The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling that would have granted inmate Michelle Kosilek taxpayer-funded sex-change surgery. The 3-2 decision overruled a 2012 decision by Judge Mark Wolf of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts . Michelle Kosilek, born Robert, is serving a [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania ruled Tuesday that parts of US President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration are unconstitutional. Judge Arthur Schwab found that the president’s action exceeds the scope of executive authority: “The court holds that the Executive Action is unconstitutional because it violates the [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein condemned the “savage extremism” of Taliban insurgents who killed at least 130 people, most of them children, at a school in Pakistan on Tuesday. This attack, described by Zeid as “an utterly despicable and incomprehensibly vicious attack on defenceless children,” led to his call to [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to review an injunction preventing the implementation of Arizona’s HB 2306 , considered one of the strictest abortion laws in the country. The injunction , upheld in June by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit , will remain in effect until a challenge by Planned [...]

International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told the UN Security Council Friday that her office is dropping its investigation into the situation in Darfur . According to Bensouda, there has been no substantial progress in the investigation into President Omar Al Bashir and his associates since 2009. The ICC lacks a policing force [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled 8-1 Monday in Heien v. North Carolina that a police officer’s mistake of law can provide the individualized suspicion that the Fourth Amendment requires to justify a traffic stop. The case involves the arrest of an automobile passenger for cocaine possession after the driver of the automobile was pulled over [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Monday in Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Company, LLC v. Owens that a defendant seeking removal to federal court must indicate only a plausible allegation that the amount in controversy exceeds the jurisdictional threshold. The notice need not contain evidentiary submissions. Under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) , defendants [...]

Families of victims in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Connecticut Monday, alleging that the manufacturer, distributor and seller of the rifle used in the shooting were negligent. The lawsuit names manufacturer Bushmaster, firearm distributor Camfour and store Riverview Gun Sales.The complaint asserts that [...]

The Nigerian human rights group Northern Coalition for Democracy and Justice (NCDJ) on Monday urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and charge presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari for post-election violence in 2011. The NCDJ alleged the violence, during which more than 800 people were killed, included acts of murder, torture and rape systematically directed [...]

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and State Solicitor Eric Murphy on Friday issued a asked the US Supreme Court to uphold the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decision declaring Ohio’s same-sex marriage ban constitutional. The officials cited the judge’s opinion that the matter should be left to democratic means and supported the [...]