The Washington State Human Rights Commission determined Friday that a heterosexual woman could not use the state's gay civil rights law to secure health care benefits for her male partner because a federal law on the topic trumps the state law. Sandi Scott-Moore filed a claim in August arguing that her employer discriminated against her [...]
The Democratic-controlled Montana Senate voted 27-21 Friday to give second-reading approval to a bill that would eliminate the death penalty in Montana. Third reading is slated for February 24 before the measure goes to the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives . Eleven US states have recently suspended the death penalty pending review of the manner [...]
US District Judge Mark Wolf dismissed a lawsuit Friday against a Massachusetts town that allows its public school system to teach children about same-sex marriage . Two families of elementary school students filed the suit last year to stop the school from reading homosexual-themed books to their children without first notifying parents, arguing that the [...]
The United States Friday rejected an international call to ban the use of cluster munitions by 2008. State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack told reporters at a daily press briefing that the United States "takes the position that munitions do have a place and a use in military inventories, given the right technology as well as [...]
Judge William R. Wilson Jr. of the US District Court of Eastern Arkansas ruled Friday that the Little Rock School District was "substantially complying" with its Revised Desegregation and Education Plan ("Revised Plan") and released the school district from court supervision . The Little Rock School District voluntarily entered into the Revised Plan in 1998 [...]
An independent report by UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories John Dugard to be presented to the 4th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva next month criticizes Israel's continued military occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), and characterizes "elements of the occupation constituting forms of colonialism and… [...]
Declaration, Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions, February 23, 2007 . Read the full text of the Declaration . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Jakob Kellenberger told reporters Friday that all sides of the conflict in the Sudan are violating international humanitarian law . The statement came after Kellenberger completed a 5-day trip to the country that included time in the Darfur region . While holding the Sudanese government primarily responsible [...]
United Nations human rights experts Friday condemned a proposed Nigerian law banning gay marriage and tightening laws criminalizing homosexuality in the country. While engaging in homosexual acts in Nigeria is already punishable by death by stoning, the UN experts said the new law, which authorizes a maximum five-year sentence for any person found to be [...]
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced a plan to release some prisoners convicted of nonviolent crime to alleviate the burden on California’s overcrowded prison system . The move comes in response to various federal actions, including one as recently as last week by US District Judge Thelton E. Henderson of the Northern District of California [...]
