Campaign finance laws have been a contentious issue recently. In June, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that a district court erred in holding that corporations can contribute directly to political campaigns. Earlier that month, the Supreme Court struck down [JURIST report] a Montana campaign finance law that restricted the amount of money corporations can spend on campaigns, holding that Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission [opinion, PDF] invalidated the Montana law. That decision, American Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Bullock [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] reversed a decision by the Montana Supreme Court upholding the law [JURIST report]. In February, the Supreme Court blocked enforcement [JURIST report] of the Montana Supreme Court ruling.

Myanmar has been unsuccessful [JURIST report] in resolving the sectarian violence prevalent in the country despite attempts by President Thein Sein [BBC profile; official website, in Burmese] to bring peace to the communities, making the country subject to international criticism. On Thursday the US Congress on a voice vote approved a bill extending the ban on imports from Myanmar. Both the House of Representative and the Senate [official websites] have approved the bill, sending it to President Barack Obama [official profile] to sign in order to become law. On Wednesday Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] released [JURIST report] a 56-page document [report, PDF] accusing Myanmar security forces of human rights abuses against a minority religious community in June.

Last month a judge for the US District Court for the District of Kansas [official website] issued a preliminary injunction [JURIST report] to block SB36. Kansas Governor Sam Brownback [official website], a known opponent of abortion, approved the regulation at issue in May, one month after signing [JURIST report] two other pieces of legislation restricting abortions. In April the governor approved the Abortion Reporting Accuracy and Parental Rights Act [HB 2035, PDF], requiring unemancipated minors to obtain notarized parental signatures before an abortion may be performed, and the "fetal pain bill" [HB 2218, PDF], which restricts abortions beyond 22 weeks of pregnancy based on the belief that a fetus can feel pain at that stage of gestation.

In June the ACLU announced the launch of its Torture Database [JURIST report], a collection of more than 100,000 Bush-era documents recording "rendition, detention, and interrogation policies and practices." The database was launched in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the UN Convention Against Torture [text], which the UN has designated as the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The ACLU previously acknowledged that the US government will likely ask, if they have not already done so, that the prisoners' knowledge of their imprisonment in Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] facilities remain classified. In April the chief US military judge at Guantanamo, Army Col. James Pohl, assigned himself [JURIST report] to preside over the tribunals of five alleged plotters of the 9/11 terror attacks, scheduling a hearing for May 5. Last month the DOD referred charges [JURIST report] to Pohl against the five accused 9/11 plotters. The DOD announced last May that it had sworn charges against the five men [JURIST report] for the 9/11 attacks.