A Shchyolkovo town court ruled Thursday that the main texts of Scientology, including What Is Scientology?, are “calls to extremist activity” and placed them on the Federal List of Extremist Materials , effectively banning them in Russia. The judge ruled, based on expert testimony, that materials by L Ron Hubbard “aimed at creating an isolated [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of South Dakota issued a preliminary injunction Thursday blocking a South Dakota abortion regulation requiring a 72-hour waiting period. Judge Karen Shreier ruled that the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota (ACLUSD) and Planned Parenthood Federation of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota were [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Thursday that the recent wave of Middle East and North African protests and revolutions showed a basic need for human rights . Pillay recounted the efforts of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in these conflict areas: fact finding missions in Libya, Ivory Coast and Syria [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Ilya Somin of George Mason School of Law says that the recent appellate court decision finding the individual mandate constitutional undermines federalism, misconstrues the boundaries of congressional authority, and lays the groundwork for limitless federal mandates… This week, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that the individual mandate [...]
Representative Dan Frankel of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives argues that Pennsylvania, and the rest of the country, should follow Connecticut’s lead in enacting comprehensive protections for gender identity or expression to counter rampant discrimination against transgendered men and women…
US Attorney General Eric Holder announced Thursday that he would continue investigating the deaths of two detainees who died during interrogations by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) . Former attorney general Michael Mukasey had appointed Assistant United States Attorney John Durham in 2008 to conduct a criminal investigation into the destruction of 92 interrogation videotapes [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday upheld a 2008 decision by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to list polar bears as “threatened” on the endangered species list because of melting polar ice caps caused by global warming . Environmental groups and the state of Alaska were [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Thursday rejected a motion by Google to dismiss class-action lawsuits under wiretapping laws. Judge James Ware denied Google’s argument that when they collected information while creating their Street View feature, the information was freely and publicly available. Google collected private details [...]
The US Sentencing Commission (USSC) voted unanimously on Thursday to implement the retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act , which brings the sentences for crack cocaine more in line for those of powder cocaine. The retroactive sentencing will go into effect with the law on November 1, unless Congress acts to stop the USSC’s [...]
Sarah Warbelow, State Legislative Director for Human Rights Campaign, argues that the passage of same-sex marriage legislation in New York coincides with changing attitudes about same-sex marriage nationally, despite ongoing efforts across the country to prevent similar legislation elsewhere…
