A German court in Koblenz Thursday sentenced Anwar Raslan, a former Syrian colonel who directed operations at a civil prison in Damascus, to life in prison. This unprecedented trial was the world’s first trial prosecuting state-sponsored torture in Syria. German human rights lawyers argued for the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, allowing crimes committed in [...]

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Regional Director John J. Walsh of the Second District Wednesday directed for a union election to be held for over 500 tech workers at The New York Times. The NewsGuild of New York represents workers at media organizations, including writers, reporters, journalists, advertising employees, sales representatives, and security guards. It [...]

The US Supreme Court Thursday stayed the Biden administration’s recent COVID-19 business vaccine mandate, but it permitted the vaccine mandate for facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs. In staying the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) business vaccine mandate, the court reasoned that OSHA can “regulate occupational dangers” but lacks “the power to regulate public [...]

The Austrian Data Protection Authority (DPA) Thursday ruled that an Austrian website provider’s continuous use of Google Analytics and the resultant transfer of personal data to Google violated the European Union’s (EU) privacy law, the General Data Protection Rules (GDPR). The ruling responded to a series of representations filed by the Austrian privacy advocacy group [...]

The Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi School of Law published a report Wednesday identifying thousands of people being held in Mississippi’s county jails while awaiting trial because they cannot afford bail or public defenders unavailable when required. According to the report, Mississippi’s county jails have more than 5,800 detainees. [...]

India Chief Correspondent Neelabh Bist reports for JURIST from New Delhi on the recent actions of a COVID-impacted Supreme Court of India as it deals with a security breach involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi just as several Indian states prepare to head to the polls. As of Wednesday, India recorded over 200,000 fresh COVID-19 cases [...]

The US Supreme Court Wednesday heard oral arguments in Boechler, P.C. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, a case concerning the time limit to file petitions with the US Tax Court to review Internal Revenue Service (IRS) determinations. On June 5, 2015, the IRS notified Boechler, P.C., a personal injury law firm in North Dakota, of [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments for two immigration cases Tuesday that address the rights of detained noncitizens to have a bond hearing after six months of detention. Both cases were brought by noncitizens seeking asylum relief who had been detained for extended periods of time without bond hearings following the issuance of a [...]

The North Carolina Superior Court of Wake County Tuesday rejected claims by voting rights advocates that the 2021 redistricting maps passed by the North Carolina General Assembly were unconstitutional under the North Carolina Constitution. The case was a consolidation of multiple cases where plaintiffs collectively alleged that the 2021 districting plans for Congress, the North [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Tuesday held Bulgaria’s laws on secret surveillance, including retention and accessing of communications data, violate the right to respect for private life and correspondence under Article 8 of the European Human Rights Convention. The application was lodged in October 2012 by two Bulgarian lawyers, Mihail Tiholov Ekimdzhiev and [...]