal. The Senate panel uncovered a payment of $150,000 in Iraqi oil sales to Galloway's [...]

A Syrian judicial committee has begun its own investigation into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri . Syrian Attorney General Ghada Mourad , who is heading the committee, has said that Syria will coordinate with the UN and Lebanese judicial authorities who are also investigating the murder. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called [...]

Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock has spoken out to disagree with assertions that the government's anti-terrorism bill violates human rights. The proposed anti-terrorism legislation , which Australian Prime Minister John Howard claims will be enacted by Christmas , was tabled in Parliament Thursday after Howard won support earlier this week from several state and territory [...]

Republican legislators have proposed a bill to build a 2,000 mile wall at the border between US and Mexico in order to keep illegal immigrants out. The True Enforcement and Border Security Act also calls for thousands of new border patrol officers, immigration investigators, immigration judges, and attorneys, according to a joint statement released by [...]

Paul Volcker , chairman of the UN Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) investigating the now-defunct UN oil-for-food program , on Friday laughed off news that the Indian government was investigating a possible lawsuit against the IIC for concluding that Foreign Minister Natwar Singh , as well as India's ruling Congress party, were a part of an [...]

US Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald announced Thursday that he was narrowing the focus of his investigation into the role of senior White House advisor Karl Rove in the CIA leak case . At issue now is whether Rove tried to conceal his conversation with a TIME magazine reporter a week before the CIA operative [...]