The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit heard arguments Tuesday in a case challenging the constitutionality of the False Claims Act , which allows citizen “whistle-blowers” to sue federal contractors for committing fraud against the government. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Senior National Staff Counsel Christopher Hansen appeared before the court and argued [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania (ACLU-PA) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on Monday filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Pittsburgh, Police Chief Nathan Harper and more than 15 police officers on behalf of 25 people arrested during the September 2009 Group of 20 (G-20) Summit . The complaint , [...]
The US Senate on Tuesday rejected a cloture motion on the National Defense Authorization Act for the Fiscal Year 2011 , a defense appropriations bill that would have repealed the US armed forces’ “Don’t ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy. The motion was rejected by a 56-43 vote largely along party lines. Senate Majority Leader Harry [...]
The UN panel of experts tasked with monitoring and assessing investigations into alleged war crimes during the 2008-2009 conflict in the Gaza Strip issued a report Tuesday criticizing the investigations being carried out by both Israel and Hamas, but positively assessing the work of the Palestinian Authority. According to the report, the Palestinian Authority’s work [...]
Officials for Imperial County , California, announced Tuesday that the county has submitted its opening brief in an appeal against last month’s federal court decision striking down California’s ban on same-sex marriage . District Judge Vaughn Walker denied Imperial’s request to intervene in the original suit in August, stating that the request was not timely. [...]
New York Governor David Paterson (D) signed a bill on Sunday allowing unmarried partners, including gay couples, to jointly adopt a child. The law amends the language of Section 110 of New York’s domestic relations law to allow two unmarried adult intimate partners to adopt a child. The New York Assembly passed the bill in [...]
A human rights group and lawyers for Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri , a Saudi man accused in connection with the 2000 USS Cole attack , filed a request Tuesday with Polish prosecutors for an investigation into al-Nashiri’s detention and treatment at a secret CIA prison in Poland. The request asks prosecutors to scrutinize al-Nashiri’s detention and [...]
International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Tuesday announced plans to present two cases against as many as six individuals who “bear the greatest responsibility” for the violence following the 2007 Kenyan presidential election . In March, the ICC’s pre-trial chamber granted the chief prosecutor authority to launch the investigation into crimes against [...]
A human rights expert told the UN Friday that Sudan is not prepared for its January 9 self-determination referendum that could divide the country in two. Mohamed Chande Othman, a Tanzanian judge and independent expert on the Sudan human rights situation, presented a report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva warning that Sudan [...]
Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Serge Brammertz called on Serbia and other governments Monday to increase efforts to find and arrest former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic . Brammertz said failure to arrest Mladic would send war criminals the message that if they avoid capture long enough, the [...]
