The US Supreme Court on Friday refused to block Texas from enforcing its controversial voter identification law. Plaintiffs had filed an application with the Supreme Court last month, asking the court to vacate a stay that allowed the voter ID law to remain in place. The issue is currently pending before the US Court of [...]
The US Supreme Court approved a rule change Thursday that would permit US judges to issue search warrants granting access to computers in any jurisdiction. Chief Justice John Roberts sent the changes to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to Congress, which has until December 1 to approve, reject or amend the rule. Under the [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Joyce Lee Malcolm of the George Mason School of Law discusses judicial precedent for Second Amendment rights… The decision of Connecticut judge Barbara Bellis to ignore federal law by permitting gun manufacturers to be sued for criminal use of a gun is part of a disturbing pattern. The affirmation of a Second [...]
The Constitutional Court of Colombia on Thursday legalized same-sex marriage. In a 6-3 decision , the court found that same-sex marriage does not violate the country’s constitution . The decision comes just weeks after the court dismissed a petition for equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. Under the ruling, state officials must allow same-sex couples [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Joaquin G. Avila, a voting rights attorney, discusses the Supreme Court decision regarding voter populations… Evenwel v Abbott was correctly decided. The Court basically held that states are not required to use eligible voter population data to create election districts that are equally populated. Based upon constitutional history, settled practice and precedent, [...]
The US House of Representatives voted unanimously Wednesday to pass the Email Privacy Act” . The purpose of the bill is to protect the e-mail correspondence of American citizens, as under the current Electronic Communications Privacy Act, passed in 1986, local and federal police agencies have the ability to read e-mails at will that are [...]
China passed a new law Thursday restricting non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and subjecting them to intense governmental scrutiny and other obligations such as reporting their sources of income and increasing the number of reasons for which their licenses will be revoked, including spreading rumors. Amnesty International (AI) stated that under the new law, “authorities—particularly the police—will [...]
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam on Wednesday announced that he signed into law a bill allowing therapists to refuse to treat patients based on religious objections, when that patient’s “goals, outcomes or behaviors” conflict with the counselor’s “sincerely held principles.” The bill permits therapists to refuse service only if the individual is not in imminent danger, [...]
Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison on bank fraud charges relating to his payment of hush money to alleged sexual abuse victims. In Judge Thomas Durkin’s federal district courtroom, Hastert admitted for the first time that he sexually abused student athletes while working as a teacher in Illinois. [...]
Residents of Flint, Michigan, represented by attorney Michael Pitt , filed an administrative complaint against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Monday for negligence in handling the Flint water crisis. The suit alleges that the EPA was notified of contamination in the Flint water supply long before acting in any substantive way to mitigate the harm [...]
