The legislation in Indiana and Florida adds to the number of states that have recently passed similar legislation restricting the controversial procedure. Alabama, Ohio and Oklahoma [JURIST reports] have each passed legislation this year which restricts the abortion procedure after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Idaho [JURIST reports] have also recently passed legislation restricting late term abortions. In March, South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard [official website] signed into law [JURIST report] a bill requiring women to seek counseling at a pregnancy center and wait three days before obtaining an abortion.

The Bahraini authorities have a responsibility to bring to justice those who commit violent crimes. But when doing so, they must uphold the right to fair trial and they must not use the death penalty under any circumstances. ... In this case, the accused were tried before a special military court, although they are civilians. It also appears that the trial was conducted behind closed doors. As well, those sentenced have no right of appeal except to another special military court, raising great fears about the fairness of the entire process.

Earlier this month, human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Doctors Without Borders (DWB) [advocacy websites] criticized Bahrain for rampant human rights abuses [JURIST report] related to anti-government protests. Last month, six opposition leaders were arrested [JURIST report] after the government, backed by foreign troops from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) [official website], violently dispersed protesters in the capital of Manana. Days earlier, Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa [official website] declared [JURIST report] a three-month state of emergency [decree text, in Arabic] in response to growing unrest in the island nation. The state of emergency came just days after a group of 22 Bahraini lawmakers, part of an independent pro-government bloc, called on the King to impose martial law [JURIST report] under articles 36 and 123 of the Bahraini Constitution [text, PDF]. The Bahraini government's response to the ongoing protests have prompted international concern. In February, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile] called for an end to violence against protesters [JURIST report] in the country, referencing attempts to quell protests sweeping across the region.

This bill is just one of a number of legislative actions targeting illegal immigration that have been passed recently in many different states. Last year, Arizona passed [JURIST report] an immigration law [SB 1070 materials; JURIST news archive] that would require any individual suspected of being an illegal immigrant to present valid identification to law enforcement officials. The Oklahoma Senate passed a similar bill [JURIST report] last month. Within the past year, Georgia, Alabama, Virginia, Utah and Indiana [JURIST reports] have also approved Arizona-style immigration laws. Despite their increased usage, these laws remain controversial. The US Department of Justice [official website] in July filed suit [JURIST report] against Arizona Governor Jan Brewer [official website] seeking to permanently enjoin the state's immigration law. The complaint states that the law is preempted by federal law and therefore violates the Supremacy Clause [text] of the US Constitution. The Arizona law has been widely criticized in regard to the law's constitutionality and alleged "legalization" of racial profiling.

Rodriguez served as president from 1998 to 2002, and pending charges from the corruption case against him forced him to resign [JURIST report] from his OAS position in 2004. He is the second former Costa Rican president in the last two years to be sentenced to prison on corruption charges. In 2009, former president Rafael Calderon [CIDOB profile, in Spanish] was convicted [JURIST report] of embezzling $520,000 during his presidency and sentenced to five years imprisonment. Calderon was accused and arrested [JURIST report] in 2004 along with seven others on charges of embezzling and taking kickbacks that amount to an estimated $8 million from a $32 million Finnish loan for the purchase of medical equipment and $7.5 million from state funds.

To whatever extent Plaintiffs allege an injury to the sovereign interests of the State of Missouri, they do not have standing to bring these claims because Plaintiffs, including Kinder, bring this case as individuals. As the Supreme Court has observed, a plaintiff "generally must assert his own legal rights and interests and cannot rest his claim to relief on the legal rights or interests of third parties." ... While the State of Missouri may have standing to assert the claim in Count I, it is not a party to this action and Plaintiff Kinder and the other Plaintiffs do not and cannot bring this action on behalf of Missouri.

Several other challenges to the PPACA have also been dismissed for lack of standing. Last week, a judge for the US District Court for the District of New Jersey [official website] rejected [JURIST report] a lawsuit, brought without an attorney by two New Jersey residents, on jurisdictional grounds, ruling the two men had no standing to challenge the law. In a similar ruling earlier in the month, a judge for the US District Court for the District of New Hampshire [official website] dismissed a lawsuit [JURIST report] also challenging the law's constitutionality and held that the plaintiff, 80-year-old Harold Peterson, lacked standing because his Medicare coverage automatically satisfied the law's insurance mandate. In December, a judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] ruled that the minimum coverage provision of the health care reform law is unconstitutional [JURIST report]. A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida [official website] has also struck down the law, while judges in Michigan and Virginia have upheld it [JURIST reports].