According to a 56-page report by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International , Ukrainian government officials and Russia-backed separatists in the Ukraine have subjected citizen to “prolonged, arbitrary detention,” torture, or other forms of inhumane treatment, including refusing necessary medical attention. The report examined nine instances of arbitrary, prolonged detention of citizens by both Ukrainian [...]
On Thursday, Michigan Attorney General spokesman John Sellek said that Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette and Secretary of State Ruth Johnson plan to appeal an injunction on the state’s law eliminating straight-ticket voting. In his 37-page decision, Eastern District of Michigan Southern Division Judge Gershwin A. Drain enjoined enforcement of the law, stating that the [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Stephen Cooper, a former DC public defender, addresses prosecutor Michele Hanisee’s remarks concerning the death penalty in California… Speaking in favor of Proposition 66, the ballot initiative that seeks to speed up executions in California to Texas-like levels of lethality, Los Angeles deputy district attorney Michele Hanisee told legislators during testimony before [...]
The Washington Supreme Court Thursday found an antibegging ordinance under the Lakewood Municipal Code to be unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds. The court found that the ordinance restricted protected speech in a public forum and was therefore invalid. The restrictions, which the court referred to as “content-based,” prohibited begging in several areas such as ramps, [...]
Today the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde was ordered by a French court to face criminal trial for her negligence in facilitating a $400 million government payout to French businessman, and Nicolas Sarkozy supporter, Bernard Tapie. Lagarde is accused of allowing Tapie’s case to be decided upon by an arbitration panel, as [...]
The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Wednesday reopened a complaint by the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) against mortgage giant, Freddie Mac . The complaint, based on Third Amendment grounds, was originally filed in 2008. OPERS is a state-pension plan for Ohio employees which purchased stock in Freddie Mac in 2006 and 2007. [...]
On Thursday Indonesian officials rejected the findings of the international people’s tribunal formed at the Hague that Indonesia had committed crimes against humanity in killing the country’s communist party members and followers in the 1960s. The tribunal had held Idonesia was responsible for over 400,000 killings, and the tribunal called upon the state to investigate [...]
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a complaint today in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the “anti-circumvention” and “anti-trafficking” provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) . The complaint alleges that the act infringes on the rights of citizens of the United States to “tinker” with lawfully purchased [...]
Yesterday the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in State v. Al-Sharif Scriven that the use of high beams on an automobile does not present enough reasonable suspicion for a police officer to stop the vehicle. The officer, on foot, had originally stopped the car in which Mr. Scriven was a passenger for supposedly violating a [...]
Software developer Bitmanagement Software GmbH has filed a lawsuit against the United States Navy in the United States Court of Federal Claims . In its complaint, the German software company claims the Navy infringed copyrights owned by Bitmanagement Software GmbH, in particular through copying and installing the company’s three-dimensional virtual reality software – BS Contact [...]
