The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to rule on a challenge to New Jersey’s pension reforms filed on behalf on public employees of New Jersey, including teachers and state troopers. The suit was originally filed in New Jersey state court and argued that the state government is statutorily obligated to fully contribute to state [...]
The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) recommended Monday that the Canadian correctional system put an end to solitary confinement in provincial jails. Chief Commissioner Renu Mandhane stressed that such segregation practices disproportionately impact mentally ill inmates as well as minorities and women. Though Mandhane acknowledges that solitary confinement can not be automatically eliminated, she believes [...]
Court-appointed prosecutors in Japan on Monday charged three former utility executives with counts of negligence in relation to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) executives Tsunehisa Katsumata, Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro were charged for their failure to foresee and prepare for the tsunami in 2011. Prosecutors allege that the [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Ryan Stoa of Florida International University School of Law discusses the lessons from the Flint, Michigan water crisis … When I teach Water Resources Law to my students, I often start each semester by juxtaposing two competing conceptualizations: water as a private commodity vs. water as a human right. The contrast demonstrates [...]
A German court ruled Monday that 95-year-old former Nazi SS medic was not fit to attend court for criminal charges stemming from his time at Auschwitz. Hubert Z is accused of being an accessory to the murder of 3,681 people at Auschwitz. He was scheduled to go on trial Monday following a ruling last December [...]
Louisiana abortion clinics and doctors on Friday filed a new application with the US Supreme Court attempting to block a 2014 state law that would require three of the four remaining abortion clinics in the state to close. The law, which went into effect for the first time on Thursday after the US Court of [...]
A Saudi Arabian court on Saturday sentenced a man to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for expressing atheist sentiments in recent social media posts. The religious police of Saudi Arabia, who are in charge of monitoring social media in the country, found more than 600 tweets that contained atheist rhetoric. Some tweets denied [...]
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Sunday that he rejects a court ruling that the detention of two journalists violated their rights. Two Turkish journalists were released from Silivri prison early Friday after Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that the detention violated their personal liberty, security, and freedom of expression and press. Can Dundar and [...]
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe on Friday signed gun safety measures into law that will prevent domestic abusers and certain types of criminals from owning and carrying guns. The laws will still allow individuals to have concealed-carry permits from any state. However, the new laws will require domestic abusers to surrender their weapons with 24 hours [...]
A Guantanamo Bay prisoner accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks testified on Friday that he has been subject to torment and mistreatment by prison guards. Ramzi bin al Shibh, from Yemen, is facing the death penalty with four other defendants for allegedly providing money and information to the 9/11 hijackers. His attorneys on Wednesday [...]
