In September, a judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that statements made by Abdulmutallab while in the hospital following his alleged attempt to detonate a bomb on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 are admissible. In December 2010, a federal grand jury charged [JURIST report] Abdulmutallab with two new counts of conspiracy and firearm possession, in addition to the six previous charges [JURIST report] of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted murder within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the US, willful attempt to destroy or wreck an aircraft, willfully placing a destructive device on an aircraft, use of a firearm/destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence, and possession of a firearm/destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence.

These new restrictions fall most heavily on young, minority, and low-income voters, as well as on voters with disabilities. This wave of changes may sharply tilt the political terrain for the 2012 election. ... Although it is too early to quantify how the changes will impact voter turnout, they will be a hindrance to many voters at a time when the United States continues to turn out less than two thirds of its eligible citizens in presidential elections and less than half in midterm elections.

Of the changes in state voting laws, requirements that voters present some form of ID at the polls are the most prevalent. With the new changes in place, there are now 30 US states that require voters to present ID, including 14 states that require photo ID, but the issue remains controversial. In August, South Carolina civil rights groups urged [JURIST report] the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] to block the state from implementing a new law [R54 materials] that would require voters to present photo ID in order to cast their ballots. In June, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon [official website] vetoed legislation [JURIST report] that would have required individuals to present government-issued photo ID at the voting booth. In May, the Georgia Supreme Court [official website] upheld a state law [JURIST report] that requires voters to present one of six government-issued photo identifications in order to vote. In contrast, a three-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] struck down [JURIST report] a portion of an Arizona law requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration in October.

The hate speech that has been fuelling [sic] the anti-Roma protests in Bulgaria is of great concern. It is unacceptable for an entire community to be targeted for an offence allegedly committed by an individual. We call on Bulgarian authorities at the highest political level to publicly restate this principle of individual criminal responsibility. The political leadership must take a strong stance against hate speech and ensure that police officers continue to be deployed in sufficient numbers to protect Roma neighbourhoods from threats of retribution and harassment.

The Roma population has faced discrimination [JURIST comment] in various European countries. In April, Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] urged Serbian authorities to halt the forced evictions [JURIST report] of Roma in Belgrade and provide them with adequate housing and compensation. In March, AI released a report [JURIST report] documenting discrimination and human rights violations against Roma migrants in Slovenia and urging the Slovenian government to protect Roma communities. The report revealed that Roma communities are being denied access to housing, water and sanitation. Much of the Roma population is living in overcrowded shacks without access to adequate health care services, schools, shops and employment.

As the number of detainees at the Guantanamo facility decreases, the issue of what to do with those remaining in US custody continues to be a significant issue. Last year, Judge John Bates of the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] that the US government could indefinitely hold a detainee [JURIST report] at Guantanamo, a decision affirmed [JURIST report] by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] in September of this year. In January, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] criticized President Barack Obama [JURIST report] for failing to shut down the facility as he promised during his presidential campaign. In December 2010, Obama signed a defense authorization bill that prohibits the transfer of detainees to the US for trial [JURIST report], further confusing the future of the 177 men currently at the facility. In an effort to reduce the population at the facility, the US has been transferring detainees [JURIST report], some to their native countries. In February, The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) [advocacy website] used the death of a Guantanamo detainee to highlight what it claims are problems with the detention system [JURIST report] currently used at the facility.

Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa [official profile] announced in August that he will dismiss charges against some of the protesters [JURIST report] detained for their participation in pro-democracy demonstrations in the country. In June, Khalifa announced that an independent commission will investigate human rights violations [JURIST report] related to the country's pro-democracy protests. Earlier that month, the OHCHR announced that Bahrain agreed to permit a UN commission [JURIST report] to investigate human rights violations related to protests. The National Safety Courts were instituted in mid-March under Khalifa's three-month state of emergency [JURIST report] and have been internationally criticized, most recently [JURIST report] by Human Rights Watch (HRW). The court sentenced nine citizens [JURIST report] to 20 years in prison for kidnapping a police officer in May. In April, the court handed the death sentence to four protesters, a rarity in Bahrain, and upheld the sentences [JURIST reports] for two of the men who were accused of murdering police officers. All of the charges levied in the National Safety Court have been disputed by Bahraini citizens and international rights organizations.

The prime minister had originally announced the repeal of the two strict security laws [JURIST report] that had allowed extended detention of suspects without trial, as well as review other laws dealing with freedom of the press, in September, but they have been tabled over the past month. These efforts have been made in response to criticism for alleged rights violations. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention [official website] recommended [JURIST report] last year that Malaysia repeal or amend its internal security laws

Also in August, the District Court of Rotterdam [official website, in Dutch] sentenced [JURIST report] five Somali men to prison terms ranging from four to seven years for acts of maritime piracy [JURIST news archive]. All five of the sentenced pirates were discovered in a navy supply ship off the coast of Somalia earlier this year, and while all five were convicted of piracy, two were also convicted of hijacking. Judge Jacco Janssen rejected the suspects' arguments that the poverty and famine in Somalia is a justification for piracy.

The guidelines were first published [JURIST report] in 2009 under UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown [official website]. Restating the UK's unequivocal condemnation of torture, Brown said that making the applicable interrogation standards public will "protect the reputation of [UK] security and intelligence services and ... reassure ourselves that everything has been done to ensure that our practices are in line with United Kingdom and international law," in a written statement [text]. The EHRC began to challenge the guidelines [JURIST report] in 2010.

In July, Bangladesh prosecutors filed the underlying war crime charges [JURIST report] in the ICTB against Sayedee. Earlier that month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] praised recent reforms [press release] to the ICTB but urged it to do more to ensure fair trials, including allowing an accused to question the impartiality of the tribunal, which the law currently prohibits. In July 2010, the ICTB issued four arrest warrants [JURIST report] for the leaders of Jamaat e Islami, including Sayedee, for alleged crimes committed during the Liberation War.

[I]n 1962, ... this Court redefined the political question doctrine to exclude state-federal relations: "it is the relationship between the judiciary and the coordinate branches of the Federal Government, and not the federal judiciary's relationship to the States, which gives rise to the political question." Four years later ... South Carolina was permitted to proceed with its challenge to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 because it was defending its own political rights rather than acting as parens patriae. Ever since, until the Fourth Circuit decided this case, state sovereign standing has been uncontroversial in this Court and in the federal circuits.

The Supreme Court will likely hear the constitutional challenges to PPACA this term. Last week, both the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] and a group of 26 states filed petitions [JURIST report] with the Supreme Court seeking a review of a recent decision handed down by the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website]. The Eleventh Circuit found the PPACA individual health care mandate unconstitutional [JURIST report] but upheld the remainder of the law without the mandate. Also last week, the Obama administration filed a brief [text, PDF] in opposition to a petition for certiorari filed [JURIST report] in Thomas More Law Center v. Obama in July, which sought review of a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] that found the individual mandate provision constitutional [JURIST report]. In August, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit [official website] dismissed a lawsuit [JURIST report] brought by a physician organization for lack of standing.