The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Thursday upheld same-sex marriage bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. The three-judge panel ruled 2-1 that a change in the traditional definition of marriage as between one man and one woman should come from the legislative process rather than the courts: When the courts [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Kateryna Dronova, of VoxUkraine, discusses the Ukranian regulations governing IDP protection… On October 20, 2014 the Ukrainian Parliament passed the Law on the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced People (hereinafter the Law on IDP). This piece of legislation generally makes a good impression on the public and reflects the willingness of [...]
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Committee on the Rights of the Child on Wednesday released a joint recommendation on the obligations of states towards the prevention and elimination of the harmful practices inflicted upon women and girls. This first collaboration between the two committees delineates the obligations [...]
The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) , Fatou Bensouda, said Thursday there is no reasonable basis to continue the investigation of a 2010 raid by the Israeli Defense Forces on flotilla vessels headed for Gaza. While the prosecutor said that there was a “reasonable basis to believe that war crimes … were committed” [...]
Envoys from the US and UK strongly criticized the Egyptian government Wednesday during a session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Remarks by the two nations came during the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) a regular review process, which all UN member states undergo. The US and UK voiced concern over the [...]
Libya’s Supreme Court on Thursday declared the UN-backed elected parliament unconstitutional. The ongoing crisis in Libya has created two rival parliaments , one based in the nation’s capital Tripoli, and the other, which was declared illegitimate by the high court, based in the northeastern city of Tobruk. The court, in a televised ruling, found that [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases on Wednesday. In Yates v. United States the court considered the definition of “tangible objects” in 18 USC § 1519 , a statute that criminalizes anyone who “knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or [...]
St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison ruled Wednesday that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. The St. Louis Circuit judge ruled that the Missouri Constitution violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution . In his opinion, Burlison rejected the state’s uniform definition of marriage by stating, “A [...]
California voters on Tuesday approved Proposition 47 , a ballot initiative reducing the penalties associated with certain low-level drug and property crimes, receiving 58 percent voter approval . Under the measure, crimes related to possession of drugs for personal use and theft of property worth $950 or less are to be charged as misdemeanors unless [...]
The Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday to withdraw from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) , raising concerns about the welfare of the country’s migrant population. Following a 1999 report that criticized the Dominican Republic’s treatment of Haitians, the IACHR issued a motion of provisional measures to prevent further the country’s expulsion [...]
