The Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a bill to legalize the use and distribution of medical marijuana. The bill, passed by a vote of 149-43, authorizes the use of medical marijuana for patients suffering from serious medical conditions and establishes guidelines and duties for the facilitation of the program. It is expected that [...]
The Supreme Court of Ohio on Wednesday ruled that the state can execute a man whose execution was halted in 2009 after a failed attempt to administer lethal injection drugs. Romell Broom was to be put to death by lethal injection, but the execution was called off after two hours when officials could not insert [...]
US President Barrack Obama on Wednesday issued an executive order that will impose new sanctions on North Korea for their recent actions of nuclear and ballistic missile testing. The executive order imposes sanctions that include a ban on exports of goods, services and technology to North Korea and prohibits any new investment with the nation. [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Dr. Barry A. Feinstein of Netanya Academic College School of Law discusses the recent seizure of US naval ships and personnel by Iran… For more than a year and two months, Iranians held hostage at any given time some 50 to 70 United States diplomats and other citizens after students overran the [...]
An independent UN human rights expert on Wednesday encouraged EU leaders to remain steadfast in their obligations to handle the recent influx of migrants to the EU and to avoid making Turkey the “gatekeeper.” The remarks from the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, were delivered the day before the [...]
The Dutch parliament on Tuesday passed a bill that would ban weapon exports to Saudi Arabia. The Netherlands is now the first country to pass formal legislation banning exports to Riyadh, after a February decision by the European Parliament urged EU countries to impose a ban due to the ongoing conflict between Saudi Arabia and [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reached a settlement with the city of Biloxi, Mississippi, on Tuesday in a lawsuit alleging that the detention of defendants unable to pay fines for misdemeanor charges exhibited deliberate indifference to their constitutional rights. The settlement requires Biloxi to provide a public defender for people with qualifying circumstances like [...]
Judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) issued a decision Wednesday rescinding the summons for Serbian national Vojislav Seselj to appear in court on March 31 for a verdict. The judges cited Seselj’s medical treatments, which could not be carried out in The Hague. Seselj had previously refused to come to [...]
The Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Central African Republic (CAR), Marie-Thérèse Keita-Bocoum, made her sixth visit to the nation on Wednesday and shared an update on the human rights situation with President Faustin Archange Touadéra. Touadera was elected in February. Keita-Bocoum noted improvements in the nation’s human rights situation, but [...]
The US Senate unanimously passed an amendment to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Tuesday. The bill was introduced by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) early in 2015 and passed through the Senate legislative process with relative ease. Upon floor debate, Churck Grassley (R-IA) outlined that the improvements the amendment will have [...]
