A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida on Thursday denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a group of attorneys general challenging the constitutionality of the recently enacted health care reform law . The lawsuit , filed in March and joined by 20 states and the National [...]
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) announced Thursday that it will review the involvement of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in the extraordinary rendition and torture of Khaled El-Masri by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) . On orders from the US, in 2003, Macedonian authorities seized El-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese [...]
Rwandan police on Thursday arrested opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza , accusing her of being involved in the formation of a terrorist organization. Ingabire was implicated, authorities say, during investigations into the activities of a man who was a former commander of a Hutu militia group operating in neighboring Congo. Ingabire was also arrested in [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International (AI) and the International Crisis Group (ICG) , on Thursday declined an invitation from Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) to testify before the probe investigating the end of the nation’s civil war . In rejecting the LLRC’s invitation the groups stated: While we would welcome the [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Wednesday that the words “one state under God” in the Texas Pledge of Allegiance do not violate the First Amendment of the US Constitution, upholding a 2009 district court opinion . A Texan couple filed the suit against the state, arguing that the pledge violated [...]
The Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled Wednesday that a witness does not have to remove her niqab unless the failure to do so will prevent the accused from receiving a fair trial. The court stopped short of issuing a ruling that would require all courts to follow in a similar fashion. The decision emphasizes [...]
The Indonesian Constitutional Court on Wednesday overturned a law that has allowed the Indonesian government to ban books it deemed controversial for nearly 50 years. The court found that giving the Attorney General the authority to ban books violated the Indonesian Constitution by denying basic human rights without due process of the law. While the [...]
Attorneys general from all 50 states and the District of Columbia announced Wednesday that they have formed a bipartisan group called the Mortgage Foreclosure Multistate Group (MFMG), which will be investigating allegations of procedural defects committed by mortgage loan companies during foreclosure processes. The group also includes state bank and mortgage regulators. In a joint [...]
JURIST Contributing Editor Marjorie Cohn of Thomas Jefferson School of Law says despite United Nations Human Rights Council findings that Israel clearly broke international law in its raid of the Gaza Strip Flotilla, the US has yet to condemn the action… On May 31, the Israeli military attacked a flotilla of ships in International waters. [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in Skinner v. Switzer on a convicted prisoner’s right to seek access to DNA testing. The issue is whether a convicted prisoner seeking access to biological evidence for DNA testing may assert a civil rights claim under Section 1983 or if such a claim is cognizable only [...]
