North Carolina Governor Patrick McRory on Wednesday signed into law Senate Bill 306 , repealing the Racial Justice Act (RJA) that allowed minority death row inmates to seek a reduced sentence. The 2009 law created an additional path to life imprisonment without parole for those sentenced to death row if they could prove that their [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled 5-3 Thursday in American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does not permit courts to invalidate a contractual waiver of class arbitration on the ground that the plaintiff’s cost of individually arbitrating a federal statutory claim exceeds the potential recovery. The plaintiffs in the [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled 8-1 Thursday in Descamps v. United States to limit the way sentencing courts can use prior convictions to enhance sentencing for federal crimes. The question before the court was whether Matthew Descamps’ burglary conviction under California law could allow a conviction under federal burglary law, which had slightly different requirements [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday upheld a lower court’s ruling that dismissed a challenge to Arizona’s Proposition 100 , a voter-approved amendment which denies bail to undocumented immigrants being held for serious felonies. The plaintiffs, represented by American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney Cecillia Wang, argued that the law [...]
The Swiss government cannot reopen the corruption charges against Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari because the statutory limitations period has lapsed, Pakistan Law Minister Zahid Hamid announced Wednesday. Swiss authorities sent their position in February of this year, but the sealed letter was officially opened by Hamid Tuesday. The case against Zardari was closed in [...]
The government of Myanmar must do more to combat religious and ethnic discrimination against minorities or risk undermining the reform movement according to a statement made by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay Wednesday. Pillay commended Myanmar President Thein Sein for statements on the need to end discrimination and violence but pointed to [...]
A federal judge called Tuesday on members of Congress and the president to give serious consideration to formulating a different approach for the handling of Guantanamo Bay detainee cases. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit released their opinion in the case of Abdul Al Qader Hussain v. Barack Obama in [...]
The US House of Representatives on Tuesday voted in favor of a bill that would ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The bill passed by a vote of 228-196 mainly along party lines. The White House on Monday expressed opposition to the legislation: “If the President were presented with this legislation, his senior [...]
The UK Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the families of some British soldiers who were killed or injured in Iraq can sue the British government for damages. In its ruling, the Supreme Court stated that families claiming that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) did not fulfill its duty of adequately protecting a family member by [...]
Chinese-owned mining companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are contributing to a culture of human rights abuses, Amnesty International (AI) reported Wednesday. AI claims that those companies should be held accountable for the longstanding, ongoing human rights abuses related to child labor, on-site injuries, financial exploitation and the illegal detainment of workers in [...]
