Officials from the International Criminal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Wednesday told the UN Security Council that they are making progress in completing their work, but continue to face a number of challenges requiring additional support. In his dual capacity as President of the ICTY and [...]
Washington Governor Christine Gregoire on Wednesday certified the results of Referendum 74 which has legalized same-sex marriage in the state. The referendum gave Washington voters the choice to accept or reject the state same-sex marriage legislation , which was signed by the governor in February. Opponents of the law conceded defeat last month after the [...]
A UN independent expert on Thursday praised a convention passed by the African Union (AU) to protect internally displaced persons (IDPs). The African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) was passed in 2009 and came into full enforcement on Thursday. It is the world’s first set [...]
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled Wednesday that police do not need a warrant to search a suspect’s cell phone once the suspect been lawfully arrested. The defendant was arrested after police observed him participating in an apparent drug transaction, and, upon being booked the police seized his cell phone. From the defendant’s phone police [...]
The Coalition for the Protection of Marriage, a non-profit corporation in Nevada which opposes same-sex marriage, petitioned the US Supreme Court on Wednesday to grant a writ of certiorari to determine “whether the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause requires Nevada to change its definition of marriage from the union of a man and a woman [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday warned Washington state that although voters in the state legalized marijuana last month , marijuana is still illegal under federal law . The DOJ announced that the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) still lists marijuana as an illegal substance, regardless of how state laws classify the drug. In [...]
The Supreme Court of Mexico ruled unanimously on Wednesday that a law in the southern state of Oaxaca that prohibits same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. The case was initiated by three gay couples in Oaxaca. The high court held that Oaxaca’s law restricting marriage to one man and one woman is contrary to the principle of [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in Chafin v. Chafin , an international child custody dispute. The court will decide whether a parent can appeal in a custody suit when a district court has determined the child’s habitual residence is another country and the child has already been removed from the US, or [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Wednesday denied a request for a rehearing on Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations that require tobacco companies to display graphic images on their packaging. In a 2-1 decision issued in August, the DC Circuit struck down the regulations, holding that the FDA’s [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Brendan Block, Saint Louis University School of Law Class of 2013, argues for exigency to apply to driving while intoxicated (DWI) suspects to allow for warrantless blood tests…
