The US Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in two cases. In Johnson v. Williams the court heard arguments on whether a state court can “adjudicate on the merits” a case when it has denied a habeas corpus claim but not expressly mentioned a federal law basis for doing so. In this case, the [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a lower court ruling that permitted an Ohio law limiting the use of the “abortion pill.” The law requires that the use of the pill, RU-486 , conform with federal guidelines, which currently do not allow the pill to be used after seven [...]
UN Special Representative for Haiti Mariano Fernandez Amunategui on Wednesday called on Haiti to strengthen its rule of law institutions such as police and electoral council. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted in the report that the country is still subject to “setbacks linked to political instability, lack of respect for the rule of law and [...]
Former Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) militia leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo on Wednesday appealed his conviction and sentence from the International Criminal Court . Lubanga was convicted in March for the war crimes of enlisting and conscripting children under the age of 15 and using them to participate actively in hostilities. As a result of [...]
A Turkish court on Monday sentenced two prison guards and a prison director to life in prison for the torture and death of anti-government activist Engin Ceber while in police custody. With the life sentence, the court also sentenced nine other officials to prison terms of varying length. The re-trial began in February when the [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Douglas Cox of the City University of New York School of Law says that the CIA should respond to the National Archives inquiry into the CIA’s destruction of detainee interrogation tapes in order to prevent any further destruction of important records…
JURIST Guest Columnist Eric Leonard, the Henkel Family Chair in International Affairs at Shenandoah University, says that Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s statements regarding the prosecution of George W. Bush and Tony Blair serve as an ardent call for advancement towards a truly universal system of justice…
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Tuesday extended a stay on a lower court order that barred enforcement of a law allowing the indefinite detention of suspected terrorists. The Second Circuit’s order allows certain provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) , specifically Section 1021(b)(2), to remain in force pending [...]
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Tuesday praised the rejection of a proposed law that would have established harsh penalties for reporters who spread libel. The bill, which passed on its first reading, would have established fines and other punishments, including prison and correctional labor sentences, for spreading false information about another person. After being heavily [...]
