Recent Updates
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Lawyers seek to bar statements obtained by torture
U.S. Court News 04/07/2008Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdanon Friday asked a military tribunal to bar the use of statements made by Hamdan that were allegedly obtained through the use of torture and requested that the court declare that Hamdan has been su...
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Federal court decertifies status of cigarette lawsuit
U.S. Court News 04/04/2008The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Thursday overturned class action certification for a lawsuit brought by "light" cigarette smokers against Philip Morris USA Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and other light cigarette makers. The class act...
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Federal court strikes down new patent rules
U.S. Court News 04/02/2008The US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Tuesday rejected new US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rules that would have retroactively limited the number of claims that can be included in a patent application and the number of ...
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Taking A Look At Surveillance
U.S. Court News 04/01/2008US Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Friday that he was willing to compromise with Congress on legislation amending the Foreign Intelligence Security Act but that the legislature would have to provide a "workable bill". Mukasey said that the bill...
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Supremes weigh habeas rights of US citizens held in Iraq
U.S. Court News 03/27/2008The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in the consolidated cases of Munaf v. Geren and Geren v. Omar where the Court is considering whether federal courts have jurisdiction over habeas corpus petitions filed by American citizens detained b...
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Guantanamo Claims Before EU Court of Human Rights
U.S. Court News 03/26/2008Six Guantanamo Bay prisoners, whose case was heard by the USSupreme Court in December, filed claims in the European Court of HumanRights in Strasbourg against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bosnianauthorities failed for many years to take any steps to n...
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High court rejects anti-Clinton movie case
U.S. Court News 03/25/2008WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court has rejected aconservative group's legal fight to air commercials promoting a moviecritical of Sen. Hillary Clinton. The Supreme Court rejected an appeal in a case involving ads for a movie critical of Sen. Hillary Cli...
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Supreme Court overrules Bush, OKs Texas execution
U.S. Court News 03/25/2008WASHINGTON-- The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday thatTexas can execute a Mexican murderer being held on its death row. Thecase pitted President Bush against his home state in a dispute overfederal authority, local sovereignty and foreign treaties. The ca...
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Use of MySpace May Violate Court Order
U.S. Court News 03/24/2008In one of the first rulings of its kind, a Staten Island judge has said that a teenage girl could be charged with violating a restraining order by using MySpace.com to reach out to people she was told not to contact. The girl, Melisa Fernino, 16, of ...
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Feds Open Criminal Probe Into Alcoa
U.S. Court News 03/23/2008The U.S. Justice Department has begun a criminal investigation into whether aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. participated in bribery in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain.In documents filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, federal prosecutors asked a judge t...
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Libby Is Disbarred in Washington
U.S. Court News 03/20/2008Former top White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was banned Thursday from practicing law in the nation's capital following his perjury conviction in the case of a CIA operative's leaked identity.The disbarment order of the U.S. Court of Appeals f...
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Gun law in sights of US Supreme Court
U.S. Court News 03/18/2008Advocates of gun rights and opponents of gun violence demonstrated outside the Supreme Court Tuesday while inside, justices heard arguments over the meaning of the Second Amendment's "right to keep and bear arms."Dozens of protesters mingled with tou...