Search Results for: 2008-08-28

It is Thanksgiving Day. The aroma of turkey; of dressing; candied sweet potatoes; green bean casserole; cranberry sauce; freshly baked yeast rolls; giblet gravy, and of pies emanating from the kitchen fills our nostrils. Home is the place to be today. But have you ever given thought to the law of the gobbler? This Day in [...]

“The existence of `system’ in the world is obvious to every observer of nature, no matter whom.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man (1959)           Whether conspicuous or obscure, terrorism generally presents itself as a systemic challenge. This means, inter alia, that seemingly singular strategic and legal matters may actually be many-sided and interrelated. Regarding legal issues, though [...]

Australia is the only Western democracy not to have a Human Rights Act in its legal system or constitution. Instead, Australia has a patchwork of rights, leaning on individual legislation, such as the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1977, implied rights, common law, and state-by-state legislation. As noted by the Australian Human Rights Commission,  “There are five [...]

In 2002, when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in Turkey, defeating Kemalist hegemony, there was a glimmer of hope in the West for the overwhelmingly Muslim country. However, the experience of Turkey over the past 20 years is one descending into an authoritarian regime with clampdowns [...]

Former Taliban commander Haji Najibullah has pleaded not guilty in US federal court Friday to murdering three US soldiers In Afghanistan in 2008, according to Reuters. Najibullah entered the plea in a Manhattan federal court after the prosecutor unveiled the new charges last week. Haji had previously been accused of kidnapping New York Times Journalist David [...]

“States shall not take….any measures which may be prejudicial to the international obligations they have assumed in regard to the detection, arrest, extradition and punishment of persons guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.” – Principles of International Cooperation, General Assembly Resolution, 1973 “It’s not surprising that a criminal like Trump pardons other criminals, [...]

Giants run the airline industry. Today, four airlines, American, United, Delta, and Southwest, control over 65 percent of the market. They achieved this level of dominance in just the past twenty years, with merger after merger cutting the number of major airlines left today into less than half the number that existed in 2000. The [...]

The job of state attorney general (AG) resides at the intersection of electoral politics and legal proficiency. As the chief legal officer of their respective state, commonwealth, or territory, AGs are popularly elected in 43 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands, and appointed by either the governor, legislature, or judiciary in the [...]

Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement announcement yesterday rightfully set off shock waves across the country. For the past three decades, Justice Kennedy has gone from one of the more moderate justices who could sometimes swing an important vote, to the lone decider on monumental issues from gay marriage (siding with the liberals) to campaign finance and [...]

Australian citizen and former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks made a court appearance on Tuesday in Adelaide on assault charges against his partner. Hicks was accused of assaulting his partner in September of last...