There were indications Saturday that Iraq's constitutional committee would resolve major issues and submit a draft constitution before the Monday August 15 deadline. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told reporters that the committee had reached a tentative agreement on the issue of oil wealth distribution, and expressed optimism that the committee would resolve major issues such [...]

US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced in a press release late Friday that the threat level for transit systems nationwide was being lowered from Code Orange, or "high", to "elevated" Code Yellow. The threat level had been increased on July 7 following the London subway bombings . In his statement, Chertoff urged all Americans [...]

Two attorneys representing inmates at Guantanamo Bay prison told reporters Saturday that the US military has agreed to meet several demands of prisoners for better conditions at the facility, including greater access to books and bottled water with every meal. According to the attorneys, the military opened negotiations with a detainee representatives following a hunger [...]

By a 4-2 margin late Friday the California Supreme Court overruled a lower court decision , and placed controversial Proposition 77 back on the November 8 special election ballot. Proponents of the plan that transfers redistricting power from the current Democratic-controlled legislature to a panel of judges had argued that the petition circulated to get [...]

Address to the American Bar Association, Thurgood Marshall Awards Dinner Honoring Abner Mikva, John Paul Stevens Associate Justice Supreme Court of the United States, August 6, 2005 . Excerpt: Thurgood's rejection of the death penalty rested on principles that would be controlling even if error never infected the criminal process. Since his retirement, with the [...]

Implementation of the NPT Safegaurds Agreement in the Islamic Republican of Iran and related Board resolutions, International Atomic Energy Agency , August 11, 2005 . Read the full text of the resolution here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

US v. Councilman, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, August 11, 2005 . Read the full text of the opinion here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said Friday that he was astonished at the unanimity of a call by the International Atomic Energy Agency for Iran to stop enrichment activities, warning Western opposition that the "very tyrannical" resolution will "cost them dearly." The IAEA resolution adopted Thursday urged Iran to re-establish full suspension of all [...]

JURIST is looking for talented, public-service oriented law students from law schools in the US and abroad to join our team of real-time legal news editors this fall. From Los Angeles to London, from Chicago to Cairo – if you're a law student looking for intensive research, writing and editing experience and your own byline [...]

Mississippi Judge Marcus Gordon on Friday granted bail to former Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen , who, in June, was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the 1964 killings of three civil rights workers. Gordon granted Killen's release on bond of $600,000 after determining through testimony that Killen, who is 80 and wheelchair [...]