Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court on Tuesday ruled that use of a parliamentary subcommittee to fast-track decisions related to eurozone bailouts is unconstitutional, and that such decisions require full oversight of the Bundestag, the national Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany . Two lawmakers brought the challenge to a parliamentary procedure, which allowed a nine-member [...]
Iran executed twice as many people in 2011 as it did in the previous year, Amnesty International (AI) reported Tuesday. The report, entitled “‘We Are Ordered to Crush You’: Expanding Repression of Dissent in Iran,” chronicles widespread international human rights violations that Iran’s government has allegedly perpetrated over the past year. The AI report claims [...]
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has decided to transfer the case of Fulgence Kayishema to the Rwandan authorities. The three-panel Referral Chamber ordered the transfer so that Rwandan authorities can refer the case to the High Court of Rwanda for trial under Rule 11 bis authorizing the transfer of cases to national jurisdictions. [...]
The Bangkok Criminal Court on Tuesday convicted a leader of the royalist People’s Alliance for Democracy Network , known as “yellow shirts,” of corporate fraud. Yellow shirt movement founder and Thai media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul was sentenced to 20 years in prison without parole for violating the Securities and Exchange Act by fraudulently securing a [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases on Monday. In Elgin v. Department of Treasury , the court heard arguments on whether federal district courts have jurisdiction over constitutional claims for equitable relief brought by federal employees under the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) . The petitioners argued that the CSRA was [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay , in a speech to the UN Human Rights Council during an emergency session on Tuesday, called for an immediate end to the violence in Syria. Pillay accused the Syrian forces of committing human rights violations and urged the government to stop its escalating violence against civilians. [...]
The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) announced Monday that it arrested six Serbian officials in Kosovo on Saturday, under allegations that they were “suspected of exerting undue pressure not to recognize Kosovo institutions.” In a closed hearing , a judge determined that five of the suspects will be held for a [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Dario Ringach, Professor of Neurobiology and Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, says that the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act was enacted to protect individuals from extremists who adopt methods of violence and true threats, rather than to threaten activism or infringe on activists’ First Amendment rights… Free speech is a [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Lowry Pressly graduated from Yale Law School in January of 2012. While in school, he had the opportunity to study the Religion Clause under Professor Stanley Fish. Here he explores the history and purpose of the Religion Clause and how it relates to the current contraception debate…
Over 80 percent of voters in Syria have voted to approve the new Syrian constitution , officials said Monday. The proposed constitution will impose term limits on the president as well as provide for a multi-party system. However, the term limits will theoretically begin once the constitution passes, meaning President Bashar al-Assad’s previous time in [...]
