The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Wednesday in McCutcheon v. FEC that limits on overall campaign contributions by individual donors are unconstitutional. The court previously held in Buckley v. Valeo that limits on contributions implicate First Amendment interests but that limits may be imposed so long as they are narrowly drawn to further a compelling [...]
The High Court of Australia ruled on Wednesday that a person can be legally recognized as gender neutral. “Norrie,” who was born male but underwent a “sex affirmation procedure” in 1989, sought to be officially categorized as gender “non specific.” Though the NSW Regisry of Birth, Deaths, and Marriages initially granted the request, it later [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled Wednesday In Northwest Inc. v. Ginsberg that federal aviation law preempts a state law claim for breach of contract. Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg sued Northwest Airlines for breach of implied covenant of good faith in dealing under Minnesota state contract law after the airline removed him from their frequent flyer program. [...]
The death toll in the three-year Syrian conflict has exceeded 150,000, a British-based human rights group announced on Tuesday. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) , 150,344 persons have died since the uprising began in March 2011. The death toll includes 51,212 civilians, including 7,985 children and 5,266 women. The numbers do [...]
Thailand’s Constitutional Court announced Wednesday that they will hear a case accusing Prime Minster Yingluck Shinawatra of misconduct for transferring her National Security Council chief to another position. The complaint, filed by opposition leaders, accuses Shinwatra of violating the Constitution when in 2009 she demoted Tawin Pleansri from his position as head of the National [...]
Mississippi lawmakers on Tuesday passed the Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act , pursuant to which the state would be prohibited from taking action that “burdens” a citizen’s right to religious exercise if Governor Phil Bryant signs the measure into law. The law defines “burden” as including a state decision to withhold benefits, to assess criminal, [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday urged the administration of US President Barack Obama to endorse the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty , which flatly prohibits land mines and requires their removal. HRW asserts that, while the US contributes to mine clearance and victim assistance more than any other nation, it should also ban formally the [...]
Lebanon’s parliament passed a law on Tuesday criminalizing domestic violence. The new law comes after a long campaign by woman’s rights groups triggered by the death of multiple woman allegedly from abuse by their husbands. Such domestic violence sparked large-scale protests through the streets of the Lebanese capitol of Beirut on March 8, International Women’s [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled Tuesday that the administration of Florida Governor Rick Scott violated federal law when attempting to remove “non-citizen” voters from the rolls in the 2012 presidential election. The court ruled that the voter purge before the election violated the National Voter Registration Act , which requires [...]
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged global leaders Tuesday to commit to ensuring the protection of human rights and an end to mass atrocities. The Secretary-General spoke positively of progress that has been made in holding perpetrators of genocide accountable for their actions, especially with the creation of various international criminal tribunals in countries such as [...]
