The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday morning in MGM Studios v. Grokster , 04-480, a case questioning when technology providers can be held secondarily liable for copyright infringement. During the one-hour hearing, the justices appeared critical of both the entertainment industry's proposed liability rule and the file-swapping companies' business model. In criticizing P2P [...]

AP is reporting that the Independent Inquiry Committee into the UN Oil-for-Food Program has cleared UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan of wrongdoing in the scandal, although it remained critical of his actions. The committee was looking into the employment of Annan's son Kojo by a Swiss company that was awarded a contract in the oil-for-food program [...]

AP is reporting that the Supreme Court has ruled that the Title IX gender equity law protects whistleblowers who claim discrimination by academic institutions. 10:45 AM ET – In Jackson v. Birmingham Bd. of Ed., 02-1672, the Court extended whistleblower protection to those alleging discrimination at academic institutions. Justice O'Connor delivered the opinion for a [...]

Iraqi lawmakers Tuesday failed to nominate a parliament speaker in a raucous second session of the country's National Assembly, as the role of Sunni Arabs in the new Iraq government remained a question. Assembly members had promised an agreement on a Sunni candidate for the position during the session, but negotiations quickly broke down after [...]

Fifty-nine former US diplomats have sent a letter to US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Richard Lugar, calling on the Senate to reject the nomination of John Bolton for US ambassador to the United Nations . Saying Bolton "is the wrong man for the position," the former diplomats who signed Tuesday's letter cited Bolton's "exceptional [...]

Ljubomir Borovcanin , the Bosnian Serb former police chief charged with complicity in genocide in connection with the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, will surrender to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia , Bosnian media reported Tuesday. According to his initial indictment , Borovcanin will face charges of complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity and [...]

UN member countries pledged Monday to contribute over $38 million dollars to finance a tribunal to try surviving Khmer Rouge leaders with war crimes. Pledges fell short of the $70 million requested by Cambodian officials , but UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who has estimated the UN-backed court's three-year budget to be about $56 million, [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Tuesday, March 29. The US Supreme Court hears oral argument in two cases today. At 10 AM ET, the Court will hear arguments in MGM Studios v. Grokster , 04-480, in which it will decide whether file-sharing services are liable [...]

Supporting Human Rights: The US Record 2004-2005, US Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, March 28, 2005. Excerpt: Unlike the 196 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Supporting Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2004-2005 highlights US efforts to promote human rights and democracy in only 98 countries and entities — [...]

Draft Bhutan Constitution, Constitution Drafting Committee, March 26, 2005 . Read the full text of the proposed constitution here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.