The US Supreme Court late Tuesday issued a temporary stay on an execution order for Clarence Hill , a Florida inmate convicted of the 1982 killing of a police officer. Hill had been scheduled to be executed at 6 PM. The Court is currently reviewing three stay requests on his behalf, including one from Hill's [...]

A US Army spokesperson late Tuesday clarified the military position on the application of new military death penalty rules to terror detainees, saying the rules would not apply to them and correcting a contrary statement made earlier Tuesday . The spokesperson announced that the rules, which allow the army to decide the location of executions [...]

EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini has responded to a Council of Europe report , released Tuesday by urging all EU member nations to fully comply with the ongoing COE investigation into alleged CIA rendition practices . The interim COE report argued that EU countries "turned a blind eye" to the existence of secret CIA prisons [...]

Public statements of support by several US senators Tuesday assured the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito to the US Supreme Court. Commitments by five Republicans appear to have pushed him beyond the requisite 50 votes in the 100-member chamber; one Democrat, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) has also said he will support Alito's candidacy . The [...]

Leading Tuesday's environmental law news, the US Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to release the final draft of a rule that will establish standards for pesticide research on human subjects . In August 2005, President Bush signed an appropriations bill (Pub. L. No. 109-54 ) that banned all pesticide research on humans until the EPA [...]

Two judges involved in the Saddam Hussein trial said Tuesday that the real reason for the latest postponement of the hearing was a disagreement among the judges on the Iraqi High Criminal Court – formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal – as to who should replace chief judge Rizqar Mohammed Amin, who resigned earlier this month [...]

Prepared Remarks for US Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales at the Georgetown University Law Center, January 24, 2006 . Read the full text of the address. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

A US Army spokesperson said Tuesday that new military death penalty regulations may also apply to enemy combatants. The new rules, which enable the army to determine the location for executions "imposed by military courts-martial or military tribunals and authorized by the president of the United States," mean that future executions could be carried out [...]

US Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) said Tuesday that a Senate floor debate on a proposed bill to compensate asbestos victims will begin February 6. Specter has co-sponsored the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act of 2005 with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to develop a $140 billion fund to pay claims brought by victims exposed to [...]

Alleged secret detentions in Council of Europe member states, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, January 24, 2006 . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.