Arce, et al. v. Garcia, et al., United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Circuit Judge Tjoflat, February 28, 2005 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

US Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter Sunday acknowledged that a "heavy sense of drama" surrounded the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Samuel Alito , set to begin Monday. In a statement prepared for delivery at the opening of the first session, Specter promised that the process, expected to last through Thursday, "will give [...]

US military commission proceedings against two of a handful of charged prisoners at Guantanamo Bay , originally scheduled to restart Tuesday, have been pushed back to Wednesday in recognition of the the Feast of the Sacrifice, a Muslim holy day. Canadian Omar Khadr will face his second commission hearing on his conspiracy and attempted murder [...]

US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) said Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation program that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has been invited to testify as the main spokesperson for administration when the Senate Judiciary Committee holds open hearings in early Feburary on the Bush administration's warrantless surveilance program . Gonzales was White House [...]

Attorneys for a number of hunger strikers at Guantanamo Bay have filed a petition in a California court to force the state medical ethics board to investigate Dr. John S. Edmondson, chief medical officer at the prison, for alleged unprofessional conduct for allowing the forced insertion of feeding tubes. The prisoners contend that the procedure [...]

A British law firm has been linked to the ongoing investigation into the illegal activities of former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff . A former partner at London-based James & Sarch, now defunct, allegedly channeled $1 million from Russian oil executives to the public advocacy group US Family Network , also now defunct, largely funded by [...]

The US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia has reinstated a $55 million verdict against two former Salvadoran generals for allowing torture and other human rights violations to occur during the El Salvadoran civil war. In March, the court tossed out the jury award against Gens. Carlos Eugenion Vides Casanova and Jose Guillermo [...]

Officials in New Orleans have agreed to temporarily halt the scheduled demolition of thousands of private homes severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina until a federal judge decides if he will hear a legal challenge. Community activists originally filed a lawsuit in state court to block the destruction of nearly 5,500 homes, arguing that some homeowners [...]

JURIST Special Guest Columnist Wendy J. Keefer, former senior counsel and chief of staff in the US Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy and now with Bancroft Associates in Washington DC, says that in keeping with their constitutional role of giving advice and consent, senators at the confirmation hearings for Judge Samuel Alito should [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond School of Law says that recent national security issues involving controversial exercises of executive power should encourage senators to carefully analyze Judge Samuel Alito’s perspectives on executive authority, security and liberty in his upcoming confirmation hearings… Recent actions that overemphasize executive power and national security [...]