Recently elected Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Monday that he would refuse to sign a death conviction for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein if he is convicted of war crimes. During a BBC television interview Talabani, a lawyer, said he was opposed to the death penalty as a matter of principle and said he might [...]

Two convicted killers currently on Kentucky's death row begin a court challenge Monday to the state's use of lethal injection as its form of execution. Ralph Baze and Thomas Bowling claim that the use of lethal injection is "cruel and unusual" punishment under the meaning of the Eighth Amendment . Attorneys for the two men [...]

The Congress of Ecuador voted Sunday to disband the country's current Supreme Court following an earlier attempt on Friday to do the same thing by Ecuador President Lucio Gutierrez . Congress decided in an emergency session Sunday night that, since they appointed the interim court members, only they had the power to dismiss them. Congress [...]

Six Pitcairn Island men convicted last year of rape, sexual assault, and indecent assault in one of the most unusual trials in British legal history began their appeal process Monday in the Pitcairn Supreme Court . The six men, four of whom face jail time and two who received hundreds of hours of community service, [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Monday, April 18. The US Supreme Court hears oral arguments in two cases beginning at 10 AM ET today. In the first, Grable & Sons Metal Products v. Darue Engineering , 04-603, the Court will decide whether a state quiet [...]

Florida became the first state in the nation to fully privatize its child welfare program after signing a $75 million contract Friday, transferring management of the last 2 remaining counties under governmental oversight. The agreement with Our Kids allows the private organization to manage all foster care, adoption and child welfare licensing operations in Miami-Dade [...]

Japanese Trade Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said Sunday that a lawsuit in an international court is "one option" for dealing with a Japan-China dispute over natural gas drilling rights in the East China Sea. China has three projects in an area Japan claims as its own. Nakagawa said Japan wants these projects stopped if Japan is [...]

Governor Joe Manchin vetoed a bill on Saturday that would have made English the official language of West Virginia. Gov. Manchin, who has supported such legislation in the past, objected to the bill on the grounds that the state constitution limits legislation to one topic. The original bill was about increasing the size of local [...]

New York City agreed on Friday to pay $150 each plus legal fees totaling about $215,000 to 108 protestors arrested during the Republican National Convention and held after a judge ordered their release. Lawyers for the protestors claimed that the city intentionally violated an order issued for their release on September 2, 2004. While this [...]

A spokesman for Argentinian cardinal Jorge Bergoglio , deemed by observers to be one of the leading contenders to succeed Pope John Paul II in the Vatican conclave that begins April 18, said Saturday that allegations of Bergoglio's involvement in the 1976 kidnapping of two Jesuit priests by the military government then in power were [...]