French President Jacques Chirac is set to join Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Barcelona Friday at a rally for the "Yes" side in Spain's upcoming referendum on the European Constitution, slated for February 20. The 25-nation constitution signed on October 29, establishes a permanent president and foreign-policy chief, creates an EU diplomatic [...]

Peter Friedman, Case Law School: "I'm disappointed in Diane Feinstein's and Barak Obama's support of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, which the Senate approved yesterday (with House approval and presidential signature anticipated) and which provides that large multistate class action lawsuits like the ones that have been brought against tobacco companies could no [...]

The US Marine Corps said Thursday that 2nd Lt. Ilario G. Pantano has been charged with premeditated murder in the shooting deaths of two Iraqi men during a vehicle search in Iraq on April 15, 2004. Details of the charges have not been released, but Pantano's attorney says the 33-year-old unit commander is innocent and [...]

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has agreed to hear oral arguments on a request to block the court's May 17, 2004 ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that legalized same-sex marriage in the state. The appeal, filed by The Thomas More Law Center on behalf of C. Joseph Doyle, the executive director of [...]

An American Bar Association report has concluded that representation of indigent defendants in the United States is in a "state of crisis." The report illustrates examples of innocent defendants pleading guilty to serious crimes, most often because of incompetent lawyers and pressure to accept guilty pleas. The ABA has more information , including the full [...]

In Friday's international brief, Nigerian President and current African Union Chairman Olusegun Obasanjo expressed outrage Friday after a plane carrying a Nigerian advance party was diverted from the Togo capital city of Lome and denied permission to land. The Nigerian group was on its way to Lome to meet with Faure Gnassingbe , current President [...]

Lawmakers and interest groups reacted swiftly Thursday to US Senate passage of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 , Leading House Republicans hailed the Senate vote and welcomed the opportunity to take up the bill in the House next week. The US Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform similarly praised the passage of [...]

Citing informants in China, a South Korean group has reported that North Korea has executed 70 refugees who were captured in China and subsequently returned to North Korea. The executions are believed to be an attempt to discourage further attempts by North Koreans to leave the country. The Commission to Help North Korean Refugees is [...]

Reaction to Thursday's jury conviction of civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart for assisting client Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman to communicate with his terrorist followers has been somewhat mixed. The National Lawyers Guild to which Stewart belongs quickly condemned the verdict and the message it sent to attorneys that represent unpopular clients, asserting that the "government is [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Friday, Feb. 11. The US Senate and House are not in session today. Both will resume business on Monday, Feb. 14. At the EU, a recorded webcast is available at 9:15 PM local time of a summit earlier Friday between [...]