A military tribunal began hearings Monday in the case of a US Army sergeant accused of killing two of his superior officers in Iraq. The Article 32 hearing will determine whether Staff Sergeant Alberto B. Martinez faces a court martial for the deaths of Capt. Philip Esposito and Lt. Louis E. Allen in a June [...]

US District Judge Richard M. Berman will consider the constitutionality of New York City's random search of bags and packages in the city's subway system, as trial begins Monday in the case . The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) filed a lawsuit in August, saying the random searches are unreasonable searches and seizures. Lawyers [...]

AP is reporting that the UN Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter calling on Syria to cooperate with a UN investigation into the February assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri . A draft version of the resolution put forth by the US, France and Britain [...]

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut has agreed to pay $22 million to settle sexual abuse claims against the diocese, a plaintiff's lawyer announced Monday. The settlement included 43 plaintiffs, who had accused 14 priests of sexual assault since the 1960's. Plaintiff's attorney Jason Tremont said, "By giving victims a voice, we can change [...]

Nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito of the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals to serve as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, President George W. Bush, October 31, 2005. Excerpt: Good morning. I'm pleased to announce my nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr., as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court [...]

Lawyers for David Hicks , an Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee, say that they have photographic evidence that Hicks was tortured by American soldiers, though they have declined to identify any witnesses at this point. Hicks' father told Australian television program Four Corners Monday that his son was tortured and sexually abused while in American custody, [...]

Australian Prime Minister John Howard asked parliament Monday to establish an independent inquiry into whether any Australian companies paid bribes to Iraqi officials involved in the now defunct UN oil-for-food program . Last week, a UN report issued by an independent panel headed by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker , found that officials [...]

Stuart Bowen, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction , said that corruption continues to cost Iraq billions of dollars each year and has called for an American-Iraqi summit in the fight against corruption in Iraq, in a report to Congress released Sunday. Bowen said that it is crucial that the US support new anti-corruption agencies [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Sandra Jordan of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, former Associate Independent Counsel for the Iran/Contra prosecutions, says the prosecution of Scooter Libby and perhaps others in the Fitzgerald probe of the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity will be a delicate process that may end up telling us more [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Christopher Schroeder of Duke University Law School says that the claim that "executive privilege" concerns required the withdrawal of US Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers has been overstated, and that senatorial requests for information on her White House service there could have been selectively accommodated without crossing any proverbial "red line" … [...]