A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma on Thursday permanently blocked an Oklahoma amendment banning courts from using international or Islamic law. The constitutional amendment would have prevented Oklahoma courts from “look to the legal precepts of other nations or cultures,” requiring them only to look to legal precedents [...]
A 2012 internal audit released by the Washington Post on Thursday revealed that the National Security Agency (NSA) broke numerous privacy laws since 2008. Congress approved the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act in 2008, granting the NSA broad authority to conduct surveillance of Americans to protect against terrorism and other foreign threats. The documents, leaked [...]
The UK Court of Protection ruled Friday that a man with learning disabilities who does not possess the capacity to provide informed consent should have a vasectomy because it is in his “best interests.” The man, known as DE, has already fathered one child with his girlfriend and the child is now cared for by [...]
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory vetoed a bill on Thursday that would have mandated drug testing for some public benefit applicants in the state. North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis , a supporter of the bill , released a statement expressing disappointment in the governor’s veto. In the press release accompanying his veto of the [...]
The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that Michigan’s right-to-work law , applies to civil service employees. PA 349 makes it illegal for employers to require employees to pay union dues, and is viewed by its opponents as a legislative attack on organized labor. The AFL-CIO of Michigan , amongst others, challenged the law because [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Thursday struck down three Vermont statutes regulating the safety of nuclear power plants. The court held that state regulations were preempted by the Federal Power Act and the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 , both of which assign regulation and responsibility to the federal government, [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois (ACLU-IL) has filed a class-action lawsuit on Thursday against the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) challenging its policy requiring drug testing of residents in mixed-income developments. The complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois , asserts that the “suspicionless” drug testing is a [...]
CACI International Inc. “CACI” , a US military defense contractor, has filed suit against former detainees of Abu Ghraib seeking legal expenses after a group of four plaintiffs filed lawsuits against CACI in 2009, accusing the company of crimes against humanity, sexual assault, torture and other violations at Abu Ghraib prison. In June a judge [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Wednesday that the Michigan law criminalizing begging is unconstitutional because it violates free speech rights. A person convicted under the Depression-era law is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 90 days or a fine of not more than $500.00, or [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Indiana on Tuesday dismissed a challenge to parts of Indiana’s immigration law . Union Benefica Mexicana named the state of Indiana, the governor, the attorney general, three northwestern Indiana county prosecutors and three northwestern Indiana county sheriffs in the lawsuit. Judge Jon DeGuilio [...]
