The US Supreme Court denied certiorari . The main issue in the case was whether a defendant’s counsel can present one mitigating factor at the sentencing phase, without thoroughly investigating the possibility of other mitigating factors. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, dissented from the denial. Sotomayor argued that the court should [...]
Australia is using the island of Nauru as an “open-air prison,” putting refugees and asylum seekers through an abusive processing system as a means to prevent immigration, according to a report released by Amnesty International (AI) on Monday. The report claims that Australia has ignored the 1951 Refugee Convention by subjecting attempted asylum seekers and [...]
Less than 24-hours after canceling a hearing on the vote-by-mail ballots, District Judge Mark Walker for the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida issued an order requiring Florida to provide a method for voters to fix signature problems arising from vote-by-mail ballots. Walker was highly critical of the state’s opposition to allowing [...]
A former Chinese senior energy official who had hoarded 200 million yuan ($29.99 million) has been given a suspended death sentence after being convicted of corruption. Wei Pengyuan, who had been the deputy director of the coal department at the National Energy Administration, was accused of abusing his position to approve coal projects and take [...]
The Bahrain Court of Cassation on Monday overturned the sentence of Shiite opposition leader Ali Salman , who had been convicted for inciting hatred and encouraging violent regime change and sentenced to multiple years imprisonment . The court ordered a retrial of Salman, whose original sentence of four years was increased to nine by the [...]
The Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah , issued a decree to dissolve the parliament on Sunday. The decision was made due to “mounting security challenges as well as volatile regional developments.” As of late tension has been rising between the government and parliament, as parliament members had sought to question government leaders regarding [...]
US District Court for the Northern District of Florida , issued an order on Saturday cancelling a hearing on a lawsuit regarding vote-by-mail ballots. Judge Mark Walker was highly critical of Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner for previously delaying the hearing, accusing him of “us every second available to run out the clock” in [...]
Women from various African countries gathered at Mt. Kilimanjaro to demand land rights Saturday during observations of International Day of Rural Women . The protest, dubbed the “Kilimanjaro initiative,” is an attempt to bring attention to the denial of land rights and unequal treatment women are facing in various sectors. Uniting behind the social media [...]
The United Nations (UN) on Sunday called for for changes to the ways in which the agriculture industry produces food due to climate change. The message was part of the annual World Food Day commemoration where UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called on the world to recognized that changing global temperatures are impacting the supply [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Mark Johnson Roberts, Chair of the American Bar Association Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, responds that the new anti-discrimination ABA Model Rule is not an attack on free speech… On August 17, JURIST published a Professional Commentary from attorney Brad Abramson entitled, “American Bar Association Attacks Attorney Speech Rights” concerning [...]
