The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on Monday urged the Burundi government to allow UN police officers into the country to monitor potential human rights abuses. CERD says it has deep concerns about the Burundi government’s responses to reports of armed militia intimidating civilians, the use of “hate speech” by government [...]
The Egyptian State council, a part of the Egyptian judicial system tasked with reviewing proposed legislation, approved a bill Monday regulating and restricting non government organizations (NGO) operating in Egypt. The bill would require NGOs to “agree with the state’s plan, development needs and priorities” and ensure that “all data on financing sources, activities, protocols, [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in Bravo-Fernandez v. US that the double jeopardy clause does not bar the government from retrying defendants after a jury has returned inconsistent verdicts and the convictions are later vacated due to legal error unrelated to the inconsistency of the jury. The court relied heavily on the precedent set [...]
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Monday named Susan Kiefel Australia’s chief Justice, marking the first time that a woman will hold the highest position on the High Court since its inception in 1903. The vacancy was created after Chief Justice Robert French announced that he would step down from the court in January. Kiefel [...]
The Green Party filed a lawsuit on Monday in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania contesting the presidential election results tallied on November 8. The claim offers as grounds for its motion news articles from the New York Times, NBC, Wired, the Chicago Tribune and others alleging hacker involvement in the election as well as the [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in Beckles v. United States , a case analyzing whether the residual definition of “crime of violence” in §4B1.2 of the US Sentencing Guildelines (USSG) is unconstitutionally vague. The case comes after the court’s 2015 decision in Johnson v. United States , which held that a residual [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Professor John B. Quigley of the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law argues that international changes to approaching and monitoring Iran’s nuclear program have made recent congressional action unnecessary… The Iran Sanctions Extension Act was adopted by the US House of Representatives on November 15, and it may be passed by [...]
UN Secretary-General-elect Antonio Guterres said while visiting Beijing on Monday that he wants UN peacekeepers to be better trained and more respectful of human rights. Guterres stressed the need “to make sure that there is an effective combination of human rights, of the civil and political rights and the economic and social rights in a [...]
A group of German lawyers on Monday announced the filing of charges against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, alleging that he committed war crimes in Aleppo. As Germany has the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows countries to sue foreigners for international crimes, they are allowing the suit on that ground. The lawyers, citing reports from [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday asked the Obama administration to comment on New Mexico’s lawsuit against Colorado over the Gold King Mine waste spill , which released 3 million gallons of contaminated water. New Mexico sued Colorado over the spill in June demanding that Colorado be held responsible for the contamination as well as [...]
