Six couples filed a federal lawsuit Thursday challenging South Dakota’s ban on same-sex marriage . The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of South Dakota , challenges a law passed by the legislature in 1996 and a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2006. The suit claims that the laws violate [...]
The US House of Representatives voted 303-121 Thursday to approve a bill that would curb the powers of the National Security Agency (NSA) to collect phone records. The USA Freedom Act would end the bulk collection of phone records and instead require the NSA to query phone companies about individual suspicious phone numbers. Supporters have [...]
The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday sentenced Congolese militia leader Germain Katanga to 12 years in prison for war crimes. Katanga, the alleged commander of the Patriotic Resistance Forces in Ituri, an armed militia group from the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was convicted in March on four counts [...]
British Petroleum (BP) announced Wednesday that it will appeal a recent US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decision to the US Supreme Court . The March decision by the Fifth Circuit rejected BP’s claim that payments to alleged oil spill victims claiming economic losses should be excluded because the damages were not traceable [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana filed a complaint on Thursday reviving a challenge to the state’s same-sex marriage ban that was dismissed in December 2012. In contrast to previous cases, this complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief specifically targets the 2004 state constitutional amendment that bans same-sex marriage, whereas other cases targeted multiple [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Sascha-Dominik Bachmann of Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom argues that while their recent annexation of Crimea and apparent willingness to use military force in Eastern Ukraine, the prospect of a Ukrainian civil war has diminished the need for Russia to engage in an overt and open military intervention—at least for the [...]
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett announced on Wednesday that he will not appeal a federal court ruling that struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage . Corbett stated that the ruling, authored by Judge John Jones E. Jones III , goes against his political and religious beliefs. However, Corbett said that he would not appeal [...]
The Louisiana State Legislature approved a bill on Wednesday that requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. If the bill becomes law, it will likely shut down three of the state’s five abortion clinics. Proponents of the bill argue that admitting privileges requirements further the objective of promoting women’s [...]
Thailand’s new military junta leader, General Prayuth Chan-ocha , announced on Thursday the military has seized control of the country and suspended its constitution. Chan-ocha became the leader of Thailand’s army in 2010 and has proclaimed an interest in keeping the army neutral, but over the years his ties to the political system have strengthened. [...]
Tunisia’s Interior Ministry announced on Wednesday the national police arrested eight suspected terrorists who entered the north-African country from neighboring Libya. It iss believed the terrorists received weapons and explosives training in Libya, and Tunisian Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui stated : “This group of eight extremists came from Libya … planning to assassinate [...]
