The Constitutional Court of Guatemala on Wednesday blocked the removal of the UN’s International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). The CICIG is responsible for investigating corruption in Guatemala. The agreement to establish the CICIG was first ratified in August 2007. The fifth extension of the agreement extended the presence of the CICIG until September 3, [...]
Fiat Chrysler agreed Wednesday to pay a settlement of over $500 million dollars regarding allegations over cheating federal and state emission tests. The consent decree acknowledges that Fiat Chrysler violated Clean Air Act and California law. The decree did not resolve criminal liability nor individual consumer claims regarding the emission scandal. Fiat Chrysler was ordered [...]
The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday rejected the appeal of a German couple who did not send their children to school. In 2012 the State Education Authority found that the couple “were deliberately and persistently refusing to send their children to school, thereby endangering the children’s best interests as they were growing up [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday that the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) does not qualify as a “consumer reporting agency” as defined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and therefore cannot be sued for misreporting that an Arizona couple had a prior foreclosure. Fannie Mae’s proprietary software, Desktop Underwriter (DU), [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled Wednesday that Virginia’s Incumbent Protection Act violates the First Amendment The court of appeals held that the act infringes on political parties’ First Amendment rights to free association because it limits their ability to select candidates for office as they deem appropriate. Virginia generally allows political [...]
The Supreme Court of New Jersey ruled on Wednesday that the National Football League (NFL) did not violate New Jersey ticket sale laws for the 2014 Super Bowl. New Jersey law states that “t shall be an unlawful practice for a person, who has access to tickets to an event prior to the tickets’ release for [...]
Amnesty International on Thursday called Guantanamo prison a “stain on human rights” on the eve of the prison’s seventeenth anniversary. Guantanamo prison currently holds 40 detainees, many of whom were tortured by the CIA before being transferred to the facility. Many have also been issued transfers to other prisons and are still awaiting such transfers. [...]
A federal judge in Iowa held Wednesday that a 2012 Iowa law criminalizing undercover farm investigators was a violation of the First Amendment. In 2012 lawmakers amended Iowa Code 717A to include a provision making it a crime for investigators to go undercover at farms and slaughterhouses for data collection and investigative journalism purposes. The [...]
Maciej Szpunar, advocate general for the European Court of Justice, has issued a recommendation Thursday that the court rule for in the “right to be forgotten” case. This case was initiated following a 2014 ruling by the European Court of Justice which guaranteed EU citizens the “right to be forgotten.” Under the 2014 ruling, European [...]
The EU imposed sanctions against Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security and two Iranian nationals on Tuesday. “This means that funds and other financial assets of the Ministry and both individuals have been frozen,” explained the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stef Blok, and the Dutch Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Kajsa Ollongren. The Netherlands recommended [...]