AP is reporting that US Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) has announced that confirmation hearings for US Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito will start January 9, 2006. Earlier this week Democrats called for January hearings on Alito, insisting that there was just not enough time to give his extensive judicial record appropriate review [...]

Texas Administrative Judge B.B. Schraub on Thursday recused himself from further proceedings in the trial of Rep. Tom DeLay after Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle filed a motion requesting a new judge to replace him . Earle argued that Schraub could make unbiased decisions in the case because he is a Republican and had [...]

Leading Thursday's environmental law news, the US Senate defeated a budget amendment by a 51-48 vote that would have removed drilling authority for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge(ANWR) . The budget bill itself is expected to be voted on later this evening. In related news, the Senate also passed an amendment by an 86-13 vote [...]

In response to what has been described as the "slow pace" by which the Food and Drug Administration is acting to approve the so-called "morning after pill" for over-the-counter sale, a bipartisan group of US representatives on Thursday introduced a bill that would make the drug available without a prescription after 30 days of the [...]

South African oil company Imvume on Thursday announced plans to file a lawsuit against UN's Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) in response to its allegations that the company provided illegal kick-backs to the Iraqi government in the now defunct UN oil-for-food program . According to the IIC report , Imvume paid a "surcharge" in order to [...]

A former top US State Department official has charged that US Vice President Dick Cheney and his staff were responsible for directives leading to abuse of detainees by US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and for preventing President Bush from seeing a memo which recommended more troops for the 2003 "liberation" of Iraq. Colonel Lawrence [...]

Halliburton and its subsidiaries have failed to pay their workers in Iraq and Kuwait millions of dollars in overtime in violation of its contracts with the US Army, five workers alleged in a federal lawsuit Thursday. According to the lawsuit, Halliburton and its subsidiaries required several hundred employees to work as much as 80 to [...]

Indonesian Justice Minister Hamid Awaluddin said Thursday that Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir will not have his prison sentence reduced to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Bashir, imprisoned for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings , allegedly lashed out at the Australian government upon hearing the news, accusing it [...]

An all-male jury of four officers and four enlisted personnel has been selected in the trial of a US Army reservist accused of attacking a detainee at an Afghanistan detention center and then lying about his actions, Fort Bliss officials announced Thursday. Sgt. Duane M. Grubb of the Cincinnati-based 377th Military Police Company has entered [...]

Former media magnate Conrad Black is suing the US government, alleging the Federal Bureau of Investigation improperly seized nearly $9 million of his money. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Chicago, Black claimed the funds were seized without legal basis, and added that he needed to use the money to defend against possible impending fraud [...]