The US Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that extending an already completed traffic stop in order to conduct a drug sniff violates the Constitution as an unreasonable seizure. In a 6-3 decision by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the majority held in Rodriguez v. United States that “a seizure justified only by a police-observed traffic violation, therefore, [...]
Oskar Groening, a former Auschwitz guard, admitted in his opening statement before a court in Germany Tuesday that he shared the burden of moral guilt for his role at Auschwitz, which earned him the title, “Accountant of Auschwitz,” but left it to the judges to determine if his actions were sufficient to be convicted as [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in favor of Learjet and other natural gas retail purchasers in their action against interstate natural gas pipeline ONEOK, finding that the Natural Gas Act does not provide the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission exclusive control over the actions of energy firms. Learjet, representing a group of institutions that buy [...]
Former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday after being convicted of inciting violence and ordering the killing and torturing of protesters in 2012. The court did not convict Morsi, or any of the 14 other defendants, of murder, which could have resulted in death sentences. The former democratically elected [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Griffen Thorne, Student at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, discusses water use restrictions in the State of California … On April 1, 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown issued Executive Order B-29-15 (“EO”), which mandates gargantuan water-use restrictions throughout the State and which will remain in effect through February 28, 2016. The [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday on whether possession of a sawed-off shotgun should be considered a violent felony under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) . In Johnson v. US the court specifically is considering whether the residual clause in the ACCA is constitutionally vague. The ACCA stipulates that a mandatory 15-year [...]
Somali government officials evicted thousands of displaced people from Mogadishu in early March, Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated Monday. The Somali government order stated that people were to be evicted from a 600-650 meter section of Mogadishu within a week. Security forces reportedly beat residents resisting the eviction, destroyed all their shelters and threatened individuals. [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday denied certiorari in a case in which relatives of guerrilla conflict victims in Colombia sought to sue Chiquita Brand International for human rights abuses. Family members of several thousand victims of paramilitary violence in Colombia filed suit in April 2010 against Chiquita Brand International, which has admitted to funding [...]
UN rights experts warned the EU on Monday that repression of irregular migration cannot be the only solution to the recurrent grave problem of masses of people drowning at sea. The experts said they were encouraged by the decision to hold an EU summit on the issue and urged states to use the summit to [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday threw out a North Carolina court ruling that upheld Republican-drawn electoral districts for state and congressional lawmakers. The case, Dickson v. Rucho , was remanded to the Supreme Court of North Carolina for further consideration in light of a similar ruling issued last month by the Supreme Court in [...]
