Senior Libyan Judge Mohammed Naguib was assassinated Sunday by an unidentified gunman outside of the courthouse in Derna. Chairman of the Court of Cassation in Green Mountain province Judge Abdel-Aziz Mustafa al-Trabelsi confirmed that his colleague was killed outright in the drive-by attack. This attack is the latest of an increasing number of threats and [...]
UN independent expert Chaloka Beyani commended the government of Georgia Monday for its ongoing commitment to improving the living conditions of internally displaced people (IDPs) but called for the country to develop an integrated approach to address all waves of IDPs. Specifically, Beyani encouraged the government to address equal land, housing and property rights for [...]
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on Monday upheld the mandatory retirement provision for judicial officers. The complaint , originally filed by six Pennsylvania judges, alleged that the mandatory retirement provision in the Pennsylvania Constitution was in violation of the equal protection and due process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. The court, [...]
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) on Monday released summary findings concluding that the use of the death penalty in California and Louisiana violates human rights. The report concludes that the way the death penalty is used in California and Louisiana is arbitrary and discriminatory and that [...]
An anonymous source inside the US State Department said Monday that President Barack Obama is appointing attorney Clifford Sloan to be the new envoy in charge of closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay . Clifford, who has served in all three federal branches, is now a privately practicing attorney and an informal adviser to [...]
Outgoing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was summoned to a criminal court on Monday. Although the charges were not specified, this may be the continuation of a longstanding political battle between Ahmadinejad and Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani , who recently filed a complaint against him. While Larijani, a conservative leader, has repeatedly criticized the president, Ahmadinejad [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled 7-2 Monday in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council that Arizona’s law requiring that proof of citizenship be provided in order to register to vote is preempted by federal law. The court found that Proposition 200 is preempted by the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) , which requires states to use [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Monday in Maracich v. Spears that an attorney’s solicitation of clients is not a permissible purpose covered by the litigation exception to the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) . Under the DPPA, disclosure of personal information contained in the records of state motor vehicle departments (DMVs) is prohibited except [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Monday in Alleyne v. United States that any fact that increases the mandatory minimum sentence is an “element” that must be submitted to the jury, overruling its 2002 decision in Harris v. United States . Harris was a 5-4 splintered opinion that allowed a judge to be the fact-finder [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled 5-3 Monday in Federal Trade Commission v. Actavis that reverse payment settlements can sometimes violate antitrust laws. A reverse payment settlement, better known as a “pay to delay” settlement, is an agreement in which a patent holder pays a competitor to delay them from entering the market. The Federal Trade [...]
