UN human rights experts called Wednesday for the immediate protection of thousands of Syrian civilians. According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights , Islamic State (IS) militants have recently seized a number of villages in northern Syria, putting individuals living near the border of Turkey at risk. There has been some [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Tuesday denied a motion to reconsider a three-judge panel’s ruling in favor of a transgender Virginia student. The case, G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board , concerns whether Title IX provides protection to individuals who identify as having a gender other than their birth gender [...]
Col. Morris Davis, former chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo military commissions, settled a freedom of speech lawsuit on Tuesday against the Library of Congress after Davis was terminated from his position as assistant director of the Congressional Research Service due to his criticism of the Obama administration’s decision to resume use of the military commissions [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday challenged a federal judge’s order requiring DOJ lawyers to attend ethics classes. Judge Andrew Hanen of the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas ordered government attorneys to take ethics classes after he accused them of misleading him in a legal challenge to President Barack [...]
A senior adviser to the European Court of Justice submitted an advisory opinion Tuesday finding the July 2014 EU economic sanctions against Russia legally valid. In response to a challenge by Russian oil and gas company Rosneft , Melchior Wathelet found all but one sanction to be valid and asked the court to adopt his [...]
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday refused a request to decide on whether the death penalty is unconstitutional. Lamondre Tucker, who murdered his pregnant girlfriend in 2008 asked the court to grant certiorari in Tucker v. Louisiana to rule on the constitutionality of the death penalty. Justice Stephen Breyer dissented from the denial of certiorari, [...]
Te Cambodian parliament voted Monday to allow the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to open an investigation into opposition leader Kem Sohka regarding his alleged involvement with a prostitute. Many have called this move an attempt by the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) , which supports political incumbent Hun Sen, to take Kem Sohka out of the [...]
A legal adviser to the European Court of Justice issued an opinion Tuesday finding that an employer may ban an employee from wearing a headscarf for religious purposes. Written by Advocate General Juliane Kokott , the opinion holds that “If the ban is based on a general company rule which prohibits political, philosophical and religious [...]
The UN Refuge Agency (UNHCR) reported Tuesday that more than 2,500 people have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean and enter into Europe in 2016, marking an increase from the previous year. In the past week alone, it is estimated that 880 people died after their vessels either sank or capsized along the dangerous passage. [...]
The US Supreme Court granted certiorari Tuesday in State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. v. United States ex rel. Rigsby , a case concerning allegations that the insurance company defrauded the government in assessing damage following Hurricane Katrina . The court limited to grant to question 1: “What standard governs the decision whether to dismiss [...]
