Lawyers for groups seeking to overturn California's new domestic partnership law argued their case in a state court Friday. The law went into effect January 1 and gives gay couples who register as domestic partners nearly every spousal right granted under state law including automatic parental status and responsibility for each others debts. Opponents claim [...]

NBC is reporting that in the face of last night's US Eleventh Circuit rejection of their latest appeal of a lower court ruling refusing an injunction that would authorize re-insertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, lawyers for parents Bob and Mary Schindler have decided to abandon any further appeals in the federal courts. Schindler attorney [...]

Schiavo v. Schiavo, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, March 25, 2005 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Human Rights Annual Report 2004, UK Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, March 25, 2005 . Excerpt: We conclude that United States personnel appear to have committed grave violations of human rights of persons held in detention in various facilities in Iraq, Guantánamo Bay and Afghanistan. We recommend that the Government make it clear to the United [...]

NY Times v. City of NY Fire Department, et al., New York Court of Appeals, March 24, 2005 . Excerpt: This logic leads to the conclusion that all of the oral histories are discloseable under FOIL. We add one qualification, however, because we are given pause by the Fire Department's insistence that "the oral histories [...]

A three-judge panel of the US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has for a second time in three days rejected an appeal from Terri Schiavo's parents to have her feeding tube re-inserted pending federal review of her case. The ruling this time was unanimous; in a separate concurrence, Judge Charles Wilson, the dissenter [...]

In a startling turn of events in the Schiavo case that could be taken as either revelation or desperation, attorneys for Terri Schiavo's parents argued at a late Friday emergency hearing by telephone with a Florida circuit court judge that she told them last Friday – after her feeding tube was removed – that she [...]

The Nebraska Supreme Court Friday upheld a state law which requires mandatory blood testing of newborn infants. The opinion rejected an appeal brought by a fundamental Christian couple, Josue and Mary Anaya. The Anayas argued that the test infringed their religious beliefs and might shorten their baby's life. The test , which requires pricking an [...]

Lawyers for Yahoo! Inc. have appeared before the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals seeking legal protection for US Internet portals displaying content which is illegal in foreign countries, but is domestically protected by the First Amendment . The hearing, held Thursday before an 11-judge panel, concerned fines imposed on Yahoo by a French court [...]

Former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker will co-chair the newly-formed Commission on Federal Election Reform , a private, bipartisan panel whose members include former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, former House Minority Leader Bob Michel, and former US Representatives Lee Hamilton and Susan Molinari. The commission will be staffed by [...]