Political parties in Spain are in an uproar after the ruling Socialist Party Wednesday initiated a process for officially pardoning victims of former fascist Spanish dictator Generalissimo Francisco Franco Bahamonde . Franco signed orders for thousands of executions while he ruled Spain between 1938 and 1975, often consigning convicts to death by strangulation with a [...]

The Iraqi Interim National Assembly Wednesday demanded prosecution of a US soldier and an apology from the American Embassy after representative Fattah al-Sheik tearfully described being handcuffed and humiliated at a US checkpoint. Al-Sheik, a Shi'ite, is linked to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr , who led several uprisings against the US military in 2004. The [...]

The Utah Legislature passed House Bill 1001 Tuesday directing state education officials to comply with state education goals before they consider the provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation. Utah is the first of many states unhappy with the federal education law to pass a legislative challenge to it. Parts of the No [...]

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that Russian needs to increase its democratic development in order for the US-Russia relationship to deepen. In an interview with Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy, Rice said that there needs to be an independent media and that President Vladimir Putin should not have so much personal power. Rice [...]

Following up on a story reported yesterday afternoon on JURIST's Paper Chase, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee late Thursday postponed until next month its scheduled confirmation vote on the nomination of John Bolton as US ambassador to the United Nations after a Republican senator stunned colleagues by asking for more time to consider the nomination. [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Wednesday, April 20. The US Supreme Court hears oral arguments in two cases beginning at 10 AM ET today. In the first, Merck KGaA v. Integra Lifesciences I, Ltd. , 03-1237, the Court will consider whether patent law exceptions for [...]

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee remained stalled Tuesday afternoon on a confirmation vote for US ambassador to the UN nominee John R. Bolton . Republicans continued to move toward a vote on the nomination despite attempts by Democrats to delay the final decision. Republicans control the committee by a 10-8 margin, and voting appeared likely [...]

In Tuesday's environmental law news, US District Judge Emmet Sullivan has refused to block a Washington DC law that bans the shipment of hazardous materials on railroads through the city. He also held yesterday that CSX Transportation and the federal government had not provided evidence that the railroad or rail security would suffer irreparable harm [...]

Rwanda has condemned Burundi for moving a group of Hutu refugees farther from the countries' common border. The Rwandan government said the Hutus were fugitives and Burundi's actions amount to granting them asylum status. About 2,000 refugees have fled across the border recently from local "gacaca" courts set up to try those accused of involvement [...]

Miami-Dade County has agreed to a $6.25 million settlement that applies to thousands of women illegally strip-searched at county correctional facilities, one of the largest civil rights settlements in the county's history. The settlement was approved Monday by a US district court judge. The lawsuit was filed by three women who were strip searched after [...]