The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in JDB v. North Carolina on whether a court should consider a juvenile’s age when determining whether the individual is in custody for purposes of the Miranda warning as set forth in Miranda v. Arizona . In this case, the juvenile student made incriminating statements to two [...]

The Ugandan government is responsible for an increase in torture, illegal detention and extrajudicial killing of its citizens, according to a report released Wednesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) . An agency known as the Rapid Response Unit (RRU), which serves as Uganda’s violent crime police task force, is reported to have falsified confessions and [...]

European Court of Justice (ECJ) Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi on Tuesday issued an opinion declaring that a French ban on cultivating genetically modified (GM) crops is illegal. In 2008, France sought to prohibit production within its borders of MON 810, a GM strain of maize developed by US-based Monsanto , by citing a safeguard clause [...]

The US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday rejected the amended class action settlement agreement between Google and groups of authors and publishers who brought a copyright suit in 2005 against the internet giant over its book-scanning initiative . The settlement was reached after over two years of negotiations between [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Shubhankar Dam of the Singapore Management University School of Law says that recent judicial appointments in India and Pakistan have led to battles between their respective judicial and executive branches… In a moment of remarkable constitutional coincidence, two appointments were set aside in India and Pakistan last week. First, India’s Supreme Court [...]

The Yemeni Parliament enacted several emergency measures Wednesday at the request of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in an effort to end anti-government protests. The new laws give the government greater power to arrest and detain protesters and to censor the media. The new laws follow Saleh’s declaration last Friday of a 30-day state of emergency [...]

South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard signed HB 1217 into law on Tuesday, requiring women to seek counseling at a pregnancy center and wait three days before obtaining an abortion . The law , which passed through the Senate earlier this month, contains the longest waiting period in the country and provides specifically that counseling must [...]

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Tuesday expressed concern over violence against protesters in Bahrain, Syria and Yemen . Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the OHCHR, held a press briefing detailing human rights violations in the three nations. Speaking on Bahrain, but summarizing the UN’s feelings on alleged abuses in [...]

JURIST Contributing Editor Michael J. Kelly, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Faculty Research and International Programs at Creighton University School of Law says that, for now, President Obama has the legal authority to commit U.S. military forces to establish the no-fly zone over Libya… On March 19, 2011, a coalition of nations began [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri on whether state and local government employees may sue their employers for retaliation under the Petition Clause of the First Amendment when they petition the government on matters of private concern. The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled [...]