Russ McBee

This morning, the US Supreme Court handed down its decision in Boumediene v. Bush, holding that Guantanamo detainees have the right to challenge their detention in US civilian courts. As SCOTUSblog said: The Court, dividing 5-4, ruled that Congress had not validly taken away habeas rights. If Congress wishes to suspend habeas, it must do so ...

The Bush Administration's use of torture got a big boost from the US Supreme Court today. This afternoon, the court refused to hear the appeal of Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen whom the CIA mistook for someone else, kidnapped, and sent off to Afghanistan to be tortured. After five months of torture and confinement, the CIA realized they had the ...

So, the Chief Justice has two idiopathic seizures fourteen years apart, and now some smart-ass doctors (probably paid off by the drug companies) have diagnosed him as epileptic and in need of medication: Because the seizure was his second — he had a similar one in 1993 — he meets the criteria for epilepsy, and he and his doctors will have to ...

Today, Chief Justice John Roberts suffered an idiopathic seizure; during the seizure, he fell and suffered minor injuries: Roberts has ''fully recovered from the incident,'' and a neurological evaluation ''revealed no cause for concern,'' the Supreme Court said in a statement. Doctors called the incident a ''benign idiopathic seizure,'' ...

Bush is a gangster, pure and simple: President Bush expressed displeasure with a government strategy that would have given plaintiffs' lawyers more leeway to sue over corporate fraud, administration officials said yesterday. He's siding with the agents of fraud who helped Enron bilk investors and retirees of billions; he's siding against you ...

The Bush administration's EPA has struck a blow against the Clean Water Act: The landmark U.S. law to fight water pollution will now apply only to bodies of water large enough for boats to use, and their adjacent wetlands, and will not automatically protect streams, the U.S. government said on Tuesday. Environmental groups said they fear the ...

The Supreme Court ruled today that victims of sexual or racial discrimination have only six months to file a complaint after the very first act of discrimination occurs. If a worker is denied a pay raise based on sex or race, they must file within that time frame for the claim to be valid, regardless of how long it takes them to become ...

The US Supreme Court hardly ever gets involved in patent cases. Today was one of those rare times; they issued a unanimous decision in a patent case (KSR v. Teleflex) which I believe will be considered a landmark. It's also one I agree with. At issue is the question of obviousness. It's a long-established principle that a patent can't be ...