David J. Brunell is a 3L at Stetson University College of Law and is president of the school’s Lambda Legal Society and chair of the Student Bar Association Diversity Committee… Recently the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it would no longer defend in court Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which says [...]
A judge for Wisconsin’s Dane County Circuit Court Thursday dismissed a lawsuit that had challenged a controversial state bill limiting the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions. Judge Maryann Sumi ruled that the two county officials who filed the complaint lacked standing to sue as government representatives, but could sue as individuals. Sumi explained [...]
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan harshly criticized the Pakistani government Thursday for its poor human rights record and called on government officials to fix the human rights abuses occurring in the country. In its 2010 Annual Report , the group chronicles the repeated human rights violations that have taken place in the country over [...]
A three-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on Thursday dismissed a constitutional challenge to the National Day of Prayer (NDP) . The decision overturns last year’s decision by the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin that the day of prayer more than acknowledged religion, but was [...]
JURIST Special Guest Columnist Jonathan Hafetz, of Seton Hall Law School says that the failure to close Guantanamo Bay is an unwelcome step in justifying arbitrary detention and torture, and wonders how far indefinite detention and military commissions will sweep…. Two days after his inauguration, President Obama announced that he would close the U.S. prison [...]
A suspected Somali pirate leader appeared for a detention hearing in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Wednesday after his March 8 indictment was unsealed. In his announcement, US Attorney Neil MacBride wrote, “oday marks the first time that the U.S. government has captured and charged an alleged pirate in [...]
Tunisian Justice Minister Lazhar Karoui Chebbi announced Wednesday that the government has charged former president Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali with 18 offenses ranging from murder and conspiracy to trafficking and drug use. The charges stem mostly from allegations that Ben Ali authorized the use of force against protesters during the Tunisian revolution, resulting in [...]
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on Thursday indicted former Croat soldier Miroslav Anic for war crimes against Bosnian Muslim civilians allegedly committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian civil war . The indictment alleges that Anic and his unit were responsible for an attack on the village of Grahovc, where eight men were separated from [...]
International maritime piracy reached an all-time high in the first quarter of 2011, says a report released Thursday by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Maritime Bureau (IMB) . The ICC’s piracy reporting center, which has monitored reports of maritime piracy 24 hours a day since 1991, reports that through the end of March, [...]
Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik initiated legislation in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska on Wednesday to challenge the legitimacy of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) war crimes court and the nation’s prosecutor’s office. Dodik alleges that the court is biased because it has prosecuted more ethnic Serbs than ethnic Croats or Muslims. Additionally, he said [...]
