Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe vetoed a bill on Friday that would have codified the rights of students to pray voluntarily in school and at school events. The bill would also codify students’ right to organize prayer groups, clubs or events, to wear religious jewelry or clothing and to express religious views at school events. McAuliffe [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a lawsuit on Friday brought against officials of the Obama administration for the 2011 drone strikes that killed three US citizens in Yemen. The lawsuit was specifically brought against former defense secretary, Leon Panetta , former CIA director, David Petraeus and two [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Sara Benson of the University of Illinois College of Law discusses State Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s interpretation of the statute recently passed by the Illinois Legislature allowing same-sex marriage … Last summer the US Supreme Court issued an opinion striking down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in the [...]
On Thursday a federal judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Missouri ordered that a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) may continue, despite the state’s objection. The lawsuit is challenging a bill intended to protect the identities of individuals who provide direct support for the administration of [...]
On Friday a judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio , Timothy Black, vowed to overturn the state’s ban on the recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages. Black, who has issued other limited opinions recognizing same-sex marriages in narrow contexts, stated that Ohio’s refusal to recognize marriages entered into in other [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the US against resuming military assistance to Egypt until the country begins to make progress on developing basic freedoms or on its democratic transition. On Friday the group released a letter it sent to Secretary of State John Kerry earlier this week, shortly after the secretary made comments on [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Thursday upheld a regulation by the New York City Board of Education banning religious groups from holding worship services in school buildings. The ruling reverses a district court’s 2012 decision that the ban violated the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment . [...]
The Associated Press has discovered plans by the European Union to instate a war crimes tribunal to deal specifically with allegations focusing on offenses committed by Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian rebels during the 1998 war with Serbia. During the war, the Albanian rebels were supported by NATO and are still seen by many Kosovars as war [...]
French police on Friday arrested Radomir Susnjar , a Bosnian Serb paramilitary soldier suspected of killing 59 Muslim civilians during the Bosnian Civil War . Susnjar is suspected of involvement in the July 1992 killings in the town of Visegrad, where 59 civilians were locked in a building that was set on fire. Susnjar was [...]
Amnesty International (AI) announced on Tuesday the creation of a new global coalition that will work with world leaders to keep invasive surveillance systems and technologies out of the hands of dictators and oppressive regimes. The new organization is titled Coalition Against Unlawful Surveillance Exports (CAUSE) and includes eight global human rights groups. CAUSE is [...]
