There will be no announcements in the investigation into the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity until Friday, a spokesperson for Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald said Thursday. The White House is waiting for news on whether a federal grand jury will issue indictments after Fitzgerald met with the panel Wednesday. The investigation is [...]

The Supreme Court of China Thursday confirmed its plan to remove the authority from lower courts to review death sentences , which is expected to decrease the number of execution sentences currently given and also prevent fatal miscarriages of justice. China has been criticized by international human rights groups for the large number of executions [...]

Jose Padilla has filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court, asking the Court to place limits on the government's ability to hold him and other terror suspects indefinitely without filing charges against them. Padilla has been in US custody for over three years on allegations that he was involved in an al Qaeda plot [...]

The Constitutional Court in Malawi Wednesday issued a temporary injunction delaying impeachment proceedings by parliament against Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika until the court has the opportunity to review parliamentary guidelines regarding how to remove the president. Parliament adopted the new impeachment procedures last week to fill a gap in the constitution, which allowed for [...]

US Representative Tom DeLay has informed US House of Representative officials that he neglected to disclose all contributions made to his legal defense fund as mandated by congressional rules. DeLay told House officials that he began an audit which uncovered an unreported amount of $20,850 contributed in 2000 and 2001 to the defense fund. Another [...]

US officials and members of the Iraqi government have mismanaged $24 million in reconstruction grants made by the US in 2004, and fraudulent activities may have occurred in some of the cases, according to a report released Wednesday by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction . Inspector General Stuart Bowen said he has [...]

AP is reporting that US Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers has withdrawn her nomination. 9:15 AM ET – In a letter to President Bush Thursday, Miers withdrew her nomination , expressing concern that the confirmation process would present "a burden for the White House and our staff that is not in the best interest of [...]

Letter from Harriet Miers to George W. Bush, October 27, 2005 . Excerpt: As you know, members of the Senate have indicated their intention to seek documents about my service in the White House in order to judge whether to support me. I have been informed repeatedly that in lieu of records, I would be [...]

Revisiting Proposals to Split the Ninth Circuit: An Inevitable Solution to a Growing Problem, US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing testimony, October 26, 2005. Read the full text of witnesses' prepared statements. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Republican senators continued a long-running effort to build support for breaking up the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit into two circuits during a US Senate Judiciary Committee subcommitee hearing Wednesday. A bill introduced earlier this month by Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) would split the circuit into two, [...]