John Knight, Senior Staff Attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, says that the Seventh Circuit’s recent decision affirming the need for hormone therapy for transgender inmates offers a new level of protection against political biases that would cause transgender inmates serious harm…
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday affirmed the 2010 denial of petition for a writ of habeas corpus for Guantanamo detainee Shawali Khan . Khan is an Afghan citizen who, at the time of his capture in mid-November 2002, lived in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and is accused of belonging [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to disclose docket information of certain cases in which the DOJ used cell phone location data to track criminal suspects. The suit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in July 2008 under the [...]
Amnesty International (AI) on Wednesday criticized Sri Lanka’s investigation into allegations of war crimes committed during its 26-year civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and urged the UN to conduct an independent investigation to ensure justice for the victims and their families. The report argues that the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation [...]
Laura Frano, University of Pittsburgh Law School of Law Class of 2012, is a certified legal intern at the University of Pittsburgh Environmental Law Clinic. She writes on the growing popularity of natural gas as an energy source and the need to proactively implement international law and policy to regulate it… The history of environmental [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday that House Bill 2013 , a law rescinding health benefits for same-sex couples in the public sector, is in violation of the equal protection clause of the Constitution. The ruling upholds an injunction issued by a district court that has temporarily reinstated these benefits, [...]
The California Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments on whether intervening advocacy groups can defend Proposition 8 in court, in response to a certified question by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit . When Judge Vaughn Walker struck down the same-sex marriage ban last year, then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former attorney [...]
UK Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke announced Tuesday that cameras will be allowed into criminal courts in the UK and Wales to improve transparency in courts. Two acts of Parliament in place since 1925 have banned filming in both Welsh and English courts. Clarke believes that this change will help to improve public confidence in the [...]
Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych on Tuesday threatened to take Russia to international arbitration over gas disputes. Ukraine relies heavily on Russian oil imports , and its territory provides transit for 80 percent of Russia’s oil supplies to Europe. Yanukovych would like to get out of a 10-year deal signed with Russia in 2009, but Russian [...]
The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg on Monday urged Lithuania, Poland and Romania to investigate the roles their governments played in the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program of “secret detention and torture” of terrorism suspects. According to Hammarberg, the CIA collaborated with its foreign counterparts in detaining “high value detainees” [...]
