JURIST Guest Columnist Robert Marcelis, University of California, Davis School of Law Class of 2013, discusses the US Supreme Court’s effort to make lower courts enforce arbitration agreements…
Prince Taylor, an investigator for the Charles Taylor defense team in the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) was sentenced Thursday to two years on each of four counts of interfering with witnesses who had testified in the Charles Taylor trial, and 30 months for interfering with Eric Senessie, who himself was convicted for interfering [...]
The Virginia Senate approved two bills on Friday that restrict the acceptable forms of identification that voters can present at the polls. SB 1256 requires that voters present a photo ID that lists their address, such as a driver’s license, passport or workplace photo ID . HB 1337 removes utility bills and paychecks from the [...]
The Kenyan government is being sued for police brutality in the violence that followed the country’s 2007 presidential election . The suit has been brought against the government by the families of seven victims and eight wounded survivors, along with four human rights groups. According to the suit , unlawful orders were given to police, [...]
The UN confirmed on Friday that a four-person team was on the ground in Mali to investigate potential violations of humanitarian law. According to Cecile Pouilly, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights , the fact-finding mission will investigate allegations of retaliatory violence. In January British and US militaries provided logistical support for [...]
A German court on Thursday ruled for Facebook in a challenge over the social networking website’s policy requiring users to register with their real names. The Independent Center for Privacy Protection , known in Germany as the ULD, brought the suit against the Palo Alto, California-based company alleging violation of German data protection laws in [...]
Lawyers for Pennsylvania and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania (ACLU) on Friday reached an accord allowing state residents to vote in upcoming primary and special elections without submitting identification. According to media sources, voters will be asked to present ID , but may decline to do so. The temporary agreement extends an October [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized Bangladesh on Thursday for offering retroactive amendments that change war crime laws to allow plaintiffs to appeal verdicts delivered by the nation’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) . The amendments were approved in response to days of protests that ensued after Abdul Quader Mollah, the leader of the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) [...]
The UN has called on the de facto authorities of the disputed region of Transnistria “to address the deeply rooted problems identified in the report and to fully implement its recommendations, including the development of a plan of action for human rights.” According to the UN’s first human rights report on the contested region of [...]
An Australian court ruled Friday that an American biotech company can patent a human gene linked to an increased risk of breast cancer. The Federal Court of Australia held that Myriad Genetics , a US biotech firm, could patent the gene BRCA1 because the gene is not natural, but rather the product of human intervention. [...]
