A judge in the Dane County Circuit Court on Tuesday issued an injunction temporarily blocking enforcement of the state’s controversial new voter identification law, Wisconsin Act 23 . The injunction was issued by Circuit Court Judge David Flanagan who said that the Wisconsin law was more restrictive than similar laws that have been upheld in [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Rafael Cox-Alomar, the Popular Democratic Party candidate for Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, argues that Congressman Pedro Pierluisi’s recent JURIST article on the upcoming Puerto Rico status referendum fails to take into account another viable alternative to statehood that has greater support on the island and would allow greater preservation of social [...]
JURIST Guest Columnists Nick Tiger of Servicemembers United and Danielle Hawkes of The American Military Partner Association argue that the DOJ decision to allow military and veteran benefits for same-sex couples will lead to a Supreme Court ruling on whether heightened scrutiny should be applied to sexual orientation…
US Attorney General Eric Holder , in a speech Monday, framed the Obama administration’s policy toward the targeted killing of US citizens abroad who are members of al Qaeda . Holder’s comments also addressed the success of the federal courts and revised military commissions in prosecuting terrorism offenders, as well as the factors used to [...]
The Georgia State Senate passed a bill Monday that would ban illegal immigrants from state colleges and universities. The bill was approved with a 34-19 vote . According to the bill’s sponsor, Senator Larry Loudermilk (R), it is not about education , but on preventing taxpayer dollars from benefiting those persons in the country illegally. [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Maryland ruled Friday that a portion of Maryland’s handgun permit law is unconstitutional because it violates the Second Amendment . Judge Benson Everett Legg ruled that the law limited individuals’ rights to obtaining a permit by requiring a “good and substantial reason,” and that [...]
A jury in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Tuesday convicted financier Allen Stanford on charges of orchestrating a $7 billion Ponzi scheme affecting investors in both the US and Latin America. Stanford was convicted on 13 of 14 charges, including conspiracy to commit wire or mail fraud, conspiracy to [...]
UN Special Rapporteur Margaret Sekaggya on Monday outlined the risks and challenges faced by human rights journalists and media workers , and called for additional protection of those workers. The report indicated that, “journalists and media workers active on human rights issues were subject to killings, attacks, disappearance, abduction, torture and ill-treatment.” The report called [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist William Araiza of the Brooklyn Law School says that if either the Ninth or Sixth Circuit strikes down state constitutional amendments ending affirmative action in college admissions using older lines of Supreme Court case law, the Supreme Court will likely grant certiorari to curtail or overrule the doctrine…
The US Supreme Court announced Monday that they will rehear arguments in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum , a case dealing with corporate liability for human rights violations occurring overseas. The court originally took the case in October and heard arguments last week to determine whether three oil companies are immune from US lawsuits under [...]
