Agnes Callamard, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, presented a report to the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday calling for governments to do more to reduce violence against women and LGBTQI individuals. The report called gender-related killings a type of arbitrary execution. While roughly 5 percent of male homicide victims [...]
The US Supreme Court lifted the stay of execution granted last week by the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit for Robert Melson late Tuesday. The brief order was issued by Justice Clarence Thomas and noted that Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer opposed the decision. Melson challenged the use [...]
Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that a tax on nuclear fuel was illegal. The tax, implemented in January 2011, charged nuclear power plants €145 per gram of fissile nuclear fuel loaded in a power plant. The court ruled that the tax did not fit within the types of excise duty allowed by the [...]
The Delaware legislature approved a bill on Tuesday that guarantees access to abortion. The bill, which was previously approved by the state Senate, was approved by a vote of 22-16 after five hours of debate and discussion. The bill ensures that the provisions of Roe v. Wade remain legal at the state level should the [...]
Former FBI Director James Comey issued the following prepared remarks on Wednesday in advance of his June 8, 2017, testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee . The hearings will begin at 10:00 am EDT. Statement for the Record Senate Select Committee on Intelligence James B. Comey June 8, 2017 Chairman Burr, Ranking Member Warner, Members [...]
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a series of abortion regulations into law on Tuesday. Senate Bill 8 will require the burial or cremation of fetal tissue and bans the donation of fetal tissue. The legislation also bans so called “partial-birth abortion,” which is already banned by federal law, as well as the dilation and evacuation [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced charges against a federal contractor Monday for leaking classified material to a media source. Reality Leigh Winner operated under Pluribus International Corporation in Georgia at the time she is alleged to have removed material from a US government facility. Winner maintained top secret clearance since February. She is [...]
The New York Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a 2001 New York zoning ordinance that banned “adult” establishments from residential and most commercial and manufacturing zones was not a violation of the owners’ First Amendment rights. The zoning ordinance classified adult eating and drinking establishments as “regularly featuring live performances characterized by an emphasis [...]
UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Dainius Puras, on Tuesday called for a revolutionary overhaul of the mental health care systems around the world. Presenting his report to the UN Human Righs Council, Puras noted that, in the current system, less than 7 percent of health care budgets globally are dedicated to mental [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist, David M. Crane, of Syracuse University School of Law discusses the importance of the rule of law in restoring the ideals of humanity and morality on a global scale… There is a growling of a discontent, an unrest, just below the surface, festering ready to erupt into a boil of frustration. The [...]
