Today in legal history. http://jurist.org/thisday JURISTremove_this@pitt.edu (Jurist Webmaster) Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:01 -0500 On May 21, 2010, US President Barack Obama signed an executive order establishing an independent commission to investigate offshore drilling and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The order came the same week as a suit filed in US district court by http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/obama-created-commission-to-investigate-bp-gulf-oil-spill--dnp.php Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:01 -0500 http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/obama-created-commission-to-investigate-bp-gulf-oil-spill--dnp.php Garrett Eisenhour On May 21, 2010, Spanish National Court Judge Santiago Pedraz Gomez reinstated charges against three US soldiers for their involvement in the death of Spanish cameraman Jose Couso, when the men opened fire on a Baghdad hotel in 2003, allegedly without provocation. The charges against http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/spain-judge-reinstated-charges-against-us-soldiers-for-journalists-death-in-iraq--dnp.php Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/spain-judge-reinstated-charges-against-us-soldiers-for-journalists-death-in-iraq--dnp.php Garrett Eisenhour On May 20, 2009, the US House of Representatives voted 361-64 in favor the Credit Card Holders' Bill of Rights, which makes illegal, among other prohibitions, arbitrarily raising interest rates, employing misleading terms and charging exorbitant fees to on-time payments. The version passed by the http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/house-passed-senate-version-of-credit-card-holders-bill-of-rights.php Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:01 -0500 http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/house-passed-senate-version-of-credit-card-holders-bill-of-rights.php Meagan McElroy On May 20, 2011, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for reforms to the country's legal system that would reinforce the rule of law. Some thought Medvedev's remarks concerning reform and his efforts to eradicate corruption were aimed at distancing him from Vladimir Putin, who ran http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/russia-president-medvedev-called-for-legal-reforms-stronger-judiciary.php Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/russia-president-medvedev-called-for-legal-reforms-stronger-judiciary.php Meagan McElroy On May 19, 2011, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed a bill, following its approval by the state legislature, requiring women seeking an abortion to first obtain an ultrasound. Under the new law's regulations, doctors who fail to perform an ultrasound and display it to women http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/gov-rick-perry-signed-law-requiring-sonogram-before-abortion.php Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:01 -0500 http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/gov-rick-perry-signed-law-requiring-sonogram-before-abortion.php Meagan McElroy On May 19, 2011, Amnesty International (AI) released a report finding that at least 840 people died and more than 6,000 were injured during the protests that resulted in the ouster of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. In the report, AI urged the new Egyptian http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/amnesty-international-reported-that-the-egypt-revolution-resulted-in-at-least-840-deaths.php Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/amnesty-international-reported-that-the-egypt-revolution-resulted-in-at-least-840-deaths.php Meagan McElroy On May 18, 2009, the US Supreme Court ruled in Ashcroft v. Iqbal, concerning a complaint filed against former US Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller and other officials. The Court held 5-4 that terrorism suspect Javaid Iqbal failed to adequately state a http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/supreme-court-remands-ashcroft-immunity-case.php Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:01 -0500 http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/supreme-court-remands-ashcroft-immunity-case.php Cody Harding On May 18, 2011, US Southern Command announced that a Guantanamo Bay detainee known as Inayatullah was found dead in his cell in an apparent suicide. In 2007, the families of two other Guantanamo detainees who committed suicide filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/afghan-guantanamo-detainee-died-in-apparent-suicide.php Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/afghan-guantanamo-detainee-died-in-apparent-suicide.php Cody Harding On May 17, 2011, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld a Minnesota campaign financing law that prohibited direct contributions to candidates and affiliated entities. The law was challenged by two non-profit, advocacy organizations and a for-profit business, who argued that it http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/federal-appeals-court-upheld-minnesota-campaign-finance-law.php Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:01 -0500 http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/federal-appeals-court-upheld-minnesota-campaign-finance-law.php Katherine Bacher On May 17, 2011, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) convicted former Rwandan army chief Augustin Bizimungu and three others involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Bizimungu was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being found guilty of six counts of genocide and http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/rwanda-genocide-tribunal-convicted-ex-military-chief-bizimungu-and-3-others.php Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/rwanda-genocide-tribunal-convicted-ex-military-chief-bizimungu-and-3-others.php Katherine Bacher On May 16, 2011, the US Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in Kentucky v. King that exigent circumstances apply when the police do not act in a way that violates the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution. The case involved police smelling marijuana outside an apartment http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/supreme-court-allowed-warrantless-search-when-exigency-is-created-by-police.php Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:01 -0500 http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/supreme-court-allowed-warrantless-search-when-exigency-is-created-by-police.php Katherine Bacher On May 16, 2011, the International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo sought arrest warrants for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and two others on charges of crimes against humanity for allegedly plotting attacks on Libyan civilians. Ocampo said that the Office of the Prosecutor http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/icc-prosecutor-sought-gaddafi-arrest-warrant-for-crimes-against-humanity.php Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/icc-prosecutor-sought-gaddafi-arrest-warrant-for-crimes-against-humanity.php Katherine Bacher On May 15, 2009, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Leon Panetta defended information the CIA provided to the US Congress on the use of interrogation techniques during the Bush administration. Panett'a comments came in response to allegations by Speaker of the House Nancy http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/cia-director-defended-congressional-interrogation-information.php Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:01 -0500 http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/cia-director-defended-congressional-interrogation-information.php Garrett Eisenhour On May 15, 2011, voters in the Swiss city of Zurich rejected a proposed ban on assisted suicide for foreigners as part of a plan to stem the rise of "death tourism," in which foreigners take advantage of Swiss assisted suicide laws. Assisted suicide has http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/switzerland-voters-rejected-proposed-ban-on-assisted-suicide-for-foreigners.php Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://jurist.org/thisday/2012/05/switzerland-voters-rejected-proposed-ban-on-assisted-suicide-for-foreigners.php Garrett Eisenhour