The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in United States v. Jicarilla Apache Indian Nation on whether the attorney-client privilege entitles the US to withhold from an Indian tribe confidential communications between the government and government attorneys implicating the administration of statutes pertaining to property held in trust for the tribe. The US Court [...]
The UK High Court on Wednesday upheld the nation’s Digital Economy Act (DEA) , aimed at the prevention of online copyright infringement. Justice Kenneth Parker dismissed four of the five challenges brought in July by UK Internet service providers (ISPs) BT Group PLC and TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC , including claims that the bill was [...]
The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday urged an end to the practice of “honor killing” , calling the customary ritual “wholly illegal.” The court said that officials who are aware of the practice before or after it occurs and do not report it will face criminal charges. Officials who fail to report perpetrators of [...]
Italy deported a Tunisian national and former Guantanamo Bay detainee Wednesday for his connections to an extremist group that had planned various acts of terrorism in the country. Accompanied by Italian officials, Abdel Ben Mabrouk was taken by plane to his native country under an agreement with Tunisian diplomats brokered in Rome. Mabrouk was transferred [...]
The US Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled 6-2 in Sossamon v. Texas that states do not consent to waive their sovereign immunity to private suits for money damages under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) . Petitioner Harvey Sossamon sought injunctive and monetary relief from the state of Texas under RLUIPA for [...]
Belgian prosecutors announced Wednesday that police in Belgium arrested Rwandan Mathias Bushishi Monday for his involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide . Police arrested Bushishi on an international arrest warrant that includes charges of war crimes and genocide. Bushishi is accused of using his role as prosecutor to assist in the extermination of Tutsis in [...]
UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kyung-wha Kang spoke Tuesday to the Constituent Assembly of Nepal (CA) about several human rights issues in the country, including a reluctance to prosecute war crimes and insufficient progress increasing women’s rights . The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) [...]
UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression Frank LaRue on Tuesday called on Algeria to “guarantee the right to freedom of opinion and expression” including decriminalizing defamation. LaRue noted that, despite significant progress since the 1990s, which saw more than100 journalists killed, a number of challenges remain. LaRue highlighted that [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled 6-2 Tuesday in Virginia Officer for Protection and Advocacy v. Stewart that a state agency can sue state officials in federal court to remedy a violation of federal law. The Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy (VOPA) is an independent state agency that is a designated “protection and advocacy” (P&A) [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut regarding whether electric utilities contributed to global warming . The court is being asked to decide (1) whether states and private parties have standing to seek judicially-fashioned emissions caps on five utilities for their alleged contribution to harms claimed to [...]
