NewsHere’s the domestic legal news we covered this week:
US President Donald Trump [official website] on Friday pardoned former Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio [JURIST archive].
A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas [official website] on Wednesday blocked [order, PDF] Texas from enforcing a revised voter identification law [SB 5 materials].
Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos had previously found that a 2011 law [SB 14 materials], which required voters to present a form of government-issued ID, discriminated [JURIST report] against blacks and Hispanics.
The revised law [JURIST report], which had been set to take effect in January, would permit voters to sign an affidavit and show other forms of identification.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) [official website] requested [Press release] that the US government, high-level politicians and public officials “unequivocally and unconditionally reject and condemn racist hate speech and crimes in Charlottesville and throughout the country.” Although the committee did not call out President Donald Trump by name, it specified that the response to Charlottesville was a “failure at the highest political level.” The committee also requested that the US ensure the constitutional rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly are not used to promote racist hate speech and racist crimes.
Missouri Governor Eric Greitens [official website] issued [order, PDF] a stay of execution for Marcellus Williams who was scheduled to be executed on Tuesday.
[JURIST] The Los Angeles Superior Court [official website] issued a verdict on Monday in favor of a consumer who allegedly developed ovarian cancer after using a drug manufacturer’s talc-based products.
