Every qualified citizen has the right to cast one vote. Not two votes; not zero votes. It is our duty as a democracy to ensure that is always the case. ... This legislation does two things. It increases the forms of identification that can be used for purpose of voting, while helping to further prevent voter fraud and ensuring Virginians that they can have faith that votes have not been fraudulently cast. ... The additional steps my administration will take to implement this legislation will ensure that no voter is overly burdened by the provisions included in this legislation

There are now 32 US states [NCSL backgrounder] that require voters to present some form of ID at the polls, but the issue remains controversial. Last month, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett signed a bill requiring voters to present photo identification [JURIST report] in the upcoming November election. Also in March, a Wisconsin judge ruled unconstitutional [JURIST report] the state's voter ID law requiring a voter to display photo ID when entering a polling place to vote. In February, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson filed suit against the US Department of Justice (DOJ) over its ruling that barred South Carolina [JURIST reports] from enforcing its voter ID law. In November, Mississippi voters approved a ballot measure [JURIST report] to implement a voter ID law.

[FALGBT] hails the decision of the municipality of Buenos Aires to eliminate the administrative obstacles that prevented the marriage between two foreigners, a right guaranteed in Article 20 of the Constitution. ... These advances arise as a result of FALGBT's "Marriage Equality in Argentina for Every Couple in the World" campaign, through which we aim to extend the benefits of the Argentine marriage equality law to the entire planet, giving a boost to the campaigns for equality in other countries. It is in accordance with, in any case, the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Argentina and international human rights treaties incorporated after the constitutional reform of 1994.

Governments across the globe have struggled to define rights for same-sex couples. Last week, the Israeli Knesset [official website] rejected a bill [JURIST report] that would have legalized civil marriages in the country. Earlier that week Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee signed an executive order [JURIST report] requiring government agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed out-of-state. Earlier this month, voters in North Carolina passed a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage [JURIST report]. In March, Israel's Ramat Gan Family Court ruled that a lesbian couple can both be recognized as mothers of a child they had together, finding that it would defy logic and common sense to deny parental rights to both women.

In March the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit deferred ruling [JURIST report] on the constitutionality of both Alabama's law and a similar Georgia law because it wanted to see how a challenge to Arizona's immigration law is decided in the US Supreme Court [official website]. In December Bentley announced that he would be working to change the law [JURIST report] but maintained that he had no intention of repealing it and that the essence of the law would still be intact. Bentley's announcement came after a recommendation [JURIST report] by Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange that certain provisions probably would not withstand constitutional challenges. Two provisions were temporarily blocked [JURIST report] by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in October after a district court refused to grant [JURIST report] a temporary injunction: Section 28, which requires immigration status checks of public school students, and Section 10, which makes it a misdemeanor for an illegal resident not to have immigration papers.

Whether respondents lack Article III standing to seek prospective relief because they proffered no evidence that the United States would imminently acquire their international communications using Section 1881a authorized surveillance and did not show that an injunction prohibiting Section 1881a-authorized surveillance would likely redress their purported injuries.

In September the ACLU released a report [text, PDF] claiming that the US is diminishing its "core values" with regard to various counterterrorism measures [JURIST report] put in place during the 10 years since the 9/11 attacks [JURIST news archive]. To support this contention, the report cited to US policies regarding indefinite military detention for terrorism suspects, the use of torture on terrorism suspects and enemy combatants, racial and religious profiling, and domestic surveillance and wiretapping. The report posited that these policies run deeper than what is known by the American people, civil liberties continue to be violated in secret and that future violations are imminent. The ACLU called upon US citizens to demand national security measures that do not encroach upon civil liberties and to urge government leaders to put an end to policies and programs that do not align themselves with these values

The Sri Lankan government has faced various allegations of human rights violations and war crimes by civil rights organizations and the UN since the end of its civil war in 2009. In November the Sri Lankan government was subjected to criticism for its failure to investigate [JURIST report] issues of torture for past human rights violations and to enforce laws against continued torture and ill-treatment by government officials against civilians. In April 2011 a UN panel of experts on Sri Lanka found credible allegations of war crimes [JURIST report] committed during the country's war with the LTTE, warranting further investigation. In June 2010 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official website] called for an international inquiry [JURIST report] into the conduct of the Sri Lankan government during its civil war.

Berlusconi, who resigned as prime minister in November, has been a defendant in nearly 50 cases. In February prosecutors asked a court to try him on tax evasion charges [JURIST report]. He is also facing charges of publicly releasing private wiretaps, embezzlement and paying for sex with an underage prostitute [JURIST reports]. In January 2011 the Italian Constitutional Court held hearings and subsequently struck down [JURIST reports] portions of a immunity law backed by Berlusconi that would have granted the premier and other public officials temporary amnesty from any charges while holding office.