The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday upheld an approval by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of caps on motor vehicle emissions in California. The court held that no abuse of discretion had occurred, citing the broad discretion which must be afforded to a government agency’s interpretations of its own regulations [...]
The Ohio Senate on Thursday passed Senate Bill 5 , which alters Ohio labor law and restricts the collective bargaining abilities of unions for public sector workers. The bill was approved in the Senate by a vote of 17 to 16, shortly after a House vote of 53 to 44 . In February, the legislation [...]
The Supreme Court of Canada agreed Thursday to review a B.C. Court of Appeal decision allowing a challenge to the country’s anti-prostitution laws. The appeals court had set aside a lower court ruling denying standing to Sheryl Kiselbach, a former sex worker in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and the federal attorney general appealed. Kiselbach filed the [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Wednesday that a lawsuit against the Library of Congress (LOC) filed on behalf of former Guantanamo prosecutor and LOC employee Col. Morris Davis can proceed. Davis, who was employed at the LOC’s Congressional Research Service (CRS) , resigned as the military commissions’ [...]
The Czech Republic’s Constitutional Court on Thursday overturned parts of a controversial data retention law that obligated telecommunications companies to maintain records of their customers’ internet and telephone usage. The court found that paragraphs 3 and 4 of § 97 of the Electronic Communications Act , which compelled telecommunications companies to keep records of their [...]
The US Department of State announced on Wednesday that it would pursue a second term on the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) . In continuing its membership, the US intends to further its stand against the council’s “biased and disproportional focus on Israel,” and push the council to “address a broad range of urgent and [...]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Wednesday that it has reached a settlement with Google over charges that the Internet giant breached consumer privacy rights and was misleading during the launch of its social networking platform, Google Buzz . The FTC complaint alleges that when Google launched Buzz through its web-based email, Gmail, users were [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in the consolidated cases of Isiogu v. Michigan Bell Telephone Co. and Talk America Inc. v. Michigan Bell Telephone Co. on whether, pursuant to the Telecommunications Act of 1996 , a state utility commission may require an incumbent carrier like Bell Telephone to provide connectivity to its [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham (US Army, ret.), formerly assigned to the Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants, says that the Executive Order for the Periodic Review of Individuals Detained at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station is illusory in that it creates an unnecessary process that does not address [...]
Courtney Minick : “Governor Pat Quinn recently signed a bill to ban the use of the death penalty in Illinois. The state has been wrestling with the issue of capital punishment for over ten years. Senate Bill 3539 was passed in both houses of the Illinois legislature, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle [...]
