United States
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- federal republic with a strong federal tradition
- CONSTITUTION
- September 17, 1787, in effect from March 4, 1789
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- federal court system based on English common law. Each state has its own legal system
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- bicameral, Congress (Senate and House of Representatives)
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals, U.S. District Courts; state and county courts
RELIGIONS
51.3% Protestants; 23.9% Catholics; 1.7% Mormons; 1.6% other Christians; 1.7% Jews; 0.7% Muslims; other unspecified or no religion
From the country
- JULY 3, 2006United StatesDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ. US SOLDIER CHARGED WITH RAPE AND MURDER TO FACE DEATH PENALTY IF CONVICTED
a former US soldier was arrested and charged with killing four Iraqi civilians and raping one of the female victims, US officials said.
- JUNE 29, 2006United StatesDEATH PENALTY
GUANTANAMO. US TOP COURT DECLARES GUANTANAMO TRIBUNALS ILLEGAL
in a sharp rebuke of President George W. Bush's tactics in the war on terrorism, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down as unlawful the military tribunal system set up to try Guantanamo prisoners.
- JUNE 12, 2006United StatesDEATH PENALTY
UNITED STATES. COURT ALLOWS INMATE APPEAL ON LETHAL INJECTION
US Supreme Court ruled that a death row inmate can bring a challenge under a federal civil rights law to the method of execution that uses a lethal three-chemical cocktail.
- MAY 1, 2006United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA. ALITO'S FIRST OPINION SETS ASIDE SOUTH CAROLINA DEATH SENTENCE
the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously set aside a South Carolina murder conviction and death sentence, as Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. in his 1st high court opinion said the man wasn't given a fair chance to mount a defense.
- MARCH 9, 2006United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA. PATRIOT ACT LIKELY TO CURTAIL DEATH PENALTY APPEALS
President George W. Bush signed into law a Patriot Act renewal that will allow the government to keep using terror-fighting tools passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
- MARCH 7, 2006United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA. THREE MEN FACING FEDERAL EXECUTION RECEIVE STAYS
Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a stay of execution for three co-defendants on federal death row who were scheduled to be executed in May, the Tribune Star reported.
- FEBRUARY 28, 2006United StatesDEATH PENALTY
UNITED STATES. DEATH SENTENCES IN 2005 REACHED RECORD LOW
the latest edition of “Death Row Usa”, a quarterly report by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a civil rights organization for ethnic minorities in the united States, shows an 8% decline in the country's death row pop
- FEBRUARY 22, 2006United StatesDEATH PENALTY
UNITED STATES. SUPREME COURT REJECTS NEW ALIBI EVIDENCE AT SENTENCING
convicted murderers facing the death penalty do not have a constitutional right at sentencing to offer new evidence seeking to cast doubt on their guilt, the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously.
- FEBRUARY 9, 2006United StatesDEATH PENALTY
UNITED STATES. BUSH’S OK SOUGHT FOR EXECUTIONS
President Bush has been asked to authorize the executions of two men who have been on the military’s death row at Fort Leavenworth for a combined 35 years.
- FEBRUARY 2, 2006United StatesDEATH PENALTY
UNITED STATES. INMATES FIGHT BACK AGAINST LETHAL INJECTION EXECUTION, AFP
the United States is taking a new look at the use of lethal injections to execute condemned prisoners after the challenges of three inmates who were barely saved from lethal injection by the Supreme Court.
- FEBRUARY 1, 2006United StatesDEATH PENALTY
UNITED STATES. US SUPREME COURT HALTS EXECUTION OF MISSOURI INMATE
the US Supreme Court stayed the execution of Michael Taylor, an inmate in the midwestern state of Missouri who has argued that lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
- JANUARY 31, 2006United StatesDEATH PENALTY
FLORIDA, USA. SUPREME COURT HALTS SECOND FLORIDA EXECUTION
the US Supreme Court halted the execution of Arthur Dennis Rutherford