Alabama legislature rejects bill allowing for resentencing of death row inmates
The Alabama House of Representatives rejected a bill on Wednesday that would allow the resentencing of death row inmates who were sentenced by a trial judge. The bill was defeated in Alabama’s House Judicial Committee by a 9-4 vote. In 2016, the US Supreme Court issued an opinion on Hursts v. Florida finding, “The Sixth [...]
Nevada Supreme Court upholds state ban on ghost guns, reversing lower-court decision
The Nevada Supreme Court upheld a 2021 state ban on ghost guns Thursday, overturning a lower-court decision that declared the law unconstitutional for being vague. Ghost guns are guns without serial numbers and are usually assembled by the user. Justice Lidia S. Stiglich authored the opinion of the court. Stiglich ruled that the law’s definition [...]
The 2024 US presidential election will be historic on several fronts. It will be the first rematch between presidential candidates since Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower faced down Democrat Adlai Stevenson in 1956. At 81 and 77 respectively, incumbent candidate Joe Biden and his adversary Donald Trump are the oldest major party frontrunners in the history [...]
Maine legislature approves sweeping gun control bill in the wake of deadly mass shooting
The Maine legislature on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday approved several sweeping gun control measures, including increased waiting periods, background checks, expansion of court-ordered firearm forfeiture and a prohibition on selling firearms to those who aren’t legally permitted to own them. The first bill approved by the legislature was the “Act to Strengthen Public Safety by [...]
The UK Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that part of the UK’s trade union laws are incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Section 146 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA) was held to breach Article 11 of the ECHR, which guarantees the right to freedom of assembly and [...]
Azerbaijan asks ICJ to drop racial discrimination case started by Armenia
Azerbaijan asked the judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday to throw out the “racial discrimination” case started by Armenia in September 2021, where the latter accused Azerbaijan of discrimination and ethnic cleansing of Armenian people in violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). [...]
US Supreme Court declines to hear appeal from Black Lives Matter organizer being sued for negligence
The US Supreme Court Monday declined a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by Black Lives Matter organizer DeRay Mckesson, effectively allowing him to be sued by a Louisiana police officer for negligence. The case at bar, DeRay Mckesson v. John Doe, centers around a protest that took place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on July [...]
SCOTUS dispatch: government lawyer grilled for an hour on meaning of federal corruption statute
Gijs de Bra is a JURIST Assistant Editor and SCOTUS special correspondent, and a 2L at Cornell Law School. When, if ever, does a person “corruptly” solicit or offer a gift with intent to influence government action? That question kept Colleen Sinzdak, counsel for the US government, busy for almost all of her argument before [...]
Australia Federal Court Justice Michael Lee found that former government adviser Bruce Lehrmann raped a colleague in a Parliament House office on Monday. The judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit Lehrmann brought against the Australian media company Network Ten after it aired an interview with his accuser, Brittany Higgin. Lee found that, under the civil standard [...]
Dr. Ganna Yudkivska is a force to be reckoned with in the world of international law and human rights. Her impressive career trajectory originated in a newly independent Ukraine and has since spanned continents and venerable institutions. She is a partner at Equity Law Firm, Vice-Chair of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, [...]
