In 2010, District Attorney Doug Evans tried to convict Curtis Flowers of the same murder charges for the sixth—yes, the sixth—time. Before the trial began, Evans did the same thing he had done before each of Flowers’ previous trials: he used his peremptory challenges to remove as many Black jurors as possible. Evans managed to [...]
An important decision of special interest to politically active citizens in Europe came out on January 24, 2019 by the European Court of Human Rights. As stated in the Press Release issued by the Registrar of the Court, in the case of Catt v. the United Kingdom (application no. 43514/15) “UK failed to protect the right [...]
The Pakistan Supreme Court’s creation of a fund for the construction of two dams in the country is an unprecedented overreach of judicial power that threatens to undermine the development of good governance in the executive branch of government. Additionally, the unrestrained exercise of judicial power is likely to not only result in the judicialization [...]
This past Election Day, voters in Massachusetts made history by winning a popular vote on transgender rights at the statewide ballot box for the first time. At a time when so many transgender people are being attacked by the Trump administration and violence against transgender people remains an epidemic in America (with the highest rates [...]
In some personal injury cases, juries award considerable sums for compensation. This often occurs when the plaintiff suffers serious and painful injuries, and the jury decides to award a significant amount of non-economic injuries. If the defendant’s actions are deemed egregious or malicious, the jury may also award a large amount of punitive damages. Yet [...]
Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement announcement yesterday rightfully set off shock waves across the country. For the past three decades, Justice Kennedy has gone from one of the more moderate justices who could sometimes swing an important vote, to the lone decider on monumental issues from gay marriage (siding with the liberals) to campaign finance and [...]
In a recent opinion on March 15, 2018, the Pennsylvania Superior Court issued a statement about the use of social media evidence in court cases. The relevant case, Commonwealth v. Mangel, was a criminal case; however, the implications can be applied to civil cases related to personal injury as well. In fact, many courts and [...]
California was the 5th state to explicitly permit mentally competent terminally ill patients to obtain a prescription from their physician for medication the patient may ingest to achieve a peaceful death, a medical practice known as aid in dying. This option appeals to some patients who find themselves trapped in a protracted dying process, where [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist John Buckleton of New Zealand's Institute of Environmental Science and Research, discusses the future of DNA software in the courtroom... As anyone who has ever watched CSI can tell you, DNA is well established as the gold...
JURIST Guest Columnist Dr. Charles Lugosi of Crease Harman, LLP, discusses how Canadian prime ministers' evasive answers during the Question Period expose deeper constitutional issues... All Canadian citizens, regardless of personal political preferences, are the heartbeat of parliamentary democracy. Together...
