1. [To establish] that any mental-health treatment seeking to eliminate emotional and sexual feelings or desires for people of the same sex must first obtain informed consent from the patient prior to initiating such sexual orientation change therapy.
2. [To clarify] that minors are not able to provide informed consent for sexual orientation change therapy, regardless of the desire of the minor's parents for such therapy.

Earlier in the year, the California Senate voted 23-13 to approve [JURIST report] a bill [SB 1172] that would ban psychotherapies aimed at changing the sexual orientation of minors. Supporters of the bill asserted that the underlying reason for the legislation is that homosexuality is not a disease and should not be treated as such. Furthermore, therapies and efforts to reverse homosexuality were found to have detrimental effects on minors' physical and mental health, leading to suicides and substance abuse. Conversely, groups such as the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality [advocacy website] voiced their opposition, arguing that most of the facts relied on in the bill are generalizations and loose assertions. The number of states legalizing same-sex marriage has been on the rise in the recent past. Currently, nine jurisdictions—Maryland, Washington, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia [JURIST reports]—have passed laws that legally acknowledge same-sex marriage. Other states, such as Illinois [JURIST report], have taken a different approach, extending civil union rights to same-sex couples.

Government use of modern technology to monitor and locate citizens has created legal uncertainty recently. Earlier this month a panel of judges for the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] ruled that police did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment [JURIST report] protection against illegal searches when they tracked a suspect's cell phone using the phone's global positioning system (GPS) [JURIST news archive] signal. Also this month, the American Civil Liberties Union announced that their affiliates are sending approximately 375 requests for information in 31 states to reveal how law enforcement uses location data tracking on cell phones [JURIST report], arguing that the warrantless tracking of GPS signals is unconstitutional. In June lawyers for the US Department of Justice defended the warrantless use of GPS devices [JURIST report] on suspects' vehicles despite a recent Supreme Court ruling declaring GPS tracking to be a "search" under the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court concluded that the government's attachment of a GPS device to a vehicle, and its use of that device to monitor the vehicle's movements, constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment. Also in January, the Supreme Court of California ruled that law enforcement officers can legally search text messages [JURIST report] on a suspect's cell phone without a warrant incident to a lawful custodial arrest.

This is not the first time individuals have been convicted of crimes committed during the 2002 riots. In April a trial court in Gujarat convicted [JURIST report] 23 individuals on charges of murder, conspiracy, rioting, unlawful assembly, attempted murder and destruction of evidence for participating in the killing of 23 Muslims, 18 of which were women. Another 23 defendants were acquitted for the lack of evidence. Last November another 31 people [JURIST report] were convicted of murder, arson and rioting while charges criminal conspiracy were dropped by the court. While all of the convicted were sentenced to life, charges against 42 other defendants were dropped.

The decision came only a day after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] held a hearing [JURIST report] on Tymoshenko's appeal. Last week Ukrainian prosecutors urged the Supreme Court not to hear her appeal [JURIST report]. Prosecutors told the court that Tymoshenko's trial had already established her guilt in the case, and asked the judges to let stand a seven-year prison sentence [JURIST report] in the case. Tymoshenko was not present at the hearing due to health concerns. The hearing has been delayed [JURIST report] in the past due to Tymoshenko's absence. Although Tymoshenko has previously indicated that she would discontinue all appeals in Ukrainian courts [JURIST report], she is required to exhaust all national options before appealing to the ECHR.

Texas argues that, "[a]t worst, the evidence shows that [it] was guilty of blithe indifference to the wants to certain [minority] Congressmen" Tex. Post-Trial Br. 29. But we do not find this explanation credible. Although we have already concluded that the Congressional Plan cannot be precleared under section's effect prong, we are also persuaded by the totality of the evidence that the plan was enacted with discriminatory intent. Texas did not adequately engage with the evidence raised by the other parties on this point ... we find sufficient evidence to conclude that the Congressional Plan was motivated, at least in part, by discriminatory intent. ... Finally, the incredible testimony of the lead House mapdrawer reinforces evidence suggesting mapdrawers cracked [voter tabulation districts] along racial lines to dilute minority voting power.

The ruling will not affect the 2012 elections because Texas will be using interim maps [JURIST report] drawn up by a panel of three judges in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas [official website] in March. The interim maps were issued after the US Supreme Court [official website] rejected previous interim redistricting maps in an emergency appeal [JURIST reports] filed in December.

This is the latest step in a case that has lasted eight years and gone through several different court systems. In February Samantar said he would not contest the lawsuit [JURIST report]. Samantar continues to claim immunity even though his claim was denied by both the Eastern District Court last February and the Supreme Court in June 2010 [JURIST reports].

IVF is a type of fertility treatment for couples who have had difficulty conceiving children or wish to avoid passing genetic traits on to their children. Through IVF, a woman's eggs are removed and fertilized outside the body. Successfully fertilized embryos are then implanted into the woman for gestation. Italy defends its ban on embryonic screening by claiming that they wish to "avoid the risk of eugenic abuses," specifically the potential for future "designer babies." The largely Catholic nation has some of the strictest laws in Europe related to artificial procreation.

Pussy Riot's controversial trial ended [JURIST report] on August 17 with a guilty verdict and two-year prison sentences for each of the three women. Earlier this week, lawyers for the band appealed the sentence [JURIST report]. Specifically, band members Natalia Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina, and Yekaterina Samutsevich were found guilty of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred," a charge based on the group's "guerrilla performance" of a protest song in February at the altar of Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. Though the charge carries a maximum sentence of seven years, prosecutors originally requested sentences of three years [JURIST report]. The prosecution of Pussy Riot has been criticized as a politically motivated move by Putin to discredit his opposition. Although defense lawyers for the band requested that the judge recuse herself [JURIST report] from the case due to politically motivated decisions, Judge Marina Syrova declined even hearing the motion for her recusal. The women were arrested in March, and their trial began [JURIST report] at the end of July.

The varying restrictions imposed by sex offender registries [JURIST news archive] have been under scrutiny as of late. The US Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] in February that sex offenders who committed their offenses prior to the passage of the federal sex offender registry do not have to list themselves unless the Attorney General commands them to. A law that banned registered sex offenders from public libraries [JURIST report] was also struck down in federal appeals court that month. One commentator suggested [JURIST comment] that such restrictions "do little to prevent repeat offenses."

Polonium-210 is best known as the poison used to kill former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko [BBC obituary] in London in 2006. Arafat's health began to fail in October 2004, at which point he was flown to a Paris hospital. Arafat died [JURIST report] at age 75 on November 11, 2004. The week leading up to Arafat's death proved to be highly tumultuous. Only a day before an Islamic judge ruled [JURIST report] that the former leader's life support system could not be switched off despite his near-death state and burial preparations. On November 4 CBC News reported [JURIST report] that Israeli television had announced Arafat's death, only to be contradicted shortly thereafter by Arafat's French hospital. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker also confirmed the head of state's death that day. No cause of death for Arafat has ever been released, and by many accounts, he was in good health until immediately preceding his death.