A federal judge Wednesday rejected the US government's argument that revealing the names of hundreds of Guantanamo Bay detainees violates their privacy, and remanded the case for further consideration on whether to actually release the names. The lawsuit was filed against the US Department of Defense under the Freedom of Information Act by the Associated [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Scott Gerber of Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law says that the case for higher salaries for federal judges is far less clear than Chief Justice Roberts and others make it out to be… William H. Rehnquist lobbied tirelessly during his two decades aschief justice of the United States for pay [...]

Order in C.T. Hanft v. Jose Padilla, Supreme Court of the United States, January 4, 2005 . Read the full text of the order . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

US Vice President Dick Cheney offered a forceful defense of the NSA warrantless surveillance program in use since the September 11 terrorist attacks in an address to a Heritage Foundation audience in Washington Wednesday. Cheney said the wiretaps do not violate American civil liberties and are tools used to help prevent future terrorist attacks. While [...]

With Senate confirmation hearings for US Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito scheduled to begin Monday , more interest groups and other organizations are voicing their views on the nomination. The Alliance for Justice released a 168 page report Wednesday chronicling Alito's decision-making history, concluding that his opinions would "drive the Supreme Court sharply to the [...]

A Human Rights Watch (HRW) official, testifying Wednesday before the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights , said that a "very credible" source has informed HRW of a third alleged US detention facility located in a yet-unnamed European Union country. HRW will reveal the location of the facility after confirming its existence with a "surprise [...]

AP is reporting that the US Supreme Court has ordered that Jose Padilla be transferred from military to civilian custody. Padilla was detained over three years ago for allegedly planning to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the US, but was not charged until November 2005, when he was indicted on 11 unrelated counts, including [...]

Amnesty International (AI) Wednesday accused Thai security forces of using "harsh or inadaquate counter-measures" in their response to Islamist/separatist terror attacks in the southern provinces of the predominantly-Buddist country. According to AI, the Thai government has allowed troops to arbitrarily detain terrorist suspects, often without access to a lawyer or interpreter, and has failed to [...]

The government of Eritrea has accepted an international panel's conclusion that it violated international law when it invaded Ethiopia in May 1998, precipitating a two-year war. The Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission (EECC) concluded in December that Eritrea launched the attacks that sparked the 1998-2000 war which claimed the lives of 80,000 and caused massive damage to [...]

Syrian diplomats announced Wednesday that Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara will speak with the UN commission investigating the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri , as requested by outgoing investigation head Detlev Mehlis on Monday. A Syrian official said Tuesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will refuse an interview request because the Syrian constitution [...]