Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Monday signed into law the country’s most expansive education reforms in seven decades. In a deal reached by Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (IRP) and two opposition parties, the reforms will attempt to create a new system of school standards for hiring and promoting teachers based on merit. While the [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Charles Kels of the US Air Force Reserve and the Department of Homeland Security argues that legal experts should think twice before diluting the clarity of international armed conflicts…
The UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories Richard Falk called Wednesday on the international community to investigate the death of Palestinian Prisoner Arafat Jaradat. Jaradat died while in interrogations at an Israeli facility. Initially, Israel claimed the cause of death was a heart attack, but this was not included in [...]
Businesses, cities, and other organizations filed two amicus curiae briefs with the US Supreme Court Tuesday in support of same-sex marriage . The groups urged the court to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in US v. Windsor and Proposition 8 in Hollingsworth v. Perry . The businesses include financial institutions, medical centers, [...]
Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe on Tuesday vetoed the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act which would have banned all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy except in cases of rape, incest or to save the mother’s life. The bill was approved by the Arkansas House of Representatives last Thursday and approved by the Senate just [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Monday that the US-based anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) are modern-day pirates, clearing the path for Japanese whalers to pursue legal action against them. The decision overturns a lower court ruling which found against whalers Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) , who claim [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Tuesday in Clapper v. Amnesty International that a coalition of attorneys, journalists and rights organizations do not have Article III standing to contest Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) . The coalition was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and argued that FISA jeopardizes [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled 7-2 Tuesday in Marx v. General Revenue Corp. that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(d)(1) allows fees to be awarded in Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) even if the suit was brought in good faith. Petitioner Olivea Marx had a student loan debt through EdFund, which hired General Revenue [...]
The Bahrain Higher Criminal Court on Tuesday acquitted two police officers in the shooting death of a Shiite protester during the nation’s pro-democracy protests in Manama that began in February 2011. Bahraini lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi who represented the protester’s family, said the Bahrain court concluded the two police officers fired shots at Fadhel Matruk but [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases on Tuesday. In Maryland v. King the court heard arguments on whether the Fourth Amendment permits states to collect DNA samples from individuals charged with serious crimes, as allowed under Maryland’s DNA Collection Act . The Chief Deputy Attorney General of Maryland argued, “The cornerstone [...]
