Deck v. Missouri, Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Breyer, May 23, 2005 . Excerpt: Given the presence of similarly weighty considerations, we must conclude that courts cannot routinely place defendants in shackles or other physical restraints visible to the jury during the penalty phase of a capital proceeding. The constitutional requirement, however, is [...]

AP is reporting that Hummam Hammoudi, a Shiite Muslim cleric who is a senior aide in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq , will likely be announced as head of the Iraqi constitution committee. The formal announcement is expected Tuesday during a meeting of the National Assembly . It is also expected [...]

President Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met in the White House East Room Monday to discuss US military operations in Afghanistan . The leaders were able to agree on a joint declaration that US and coalition forces will continue to have "the freedom of action to conduct appropriate military operations". The measure fell short, [...]

AP is reporting that a bipartisan group of Senators has reached a deal to avert a showdown over judicial nominees. Sources state that under the agreement, Democrats would pledge not to filibuster any of Bush's future appeals court or Supreme Court nominees, except in "extraordinary circumstances."

In a sure sign that Republicans are prepared to spend all night debating the filibuster, workers Monday set up dozens of cots in the Strom Thurmond Room of the Capitol. The session to decide President Bush's nomination of Pricilla Owen, a Texas Supreme Court justice, to the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals has been [...]

Leading Monday's international brief, the Egyptian Parliament has unanimously approved a decision by Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak to send Egyptian troops to Sudan under the UN peacekeeping mandate in Security Council Resolution 1590 . The troops are expected to be in place by 1 June and the Parliament authorized a continued Egyptian military presence for [...]

The European Union has given software giant Microsoft until the end of May to comply with its antitrust order or face punitive sanctions, officials for both organizations said Monday. The dispute is due mostly to what regulators see as Microsoft's lack of cooperation in providing server software source codes to competitors and whether the Windows [...]

Following up on a morning report in JURIST's Paper Chase, Iran's leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered the Guardian Council to reconsider a decision to reject all reformist candidates running for the presidency. Specifically, Ayatollah Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran on political and spiritual matters, urged the Council to review the applications of two [...]

Middle East spokeswoman for Amnesty International Nicole Choueiry expressed the group's opposition Monday to a recent announcement from Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari that the death penalty would be retained in Iraq and that the new government would be willing to use it to combat serious offenses like murder, kidnapping, and drug dealing. Al-Jaafari vowed [...]

In a 7-2 decision the US Supreme Court ruled Monday that it is unconstitutional to force capital murder defendants to appear before juries in shackles. The majority said that viewing a prisoner in shackles would be too damaging to the jury's perception of the defendant. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas claimed in dissent that [...]