JPMorgan Chase & Co. disclosed in its quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday that it is being investigated by both the civil and criminal divisions of the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California (EDC) over sales of mortgage-backed securities to investors in the run-up to the sub-prime mortgage [...]
The Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice (OCRJ) filed a lawsuit in the Oklahoma County District Court on Thursday to block enforcement of HB 2226 , a state law limiting the availability of “morning-after” emergency contraceptives. Specifically, the law forbids pharmacists from dispensing emergency contraceptives to women younger than 17 unless they have a prescription. Pharmacists [...]
The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday asked a judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin to stay a challenge to the state’s new abortion law , pending an appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit . The DOJ appealed the injunction earlier this week. [...]
US Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, Jr , filed an amicus curiae brief on Thursday urging the US Supreme Court to allow prayer at town meetings. The Obama administration is supporting the petitioner in the upcoming case of Town of Greece v. Galloway . The town of Greece has argued that using public, participatory prayers to [...]
The Supreme Court of Venezuela on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit by presidential candidate Henrique Capriles challenging the results of the March election. Capriles lost narrowly to Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela’s presidential election, which took place following the death of Hugo Chavez . Maduro was the hand picked successor of Chavez while Capriles challenged Chavez for [...]
Thailand’s lower house of parliament preliminarily approved a bill on Thursday to grant amnesty to those charged with political offenses during the country’s 2006 military coup. The measure was approved by a vote of 300-124 despite protests by members of the opposition party who fear that the bill will allow former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Wednesday that the International Trade Commission (ITC) erred while reviewing Apple and Google patents related to the iPhone and Android systems. Specifically, the court held that the ITC applied an inappropriate standard of review when it invalidated one Apple patent regarding touch screen [...]
The Italian Senate on Thursday approved a measure to ease some of the worst prison overcrowding in Europe by cutting pre-trial detentions and using alternative punishments for minor offenses. In January the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered Italy to address the problem within a year, ruling that overcrowding had violated the rights of [...]
Judge Sally Shushan of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on Wednesday ordered British Petroleum (BP) to pay the third quarter and some fourth quarter expenses for the gulf oil spill claim administration program . The budget and fees for the program totaled over $130 million. This order comes as the [...]
Mali’s Constitutional Court on Thursday rejected allegations of electoral fraud in the country’s first round of presidential elections. The court confirmed former prime minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita as the winner of Mali’s July 28 first round presidential vote but said that he had failed to win an outright majority, only securing 39.79 percent of the [...]
