A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri declared a state statute banning the burning of the American and Missourian flags unconstitutional on Wednesday. Judge Carol Jackson heard a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against the city of Cape Girardeau, Missouri after a resident was cited [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in Vasquez v. United States on whether the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit violated the Supreme Court’s precedent on harmless error. Alexander Vasquez was convicted on drug-related charges on a considerable amount of untainted evidence. However, the prosecution submitted tapes, and the court held [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Wednesday that an ordinance passed in 2008 by the Texas city of Farmers Branch, prohibiting illegal immigrants from renting housing in the city, is unconstitutional. The law required prospective renters to attest to being in the country legally, and landlords who knowingly allowed aliens to [...]
The US Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled unanimously in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency that landowners can bring a suit directly against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) challenging the agency’s order not to build on residential property that is protected wetlands. This case gives citizens the right, under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) , to [...]
Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) on Monday signed the Drug-Free Workplace Act , which allows state employers to randomly test up to 10% of their workforce. The act does not create a “duty” to test, but allows state employers to dismiss or discipline employees the first time they test positive for drugs. State employers can [...]
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) last week ruled that the right of a person in a same-sex partnership to adopt his or her partner’s child is not protected by the European Convention on Human Rights . The case involved a French woman who was denied her request to adopt her civil partner’s child, [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Wednesday in Missouri v. Frye that the Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel applies during “all ‘critical’ stages of the criminal proceedings,” including considerations of plea offers that lapse or are rejected. Respondent Galin Frye was offered two deals by prosecutors during proceedings for driving with a [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Luis Vasconcelos is a LL.M. Candidate at the Católica Global School of Law, a Lisbon-based faculty of the Catholic University of Portugal. In this first entry of a four-part series on the realities and priorities of Portuguese sovereign debt management, Vasconcelos explains the legal constraints and enabling mechanisms of a voluntary Portuguese [...]
Over the past couple weeks, several people have asked why JURIST needs to raise funds. You can read all the details on these pages, but the most direct answer is that it all comes back to budget cuts. Due to general economic circumstances completely outside of our control, we are anticipating a significant reduction in [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Derek Bambauer of Brooklyn Law School says that the increased censorship of journalists worldwide is a result of technological innovations, which facilitate dissemination of information, but heighten the perceived threat to governments fighting to maintain control…
