Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was taken into police custody on Tuesday for questioning regarding allegations of misuse of influence and illegal campaign financing. Specifically, anti-corruption investigators are looking into whether Sarkozy used his political influence to encourage a judge to share information with him about judicial proceedings into his 2007 presidential campaign funding. It [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Kentucky on Thursday struck down a voter-approved amendment to the Kentucky constitution banning same-sex marriages. The lawsuit was filed by two same-sex couples who attempted to apply for a marriage license and were denied. The plaintiffs specifically argued that the voter approved §233A [...]
The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that France’s face covering ban is permissible under European law. In SAS v. France the court ruled 15-2 that the ban , which became effective in 2011, complies with all articles of the Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and, as a result, does not violate [...]
The US Supreme Court granted certiorari in eight cases Tuesday. In Young v. United Parcel Service the court will consider whether, and in what circumstances, an employer that provides work accommodations to non-pregnant employees with work limitations must provide work accommodations to pregnant employees who are “similar in their ability or inability to work.” The [...]
The New York Court of Appeals ruled Monday that towns can use zoning laws to ban hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking , within their town lines. In a 5-2 decision, the court ruled in favor of the towns of Dryden and Middlefield, which passed zoning ordinances in 2011 that prohibited gas drilling and fracking within [...]
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Monday unanimously affirmed a 30-year jail sentence for former army chief Augustin Bizimungu for his role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide . Bizimungu was found guilty in May 2011 on six counts of genocide and crimes against humanity for murder, extermination and rape in addition to violations [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled Monday that the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia erred in concluding that it lacked jurisdiction over a case of alleged torture in the Abu Ghraib prison because the alleged abuses occurred in Iraq. The case was brought in 2009 by four [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition for certiorari in an appeal from the US Court of Appeals for Ninth Circuit decision that California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard does not violate the Dormant Commerce Clause. The regulation requires reduction of carbon emissions for fuels. Emissions are measured by a “lifecycle analysis,” which includes [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Tung Yin of the Lewis & Clark Law School comments on the statement made by Donald Sterling and how the public outcry should give us pause to consider the underlying issues … Unless you’ve been completely avoiding TV, the Internet, newspapers, magazines and likely your family members and colleagues, it’s hard not [...]
A group of UN human rights experts for the expressed their anger Monday after an Egyptian court confirmed the death sentences of 183 people . According to the UN, all of the defendants were alleged supporters of ex-president Mohammed Morsi and his party the Muslim Brotherhood . The experts noted that the credibility of the [...]
