Letter to the US Senate Judiciary Committee leadership on the Alito nomination, January 5, 2006 . Excerpt: Analyses show that in close cases — the kinds of cases the Supreme Court reviews — Judge Alito consistently takes positions that devalue individual rights and protections. And despite the president's pledge to nominate someone who embraces the [...]

The Public Prosecutor's office in the Netherlands filed an appeal on Friday against the acquittal of Dutch businessman Frans Van Anraat on charges of complicity in genocide by Saddam Hussein . In December, the court sentenced Van Anraat to the maximum term of 15 years in prison for complicity in war crimes for selling chemicals [...]

Japan has declined to join fellow G-4 nations Brazil, Germany and India in their proposal to expand membership in the UN Security Council from 15 to 25 member nations, adding six permanent members and six non-permanent members, and will instead develop a different proposal with US advice . Japan joined Brazil's 2004 bid to expand [...]

A Chilean judge said Friday that former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori should be held indefinitely until Chile evaluates an extradition request from Peru, rejecting a defense request to free Fujimori on bail. The former leader had been living in exile in Japan until he arrived and was arrested in Chile two months ago. He returned [...]

US District Judge Sim Lake on Thursday sentenced former Dynegy executive Gene Shannon Foster to 15 months in jail, and former accountant Helen Sharkey received a 30-day sentence for helping co-defendant James Olis defraud investors of over $500 million. Olis, another former executive, received an unprecedented 24-year sentence which was rejected by the Fifth Circuit [...]

Democrats on the US Senate Judiciary Committee have said they plan to call witnesses to question the integrity of US Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito during confirmation hearings. The witness list includes experts on constitutional law and civil rights, but will also include John Flym, who argued a 2002 case before the US Court of [...]

US Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) , a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee , has said that while Democrats on the committee are considering delaying a vote on Samuel Alito's confirmation to the US Supreme Court, a final decision has not yet been made. Senate leadership aides said Thursday that Democrats would invoke their right [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Geoffrey S. Corn, Lt. Col. US Army (Ret.) and former Special Assistant to the Judge Advocate General for Law of War Matters, now a professor at South Texas College of Law, says that the McCain Amendment on the treatment of detainees has been largely undermined not only by Presidential reservations on its [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Bryan Horrigan of Macquarie University Faculty of Law in Sydney, Australia, says that the upcoming confirmation hearings for Judge Samuel Alito are a trial not just of the nominee, but of the uniquely-American system of public judicial confirmations of high court judges… As Judge Samuel Alito's confirmation hearing before the US Senate [...]

Jeb Bush et al. v. Ruth Holmes, Supreme Court of Florida, January 5, 2006 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.