Several members of the US Senate Judiciary Committee predicted in a hearing Wednesday that a bill to allow the televising of US Supreme Court proceedings will soon be passed by Congress. The bill would require that Supreme Court proceedings be broadcast unless a majority of justices voted no in an individual case, and Sen. Arlen [...]

The US Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommitee on the Constitution approved a proposed constitutional amendment, the Marriage Protection Amendment , in a 5-4 vote Wednesday. The amendment, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, will now go before the full judiciary committee and is expected to come up for a vote [...]

US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has proposed legislation that would block suspected foreign terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay from using US courts to challenge their detentions. The amendment to the 2006 defense appropriations bill currently before the US Senate could be voted on as early as Thursday. Human rights groups have characterized the amendment as [...]

UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke is taking the blame for a defeat Wednesday in the UK House of Commons of a key provision of the British government's proposed Terrorism Bill that would have authorized the detention of terror suspects without charge for up to 90 days. In an interview with BBC Radio Thursday, Clarke said [...]

US Senate Democrats Wednesday launched their first concerted effort to challenge the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the US Supreme Court by requesting information regarding a 2002 case he participated in involving mutual fund company Vanguard , with which he had a six-figure investment. Eight Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter [...]

A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted two men on charges that they sought to smuggle three surface-to-air missiles into the US for use abroad. Chao Tung Wu and Yi Qing Chen were charged under a 2004 anti-terror law , marking the first time it was used, and face a mandatory minimum 25-year sentence if [...]

The US Department of Defense said Wednesday that it will not seek the death penalty in the cases of any of the five newly charged Guantanamo Bay detainees or the four previously charged, including David Hicks and Salim Ahmed Hamdan . The Pentagon had previously indicated that it would not seek the death penalty against [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Nora Demleitner, former law clerk to Judge Samuel Alito and currently professor of law at Hofstra University School of Law, says that Judge Alito's judicial philosophy is driven by adherence to text, record, and precedent rather than dedication to a particular ideology… Since having been nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, Republicans [...]

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday reaffirmed that the US meets international standards in its treatment of terror suspects, despite rising debate over the issue. Rice told an American Bar Association international law gathering that the US has always respected international legal obligations. President Bush said earlier this week that the US has [...]

The European Commission on Wednesday granted Turkey the sought-after "functioning market economy" status in its bid to join the EU, but it warned the government that a stronger stance on torture and human rights was needed. Winning market status for its economy is a major step in Turkey's accession efforts . However, in its report [...]