The legislature has determined, pursuant to its authority to secure the integrity of elections, that requiring photographic identification will advance the state's interest in preventing in-person voter fraud. We agree that the requirement bears a substantial relation to the state's interest. ... Showing a photo ID is not a significant intrusion or burden. ... The photographic identification requirement, in the context of the statutory scheme, serves the State's interest in the integrity of elections in the least intrusive manner possible.

The issue of voting rights [JURIST backgrounder] remains a contentious issue in the US, particularly in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election. At least 30 states have passed laws [NCSL backgrounder] that require voters to present some form of ID at the polls. Earlier this month the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court [official website] issued a preliminary injunction [JURIST report] preventing Pennsylvania's new voter ID law [HB 943 materials] from taking effect before the upcoming election. That same week Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood [official website] announced that his state's voter ID law will not take effect [JURIST report] before the November election. Also this month the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] ruled that South Carolina's new voter ID law [A27, text] does not discriminate against racial minorities [JURIST report], paving the way for the law to take effect next year.

Berlusconi, who stepped down as prime minister last November, has been a defendant in nearly 50 cases but has never served a single prison sentence due to either successfully appealing or having the statute of limitations on the charge expire. In addition to the tax fraud charges, he is also facing charges of publicly releasing private wiretaps, embezzlement and paying for sex with an underage prostitute [JURIST reports] and abusing his power by having the police release her. In January 2011 the Italian Constitutional Court held hearings and subsequently struck down [JURIST reports] portions of a immunity law backed by Berlusconi that would have granted the premier and other public officials temporary amnesty from any charges while holding office.

our motivation is those who are indisputably the real victims of Kenya's PEV—families, women, men, children and babies who have been beaten, killed, burned, raped, mutilated, and dispossessed. For them and for the sake of all Kenyans, it is crucial to break the cycle of impunity and violence. Ensuring justice and accountability can play a part. We stand ready to do our part, but we can not do it alone, it is up to Kenyans to decide to make this happen, within a strong and united Kenya. I hope I can count on Kenyans in this joint endeavour.

Bensouda was sworn in as ICC Prosecutor [JURIST report] in June. That month the ICC expressed its desire to start the two Kenyan trials simultaneously [JURIST report] to avoid any appearance of bias in the March 2013 presidential election. In May the appeals chamber of the ICC rejected [JURIST report] the jurisdiction challenges in the two cases presented by the defense, clearing the way for trial. The defense lawyers had argued that the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the cases. The appeal stemmed from the pre-trial chamber's decision to confirm the charges [JURIST report] against the four men in January. The ICC claimed jurisdiction over the case despite Kenya's calls for dismissal [JURIST report]. The Kenyan government argued that it was capable of prosecuting the accused men domestically.

This is the latest development in the ongoing reproductive rights controversy [JURIST backgrounder] in the US. The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on Tuesday upheld an injunction [JURIST report] against an Indiana law that would block Medicaid funding for abortion providers. Last week a federal judge blocked a similar bill [JURIST report] that would have defunded Planned Parenthood in Arizona. In August the Fifth Circuit upheld Louisiana's Act 490, which allows the Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) to revoke an abortion clinic's license [JURIST report] immediately after a regulation violation, rather than allowing the abortion clinic time to comply with the regulation. That same month, a Kansas judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit [JURIST report] challenging the state's new abortion clinic regulations after state officials asked that they be upheld without a trial. In July a federal judge blocked a Mississippi law [JURIST report] that would have effectively shut down the state's only abortion clinic.

Special rapporteurs are independent experts honorarily appointed by the Human Rights Council [official website] to examine and report in an unpaid capacity on a specific regional situation or human rights theme. Earlier this week Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Gabriela Knaul [official profile] made her annual presentation to the General Assembly, suggesting a policy of "strengthening the judiciary from within" in which governments develop anti-corruption bodies to ensure that judges act impartially and are free from political influence [JURIST report]. Earlier this month the special rapporteur on human rights in Iran released a report indicating that the government of Iran is torturing human rights activists [JURIST report] and threatening the activists' families with rape or death. Last month Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation Catarina de Albuquerque [official profile] lauded a new California law that creates a right to safe drinking water [JURIST report].

Human rights groups have expressed concern in the past about illegal detention in China. In June Human Rights Watch reported that China's chengguan, a para-police organization charged with enforcing non-criminal administrative regulations, is abusing its power [JURIST report]. The report indicated that although the chengguan are not authorized to arrest citizens or use excessive force, they frequently do both. In March the NPC passed a law [JURIST report] allowing police to detain certain suspects for up to six months in secret detention facilities commonly known as "black jails." In July 2010 Amnesty International urged [JURIST report] the Chinese government to launch an independent investigation into law enforcement conduct during the July 2009 Xinjiang riots [JURIST news archive], accusing police of executing arbitrary arrests and employing excessive force.

We find that the government has satisfied its burden of showing a reasonable means-ends fit between the challenged federal laws and an important government interest. First, curbing violent crime perpetrated by young persons under 21—by preventing such persons from acquiring handguns from FFLs—constitutes an important government objective. ... Second, Congress selected means that were reasonably adapted to achieving that objective. Congress found that the ease with which young persons under 21 could access handguns—as opposed to other guns—was contributing to violent crime, and also found that FFLs—as opposed to other sources—constituted the central conduit of handgun traffic to young persons under 21. Congress, in turn, reasonably tailored a solution to the particular problem: Congress restricted the ability of persons under 21 to purchase handguns from FFLs, while allowing (i) 18-to-20-year-old persons to purchase long-guns, (ii) persons under 21 to acquire handguns from parents or guardians, and (iii) persons under 21 to possess handguns and long-guns.

Challenges of state gun laws have been met with mixed success. In March a judge for the US District Court for the District of Maryland ruled [JURIST report] that a portion of Maryland's handgun permit law was unconstitutional because it violated the Second Amendment. Judge Benson Everett Legg ruled that the law limited individuals' rights to obtaining a permit by requiring a "good and substantial reason," and that the requirement was not reasonably adapted to a substantial government interest of public safety or crime prevention. In July 2010 Chicago citizens filed suit [JURIST report] against the city's gun control ordinance claiming it was unconstitutional. The law was approved [JURIST report] just four days after the Supreme Court ruled in McDonald v. Chicago [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] that the Second Amendment applies to states and municipalities as well as the federal government. The regulations were upheld [JURIST report] by a federal judge who cited Heller, holding that the Second Amendment does not prohibit regulation of firearms where that regulation will "effectuate the goal of promoting public safety."