Colorado voters on Tuesday rejected Proposition 105 , a measure that would have required companies to label foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). According to preliminary results, the measure received only about 32 percent voter approval, with 68 percent opposed . Supporters of the measure argued that a label was not a ban, and would [...]

Voters in Alaska, Oregon and Washington, DC, voted Tuesday to legalize recreational marijuana. In Alaska Measure 2 , which passed with 52 percent of the vote , legalized recreational marijuana use for adults over the age of 21, allowing adults to “possess, use, show, buy, transport, or grow set amounts of marijuana.” The measure includes [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Kansas ruled Tuesday that the same-sex marriage ban in Kansas is unconstitutional. The judge found in favor of the plaintiff’s claim, which asserted that the law in Kansas denying same-sex couples the right to marry is unconstitutional. Judge Daniel Crabtree stated in his opinion: [...]

A three-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday heard oral arguments in a case challenging the National Security Agency’s (NSA) phone data surveillance program. Prior to oral arguments, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Electronic Frontier Foundation challenged in their amicus brief that the NSA [...]

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily blocked the enforcement of two abortion related laws until their constitutionality is fully litigated. House Bill 2684 , passed in 2012, limits medication abortions to the first seven weeks of a woman’s pregnancy. Senate Bill 1848 provides for more restrictions on the operation of abortion clinics within the [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases Tuesday. In Department of Homeland Security v. MacLean the court heard arguments on whether the code of Prohibited Personnel Practices can bar an agency from taking action against an employee who intentionally divulges sensitive security information. The Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) , which [...]

Israel’s Knesset Plenum on Tuesday announced their approval of the second and third readings of Parole Bill (amendment no. 14). The bill , proposed by MK Ayelet Shaked , will limit the power of the government to free prisoners as part of foreign relations prisoner swaps by allowing judges to label certain murders as exceptionally [...]

A Thai court sentenced university student Akkaradet Eiamsuwan to two-and-a-half years in prison for posting a message on Facebook that the court said insulted the country’s king. The criminal court judge found Eiamsuwan guilty of violating the nation’s lese majeste law, which punishes people who defame, insult or threaten the monarchy. Thailand’s lese-majeste law is [...]

The UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) on Monday opened its 53rd session and discussed the changes that have been made since the Convention Against Torture , an international legal framework to prevent torture and other types of inhumane treatment or punishment, was adopted 30 years ago. During the convention, UNCAT chairman Claudio Grossman expressed his [...]

A founder of the file-sharing website The Pirate Bay was arrested under an Interpol warrant on Monday when he was trying to cross from Laos into Thailand. Hans Fredrik Lennart Neij, along with other Pirate Bay co-founders, was convicted of aiding copyright infringement by a Swedish court in 2009, and fled the country after being [...]