Newly-elected Bolivian president Evo Morales addressed the nation during his inauguration speech Sunday and promised to promote justice for indigenous Bolivian Indians, saying that they had been discriminated against and "never recognized as human beings." Morales, who became the first indigenous person elected president of Bolivia in December, is the third president in recent years. [...]

The chief investigative judge for the Iraqi High Criminal Court (formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal ) announced Monday that judge Ra'uf Rashid will replace former chief judge Rizgar Muhammad Amin in the Saddam Hussein trial . Amin's resignation earlier this month was followed by a period of confusion about the fate of the lead tribunal [...]

Sudanese security forces released nearly 50 human rights delegates attending the African Union summit in Khartoum Monday. Members of the Sudanese Organization Against Torture , Amnesty International, Anti-Slavery International and the International Bar Association were temporarily detained after forces raided their meeting and took the delegates into custody without explanation late Sunday. Many, including the [...]

The US Supreme Court handed down decisions in three cases Monday, including a decision in Wisconsin Right to Life v. Federal Election Commission , where the Court remanded the case to the federal District Court in Washington, DC to reexamine whether the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002 violates the First Amendment right to [...]

Saddam Hussein condemned "Iranian meddling" in Iraq after being briefed on major Iraqi, Arab and international affairs over the weekend, his defense team said Monday. Defense lawyer Saleh al-Armuti said Hussein had complained of not being kept up to date on world news so his lawyers filled him in during a five-hour meeting at the [...]

The number of targeted assassinations of journalists is on the rise, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said Monday in its annual report, Targeting and Tragedy: Journalists and Media Staff Killed in 2005 . The IFJ reports that 89 of the record 150 media staff who died last year during the course of their work [...]

Activists around the country marked the 33rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade with demonstrations on Sunday. In Minnesota, San Francisco, Idaho and Michigan, hundreds of anti-abortion and abortion rights demonstrators gathered in front of state capitols. Activists in Michigan marked the anniversary by debuting Michigan Chooses Life, an initiative to change the state constitution to [...]

The trial of former Yugoslav dictator Slobodan Milosevic resumed Monday at The Hague, as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia ended its extended winter break. The break had been prolonged due to health concerns raised yet again by Milosevic. The court has yet to rule on a request by Milosevic to suspend the [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist David Kairys of Temple University School of Law says that senators weighing the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the US Supreme Court should be wary of endorsing his commitment to legal technicalities over core constitutional values… Judge Samuel Alito is smart, fair, collegial, and independent. He’s qualified, and he calls 'em [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Benjamin Zipursky of Fordham University School of Law says that the ongoing Vioxx litigation is exposing serious shortcomings in America's products liability system… In August, a jury in Texas arrived at a huge verdict of $253 million against Merck Pharmaceutical Company, reportedly aiming to “send a message” to Merck that it is [...]