JURIST Guest Columnist Susan Hu of the Center for Constitutional Rights says that the Seventh Circuit misinterpreted Supreme Court precedent in Vance v. Rumsfeld and consequently diminished a fundamental constitutional protection…
The German Parliament on Wednesday approved a bill that explicitly permits male infant circumcision . The law comes in response to a Cologne state court ruling that circumcision of minors even for religious reasons is prohibited because the practice amounts to bodily harm. Though the court’s judgment was limited to the Cologne region, the ruling [...]
A court in Florence on Wednesday struck down Law 40 , Italy’s nationwide ban on the use of embryos for scientific purposes. The panel of judges ruled that the law is an unconstitutional violation of fundamental rights regarding health and the freedom of research. The case was originally brought by a couple who wished to [...]
The Colombia Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that will create a military court for armed forces and police forces who commit crimes. Reportedly, the new law will allow for any armed forces’ crimes to be prosecuted by military tribunals rather than civil courts. A spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for [...]
The New Patriotic Party of Ghana (NPP) on Tuesday announced its plan to challenge the country’s presidential election results after alleging that the victory of incumbent president John Dramani Mahama was due to fraud. Though Mahama was declared the winner of Ghana’s December 7 election with 50.7 percent of the valid vote, opposition leaders declared [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on Monday lifted a preliminary injunction blocking part of a Georgia immigration law that allows law enforcement officers to ask about immigration status when questioning suspects in criminal investigations. Judge Thomas Thrash’s order is in line with an August ruling by the [...]
The House of Representatives two bills on Tuesday, known as “Freedom to Work,” that makes payment of union dues voluntary and limits workers’ rights to strike and picket. The legislation was quickly signed into law by Michigan Governor Rick Synder . The bills address employees in both the public and private sectors. Pro-labor activists gathered [...]
The chief US military judge for the Guantanamo Bay 9/11 military commission trial has approved the US government’s request for a protective order . The order, made public Wednesday, effectively blocks the public’s access to accused 9/11 conspirators’ testimony regarding the alleged use of “enhanced interrogation techniques,” imprisonment and torture methods by the Central Intelligence [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Steven D. Schwinn of the John Marshall Law School in Chicago says that, despite recent Supreme Court campaign finance decisions, the First Amendment still leaves opportunity for reform via creative public finance systems, tighter contribution limits and increased disclosure of contributors’ names…
Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday convicted former Bosnian Serb army commander Zdravko Tolimir of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, sentencing him to life in prison. Tolimir, who served under Ratko Mladic during the Bosnian civil war, was accused of involvement in the 1995 [...]
