UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Tomas Ojea Quintana released a report Friday criticizing the government of Myanmar for long-standing human rights abuses and said some of those might qualify as war crimes prosecutable by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Quintana observed: there is a pattern of gross [...]
Taiwanese Justice Minister Wang Ching-feng resigned Thursday in defense of her position against the death penalty. Though Taiwan has not executed a criminal since 2005, Wang said she would not sign the execution warrants of any of the 44 prisoners still on death row. Her resignation was sparked by possible criticism of her position by [...]
US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg endorsed a ban on the election of judges at the state and local level on Thursday while speaking at a conference for the National Association of Women Judges . Ginsburg said she supported her former colleague, retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor , in her campaign to urge state [...]
The Chinese government responded on Friday to the release of a US human rights report critical of China by issuing its own report criticizing the US human rights record. The report covered issues relating to crime, racial discrimination, and poverty, and accused the US of using its hegemonic power to continue "trampling" on the sovereignty [...]
Deborah Fleischaker : "Last week, John Gramlich of the indispensable news site, stateline.org, reported on the political fallout in several states where policymakers have employed early prison release programs to combat overcrowded prisons and rising budget deficits. Several cash-strapped states from Florida to California have looked for budget savings by expediting the release of non-violent [...]
The US Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday unanimously approved a bill to reduce sentencing disparities for powder and crack cocaine offenses. The Fair Sentencing Act, introduced by Senator Dick Durbin , is intended to bridge the gap between crack and powder cocaine sentencing by amending the Controlled Substances Act and the Controlled Substances Import and Export [...]
JURIST Contributing Editor Jordan Paust of the University of Houston Law Center says regularly constituted military courts-martial could be a plausible third option for federal prosecution of members of al Qaeda and the Taliban outside of federal district courts or US military commissions….. Where should we be trying members of al Qaeda and the Taliban? [...]
Newdow, et al. v. Roe, et al., US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, March 11, 2010 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has more on the Pledge of Allegiance.
The Swedish Parliament on Thursday voted 131-130 to approve a resolution that recognizes the Ottoman Empire's killing of Armenians between 1915 and 1923 as genocide . Of the 349 assembly members, 88 were absent . The resolution was opposed by the ruling center-right coalition and supported by the opposition left. It passed when several members [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday that a teacher-led recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools does not violate the constitution. Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow had challenged the practice on behalf of several families, arguing that the phrase "under God" violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment [...]
