The US District Court for the Middle District of Florida Wednesday upheld a federal law allowing states to ban same-sex marriages. The ruling is believed to be the first to formally uphold the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act . The case arose from the claims of two women who wanted their Massachusetts same-sex marriage acknowledged [...]

Defense lawyers representing 12 Kuwaiti nationals detained in Guantanamo Bay said Wednesday that their clients looked emaciated and had complained of abuse, including physical abuse, torture and humiliation. The attorneys, Kristine Huskey and Thomas Wilner, made the observations after their first interviews with the detainees since the US Supreme Court ruled in Rasul v. Bush [...]

AP is reporting that the Ukrainian Supreme Court has rejected a last appeal by losing candidate Viktor Yanukovych against the December 26 presidential election result. The decision definitively clears the way for formal publication of the election results in the official Holos Ukrainy and Uryadovyi Kuryer newspapers. The Maidan civic advocacy website in Kyiv offers [...]

In re: Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Robert Casey, January 18, 2005 . Read the full text of the opinion here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

US District Judge Richard Leon Wednesday dismissed the claims of seven Guantanamo Bay prisoners who had contested the fairness of their continued detention. Judge Leon said in his opinion : "To the extent that these non-resident detainees have rights, they are subject to both the military review process already in place and the laws Congress [...]

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday that former ImClone Systems CEO Sam Waksal has agreed to pay $3 million to settle charges in the insider trading scandal that sent Martha Stewart to jail . Waksal and his father will also be liable for the repayment of $2 million in ill-gotten gains. The settlement, when [...]

Updating a JURIST report from earlier today, Cpl. Daniel Kenyon, one of the three UK soldiers facing court martial for the alleged abuse of Iraqi civilians, has blamed his commanding officers for giving orders that led to the alleged offences at a camp outside Basra. Kenyon's lawyer told the military court Wednesday that camp commander [...]

Incoming Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter , R-PA, announced Wednesday that he is backing a proposed $140 billion fund to compensate asbestos victims and cap the damages liability of the companies targeted in asbestos lawsuits. Labor interests claim the fund is about $9 billion short of the amount needed to adequately compensate victims, but Specter [...]

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have forced a one-week postponement pf the vote on Alberto Gonzales' nomination as attorney general because Gonzales hasn't answered all of the committee's questions. Gonzales submitted written answers to committee questions yesterday, but those answers have been criticized as evasive. Senator Patrick Leahy responded to Gonzales' submissions by saying [...]

Two Russian men have unsuccessfully tried to register for a marriage certificate in Moscow in an effort to provide legal grounds to challenge the Russian family code . Next week, regional MP Edvard Murzin, who says he is not gay but is trying to promote gay rights, and magazine editor Ed Mishin will receive an [...]