BOA has faced significant legal pressure recently. In September BOA settled [JURIST report] a $2.43 billion class action lawsuit with investors over their $18.5 billion acquisition of Merrill Lynch. In July BOA agreed to pay $375 million [JURIST report] in a settlement with bond insurer Syncora Guarantee [corporate website] over claims that Syncora was misled into insuring toxic mortgage-backed securities of BOA-owned Countrywide Financial Corporation [NYT backgrounder]. Also that month a federal judge rejected [JURIST report] a motion by BOA to dismiss a shareholder lawsuit alleging BOA's purposeful concealment of the bank's exposure to billions of dollars in loan repurchase claims and its problematic reliance on an electronic loan registry. In December BOA reached a $315 million settlement of claims brought by investors alleging they were misled with respect to mortgage-backed investments, and a $335 million settlement [JURIST reports] with the Department of Justice, relating to discriminatory lending practices.

Apple and Samsung have been embroiled in continuous patent litigation in courts around the world. Some commentators have noted that this legal strategy has been an effort to influence the marketplace from the courtroom [JURIST op-ed]. October has seen a number of rulings in various cases. Earlier this month a UK court ruled that Samsung did not infringe [JURIST report] on an Apple design patent. Also Apple appealed a Tokyo District Court ruling [JURIST report] which dismissed Apple's claim that Samsung had infringed on its patents. Finally the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed an injunction [JURIST report] issued by the US District Court for the Northern District of California against Samsung in an ongoing patent dispute with Apple.

New York State has served as a beacon for progressive ideals and this statute is a clear reminder of what this State stands for: equality and justice for all. With the Court's decision, same-sex couples no longer have to worry that their right to marry could be legally challenged in this State. The freedom to marry in this State is secure for generations to come.

This is the latest development in the ongoing same-sex marriage [JURIST backgrounder] debate. Last week the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] struck down [JURIST report] Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) [text], which defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Last month the US Department of Justice filed petitions in the US Supreme Court asking it to consider two additional challenges to DOMA [JURIST report]. In July a lesbian couple filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Central District of California in a DOMA challenge that seeks to achieve for gay and lesbian couples the same federal immigration rights afforded to heterosexual couples [JURIST report] under the Immigration and Nationality Act [materials].

Abortion is a controversial issue among predominantly Roman Catholic Latin-American countries. In April the Brazilian Supreme Court [official website, in Portuguese] overturned a ban [JURIST report against aborting brain-damaged fetuses. In March the Supreme Court of Argentina [official website, in Spanish] ruled that rape victims cannot be prosecuted [JURIST report] for seeking abortions. Last year Mexico's Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish] failed to overturn [JURIST report] an amendment that stated life begins at conception, effectively banning abortions in Mexico's northern Baja California state. In 2008 Uruguay's then-president vetoed a law that was passed [JURIST reports] by the legislature decriminalizing abortion. Guyana legalized abortion in 1995.

The question at issue is whether Ferguson, who was convicted in the 1970s of eight killings in south Florida, has the mental competency to be executed. Ferguson is a paranoid schizophrenic who suffers from psychotic delusions that he is the "prince of God." In September Florida Governor Rick Scott [official website] signed a death warrant [text] for Ferguson, setting his execution date for Tuesday. Also in September, following the issuance of the death warrant, Ferguson's lawyers argued that he is not mentally competent to be executed, Scott temporarily stayed the execution [text, PDF] and appointed three psychiatrists to examine Ferguson. The psychiatrists issued a joint report declaring Ferguson to be sane for execution and Scott subsequently lifted the stay.

In June the Supreme Court struck down [JURIST report] Montana's century-old campaign finance law known as the 1912 Corrupt Practices Act [PPL backgrounder] as invalid under the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission [JURIST report]. The Supreme Court's decision overturned a ruling [JURIST report] by the Montana Supreme Court [official website] that upheld the Corrupt Practices Act.

Although Indiana has broad authority to exclude unqualified providers from its Medicaid program, the State does not have plenary authority to exclude a class of providers for any reason—more particularly, for a reason unrelated to provider qualifications. ... The defunding law excludes Planned Parenthood from Medicaid for a reason unrelated to its fitness to provide medical services, violating its patients' statutory right to obtain medical care from the qualified provider of their choice.

Reproductive rights [JURIST backgrounder] remain a controversial issue across the US, with similar law being passed in other states. Last week a federal judge blocked a similar bill [JURIST report] that would have defunded Planned Parenthood in Arizona. Planned Parenthood in Texas asked a federal district court last month to reconsider its August ruling that upheld a Texas defunding statute [JURIST reports]. In July, the Center for Reproductive Rights [advocacy website] released a report detailing all of the abortion laws passed in 2012.

The Russian government has been cracking down on dissent in recent months. Members of Russian feminist rock band Pussy Riot [RASPI background; JURIST news archive] were given two-year prison sentences after they were convicted [JURIST report] in August of hooliganism in connection with "guerrilla performance" of a protest song in February at the altar of downtown Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. Since the beginning of the trial [JURIST report], the group's lawyers and human rights groups have said the charges were politically motivated by Putin to discredit his opposition. In July Putin signed a bill into the law that re-criminalizes slander and libel in the country after signing into law [JURIST reports] a bill that labels all non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive foreign funding as "foreign agents" and requires them to register with the Justice Ministry just a week earlier.