The Congressional Research Service , the non-partisan public policy research arm of the US Congress, reported Friday that although the legality of the NSA warrantless surveillance program could not be determined due to the need for classified materials, the legal justification for the program "does not seem to be as well-grounded" as the Bush administration [...]

The number of hunger strike participants at the Guantanamo detention facility has decreased from 84 to 40 since a late-December spike US military authorities announced Friday. Thirty-two of the remaining 40 hunger strikers are currently being force-fed through tubes, a procedure declared humane by medical officials at the facility but disputed by lawyers for the [...]

Seven present or former members of the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals will testify on behalf of colleague and now US Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito at his confirmation hearings beginning Monday according to an announcement Friday by Republicans leading the US Senate Judiciary Committee . Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) said the committee would [...]

A federal judge in Miami Friday postponed until next week a scheduled plea and bail hearing for now-indicted "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla , a US citizen originally arrested in 2002 for allegedly plotting to detonate a "dirty bomb" but later charged with unrelated offenses. Magistrate Judge Barry Garber set a new hearing for January 12. [...]

The US Supreme Court on Friday granted certiorari in six cases, including one involving the ability of police to enter a home without a search warrant. In Brigham County v. Stewart, the court is expected to clarify the type of emergency situation required to justify a warrantless entry. In that case, police entered a home [...]

A Review of the FBI's Handling of the Brandon Mayfield Case, US Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, January 6, 2006 . Read the full unclassified text of the report's executive summary .

US v. Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanovic, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, January 6, 2006 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

A Tyco International spokesperson has said that Tyco was the defrauded "Company A" referred to in court documents released Tuesday as part of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff's guilty plea to fraud and conspiracy charges . The criminal information which prompted Abramoff's plea alleges that while working for law firm Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff failed to tell [...]

The EU Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights , a legal panel appointed by the European Commission, has warned that a agreement , drawn up in 2003, between the Vatican and Slovakia that allows Catholic hospitals in Slovakia to refuse to perform controversial treatments such as abortions may be in violation of its obligations [...]

An Afghanistan prison is undergoing improvements to accommodate about 100 Afghan Guantanamo Bay detainees who are expected to be transferred to Afghanistan in the near future, according to Afghan officials. Construction, being paid for by the US, is underway on Afghanistan's largest prison to enhance security and living conditions. The US reached an agreement with [...]