The New Mexico legislature on Saturday passed a bill that will end civil asset forfeiture in the state. The bill, HB 560, was passed in the senate by a vote of 37-0. Civil asset forfeiture is a police practice in which authorities can take an individual’s property without charging that person for a crime. The [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi Sunday to reject amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure that would interfere with the rights of defense lawyers to call witnesses during trials. The amendments, which were adopted by the Egyptian cabinet in February, give judges the sole discretion in determining what witness [...]
Pakistani authorities have postponed the execution of an inmate convicted as a minor, a decision welcomed Friday by a group of independent UN human rights experts. Authorities are conducting an investigation into the age of Shafqat Hussain, who may have been as young as 14 when he was sentenced to death after being convicted of [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Eric Berger, of the University of Nebraska College of Law, considers whether the US Supreme Court is ready to finally invalidate bans on same-sex marriages on the national scale and tries to predict what issues the US Supreme Court would address in such decision … The US Supreme Court appears ready to [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin ruled Friday that a state law requiring doctors performing abortions to have privileges to admit patients to a nearby hospital is unconstitutional. Planned Parenthood and Affiliated Medical Services sued the state, claiming that the law, 2013 Wisconsin Act 37 , restricted access [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled Friday that the Department of Defense (DOD) must release photographs requested by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for images depicting the abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. Judge Alvin Hellerstein [...]
US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell on Friday announced the publication of a rule regulating fracking on federal land . The rule is intended to ensure that wells are properly constructed to protect water supplies, to make certain that the fluids that flow back to the surface as a result of hydraulic fracturing operations [...]
Puerto Rican officials announced Friday that Puerto Rico is ending its defense of a same-sex marriage ban. Article 68 of Puerto Rico’s Civil Code contains the territory’s same-sex marriage rules. Justice Secretary César Miranda stated, “It neither fair nor correct to defend the constitutionality of that law.” This announcement comes after the US District Court [...]
A military court in Warsaw on Thursday cleared four Polish soldiers of war crimes violations in Afghanistan. The trial began in February 2009. The soldiers were prosecuted for violating provisions of the Geneva Conventions , which provide protection for civilian villages that pose no threat to soldiers, while stationed in Afghanistan. Prosecutor Jakub Mytych provided [...]
The Bangkok Military Court on Friday sentenced 67-year-old Opas Chansuksai to 18 months in prison for insulting the monarchy under the nation’s lese majeste laws. Chansuksai was arrested for insulting King Bhumibol Adulyadej in bathroom graffitti last October, and later confessed to the charges. Observers noted that Chansuksai’s sentence is much less than is normally [...]
