After pleading guilty earlier this week to charges of battery, dereliction of duty, and lying to Army investigators in connection with alleged alleged abuses of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Sgt. Javal Davis Thursday asked jurors to show mercy in sentencing. Davis apologized for his actions, adding that he did not "want to see go [...]

The US Navy announced Thursday that 3 additional prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay had been wrongly classified as "enemy combatants." The findings were made by Combatant Status Review Tribunals instituted after last July's Supreme Court ruling that Guantanamo prisoners had a right to challenge their detention. Earlier this week, US District Judge Joyce Hens Green [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Friday, February 4. At the United Nations, the Security Council will hold a 10 AM ET meeting to hear the report of the Secretary-General on the Sudan. The meeting will be followed by closed consultations on the same subject. The [...]

The federal judge who earlier this week ruled that Guantanamo Bay prisoners may not be deprived of liberty without due process of law and that military tribunals set up to review their detentions fall short of the due process standard put her ruling on hold Thursday and allowed for an immediate appeal of her decision [...]

In Thursday's environmental law news, the EPA has filed a complaint against Puerto Rican agriculture company Martex Farms for violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) . The complaint lists 338 counts of violations that include not properly posting information on pesticides being used and not providing adequate decontamination supplies and protective [...]

The US Senate has voted 60-36 to confirm White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales as US Attorney General, succeeding John Ashcroft. He will be the first Hispanic to hold the office. 5:17 PM ET – AP now has more. 7:28 PM ET – The Senate has posted the full roll call vote. No Republicans voted against [...]

Speaking late Thursday afternoon on behalf of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Chef du Cabinet Mark Malloch Brown said that the UN would take immediate disciplinary action against staff named as wrongdoers by the Volcker commission interim report into the UN Oil for Food Program, and would waive diplomatic immunity as appropriate. Brown also said [...]

Interim Report, Independent Inquiry Committee into the UN Oil-for-Food Program, February 3, 2005 . Read the full text of the report. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The Bush administration plan to curb class action lawsuits gained a victory today as the Senate Judiciary Committee left intact language that would send many class action lawsuits from state courts to federal courts. The committee approved the bill, dubbed the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 on a 13-5 vote and the full Senate [...]

Following up on a story reported this morning on JURIST's Paper Chase, the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) into the UN Oil-for-Food program has released its interim report . The report concludes that the conduct of program head Benon Sevan in soliciting oil deals on behalf of a Panamanian-registered trading company was a grave conflict of [...]