US District Court Judge Ted Stewart Wednesday refused to strike down Utah's ban on polygamy, turning back a suit brought by a Utah man who wanted to add another wife to his marriage. Stewart said the state has an interest in protecting monogamous marriage and that the current law did not violate religious and privacy [...]

Amnesty International said Thursday that the recent imposition of emergency rule in Nepal by King Gyanendra has taken the country to the "brink of disaster" and that the human rights crisis in the country could turn into a "catastrophe". The Nepalese government has disputed the AI statement, claiming the state of emergency was necessary to [...]

Lea Fastow, wife of former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow , is asking for an early release from prison. Fastow's attorney has requested that US District Court Judge David Hittner vacate her one-year prison term after pleading guilty to willfully delivering a 2000 income tax return which she knew to be fraudulent. Fastow admitted [...]

AP is reporting that Iraq's electoral commission has certified the final results of the January 30 election, giving a Shiite Muslim grouping the most seats of any party in the new National Assembly. 12:45 PM ET – United Iraqi Alliance leaders have reportedly failed to come to agreement on a candidate for prime minister. Leaders [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Thursday, Feb. 17. On Capitol Hill, the US Senate meets at 10 AM ET today, when it will consider S. 5 , the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2005. Watch a live webcast of the session. The Senate Judiciary Committee [...]

Senator Arlen Specter , the chair of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee charged with vetting judicial nominees, including Supreme Court candidates, announced Wednesday that he has been diagnosed with a form of cancer known as Hodgkin's Disease and will undergo chemotherapy treatment. Specter, 75, missed Senate business earlier this week (including the vote approving the [...]

HR 310, Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005, passed by US House of Representatives, February 16, 2005 . Read the full text of the bill here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it would appeal a US District Court opinion that would prevent pursuit of $280 billion in damages from tobacco companies for charges of civil racketeering. The 3-judge panel decided the damages would be “disgorgement” and not sufficiently forward-thinking to be allowed. The DOJ filed a brief outlining the [...]

The UN upheld its ban on its officials testifying in front of US Congress in a letter from Mark Malloch Brown, chief of staff for Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to Senate investigating subcommittee chair Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) that was released Wednesday. The letter is in response Coleman's congressional probe into the UN oil-for-food program. The [...]

Newly appointed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced Wednesday the reinstatement of a federal obscenity case against a California pornography company. Charges against the company were dismissed by US District Judge Gary Lancaster because prosecutors overstepped their bounds while trying to block the hard-core pornography from minors and unsuspecting adults. Gonzales said that while the Department [...]