Two of the largest textbook publishers – Holt, Rinehart and Winston and Glencoe/McGraw-Hill – have agreed to change health-related textbooks in Texas to depict marriage as the union of a man and a woman. The Texas Board of Education approved the new textbooks Friday with a 10-4 vote. A board member argued that the previous [...]

Proposition 200, State of Arizona, November 2, 2004 Read the full text of the Proposition here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The Chilean army has formally accepted responsibility for human rights violations from 1973-1990 under General Augusto Pinochet's rule. Chilean President Ricardo Lagos called it a "historic step" towards national unity. Current Army Commander General Juan Emilio Chyre offered no excuses and said that the army accepted full responsibility for these previous rights abuses. Under Gen [...]

US District Judge Ralph Tyson released a ruling Friday indicating he will not overturn the conviction of ex-Governor Edwin Edwards. After serving four terms as Louisiana's Governor from 1972-96, Edwards was convicted in 2000 for extorting payoffs from businessmen seeking riverboat casino licenses. The rejected defense motion claimed a political bias on the part of [...]

Attendance at a number of Arizona public schools has dropped dramatically in the past few days in what Hispanic community leaders are calling a parental response to Proposition 200 , approved by state voters on Tuesday. The new law requires a person to show proof of citizenship when seeking publicly funded benefits. It also mandates [...]

The Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled Friday against a recent government decision to allow newlyweds in the province of Punjab to serve food to wedding guests. The court held that the original ban against food service, imposed by the provincial government in 1997, should remain in force to discourage public displays of wealth. The three-judge [...]

In re: Personal Restraint Petition of Cecil Emil Davis, November 5, 2004 . Read the majority opinion, a concurrence and a dissent.

The Department of Justice has announced that a federal judge has ordered a freeze of $500 million in assets held by San Diego tax-planning company Xelan and its subsidiaries. The company has sold tax-reduction plans to about 4000 doctors and dentists worth at least $420 million in the past several years, prompting the DOJ to [...]

Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, November 5, 2004 . Read the full text of the Protocol here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

N.W. and J.R. et al. v. Attorney General of Canada et al., November 5, 2004 . Read the opinion here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.