[JURIST] Judges for the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit [official website] on Monday ruled [opinion, PDF] that the City of Chicago's use of mounted cameras that take pictures of motorists running red lights or making illegal turns does not violate equal protection or due process. More than 200 so-called "red light cameras" have been installed in the Chicago area [Chicago Sun-Times

[JURIST] US President-elect Barack Obama [transition website] on Monday named four former Clinton-era attorneys to high-level posts [press release] within the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website]. Obama has appointed David Ogden as Deputy Attorney General, Elena Kagan as Solicitor General, Tom Perrelli as Associate Attorney General, and Dawn Johnsen [professional profiles] as

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] on Monday ruled [opinion, PDF] that the US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] may withhold from the Associated Press (AP) [website] certain documents relating to investigations of detainee abuse at the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] military prison. Monday's decision reverses an earlier decision by the US

[JURIST] The US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee [official website] on Monday began hearings [materials] in an investigation into how the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) [official website] failed for years to detect the fraud scheme allegedly perpetrated by Bernard Madoff [JURIST news archive]. The SEC had received numerous complaints against Madoff, dating back to

[JURIST] UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment Manfred Nowak [official website; JURIST news archive] on Monday said more countries around the world should accept [ORF interview, WMP audio, in German] released Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees so the military prison can be closed. In an interview with Austrian radio station ORF

[JURIST] Australian acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard [official profile] on Saturday officially announced Australia's rejection of a US request to accept foreign Guantanamo detainees. This was the second request by the Bush administration regarding Australia's acceptance of prisoners of the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] prison camp, and came in response President-elect Barack Obama's vow

[JURIST] Human rights group Amnesty International USA [advocacy website] on Friday accused the US of insufficiently responding to the Gaza crisis [press release] in a letter [text, PDF] sent to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [official Profile]. The letter claimed that the US response has been "lopsided," and urged Rice to push all parties to an immediate cease-fire:Amnesty International USA

[JURIST] Australian acting prime minister Julia Gillard [official profile] on Friday said it was "unlikely" that the country would accept foreign detainees [press release] released from the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] military prison, but that her country was considering a second request to do so by the administration of US President George W. Bush [official website]. Gillard's statement

[JURIST] The British government is willing to help the United States close the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] military prison by accepting some released prisoners who have no previous connection to the UK, the Times reported Thursday. The paper quoted unnamed officials who indicated that the Foreign Office was the department most supportive of the position, although accepting non-UK

[JURIST] US Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. [official profile] pressed his call for raises for federal judges in his 2008 year-end report [PDF text] on the federal judiciary, released Wednesday. Roberts compared the $6.8 billion allocated to the federal judiciary to the $3 trillion federal budget, labeling the judiciary's cost miniscule. He detailed steps that have been taken by the judiciary

[JURIST] Judge Richard Leon [official profile] for the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] on Tuesday ruled that the US government could continue to hold Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees Hisham Sliti and Moath Hamza Ahmed al Alwi [decisions, PDF]. Both men had filed habeas corpus petitions challenging their detention, but Leon found that the government