Here, the public has an interest in the protection and mental well-being of minors, and the court does not take lightly the possible harm SOCE may cause minors, especially when forced on minors who did not choose to undergo SOCE. ... Countered against this is the public's interest in preserving First Amendment rights. Given the limited scope and duration of a preliminary injunction in this case, the court has no difficulty in concluding that protecting an individual's First Amendment rights outweighs the public's interest in rushing to enforce an unprecedented law.

PJI filed the lawsuit challenging the bill just days after it was signed [JURIST reports] into law by California Governor Jerry Brown [official website] in October. SB 1172 was approved by the California State Assembly [JURIST report] in August and the California Senate [JURIST report] in May. Supporters of the bill, including groups such as Equality California [advocacy website] and the American Psychoanalytic Association [advocacy website] assert the reason for legislation is that homosexuality is not and should not be treated as a disease, and efforts to reverse homosexuality have proven to be detrimental to minors.

This marks the first time that the Appeals Chamber has ever upheld a life imprisonment sentence. Lukic's cousin, Sredoje Lukic, had his sentence reduced from 30 to 27 years by the same court Tuesday, after being convicted in aiding and abetting his cousin's crimes.

Since its establishment in 1993, the ICTY has indicted 161 people for violations of humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 2001. In November, the ICTY acquitted [JURIST report] former Kosovo Liberation Army commanders Ramush Haradinaj [JURIST op-ed], Idriz Balaj, and Laji Brahimaj of all charges. Also in November, the ICTY overturned the convictions [JURIST report] of two Croat generals for crimes against humanity and war crimes against Serb civilians committed during a 1995 military blitz. Ex-Yugoslav army chief Momcilo Perisic began his appeal [JURIST report] before the ICTY in October in an attempt to overturn his conviction [JURIST report] on crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the wars in Bosnia and Croatia. Earlier in October, the ICTY opened the trial of Goran Hadzic [JURIST report], the last suspect remaining to be tried by the court.

After Ansar al-Shari'a took control of large parts of the governorate of Abyan—and later expanded to cities in the governorates of Shabwa and al-Bayda—it ruled with an iron fist and was responsible for a wide set of human rights abuses. These included imposing cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments on alleged criminals, enforcing through threats and intimidation repressive social or religious norms, and detaining and harassing community activists. It also committed crime to finance its operations and imposed restrictions on the operations of schools and hospitals.

Al Qaeda [JURIST news archive] has many active supporters and sub-groups throughout the world. Recently, four men in Califoria were charged with terrorism-related offenses [JURIST report] and for attempting to join al Qaeda. Last October, Egyptian-born Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri [BBC profile] pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to 11 criminal charges, including providing material support to terrorist groups such as al Qaeda. Outside of the US, there have been attempts to bring justice to groups who aid and abet al Qaeda. Earlier in October, an Iraq court sentenced a US citizen to life in prison [JURIST report] for financing terrorist attacks by al Qaeda. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) [official site] has also drawn international attention to Islamic terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, recruiting child soldiers in Mali.

The impeachment of Bandaranayake sparked heavy criticism among Sri Lanka's citizens. Last month the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers urged [JURIST report] Sri Lanka to take appropriate measures to protect the country's judiciary from threats, intimidation and physical attacks. Earlier last month hundreds of Sri Lankan lawyers and citizens protested [JURIST report] on the street in Colombo calling the government to halt to the impeachment. Tension continues to grow between the Sri Lankan government and the judiciary after an outspoken judge was assaulted in October [JURIST report]. Sri Lanka is still struggling to establish rule of law in the wake of a 26-year civil war that ended in 2009. In July the government of Sri Lanka said that it may take up to five years to prosecute people accused of war crimes [JURIST report] during the civil war it fought with the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) [CFR backgrounder]. Earlier in July Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] urged Sri Lanka to stop arresting journalists who criticized the government [JURIST report].

Recently, many human rights groups and organizations have taken issue with Greece's laws and policies governing the treatment of migrants. In July Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] released a report entitled "Hate on the Streets: Xenophobic Violence in Greece," documenting instances of abuse and discrimination [JURIST report] against migrants who traveled Greece seeking refuge from war-torn homelands. In the same month, Amnesty International [advocacy website] openly criticized [JURIST report] Greek authorities and law enforcement for a "pattern of abuses" against demonstrators and administrative detainees, including migrants.

The US Supreme Court denied a petition for writ of certiorari [JURIST report] in the five states' Asian carp suit for the fourth time in February. In August, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled against [JURIST report] the five states' efforts to stop the Asian carp. The Supreme Court had denied certiorari [AP report] on the issue three times as of April 2010. In December 2009, the state of Michigan filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] in the Supreme Court against the state of Illinois seeking to close the two waterways, as the court has original jurisdiction in disputes between the states. All three times, the court denied certiorari without comment on the dispute. Michigan reopened the longstanding controversy [backgrounder, PDF] over the diversion canal, created in the 1890s to keep Chicago's sewage from flowing into Lake Michigan. The court issued decrees over the canal in 1930, 1933, 1956, 1967 and 1980. The carp have been traveling up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers for years. Tests have showed that the carp may have gotten through an underwater electric barrier and may now be within six miles of Lake Michigan. The fish were originally imported to control algae in fisheries on the Mississippi River, but escaped during a 1990s flood.

Samsung has been involved in numerous patent infringement lawsuits, especially with Apple [corporate website]. Earlier this month, a judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website] ruled that Apple and Samsung may each pursue additional patent infringement claims against the other, allowing each company to add devices brought to market after the original lawsuit was filed in February. In October the Dutch Rechtbank's-Gravenhage [official website] court ruled that Samsung did not infringe [JURIST report] on an Apple software patent. In the same month, a UK court also ruled that Samsung did not infringe [JURIST report] on an Apple design patent. In the same time frame Apple appealed [JURIST report] a Tokyo District Court ruling which dismissed the company's claim that Samsung had infringed on its patents. At the beginning of October, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit [official website] reversed an injunction [JURIST report] against Samsung that prevented it from selling its Galaxy Nexus product. Earlier in August, Apple won a $1.05 billion judgment [JURIST report] in the Northern District of California against Samsung involving other patent infringements.

We think that, just like the Solicitor General, we think that in that circumstance it is possible for the court to enter a default judgment and force relief upon the plaintiff. [...] I think it could work either way so long as the forcing happened within the time period of Rule 68. I don't think the court can, like Lazarus, raise this after it has already been withdrawn. The text of Rule 68 says the offer is now dead. If they had, I imagine, moved for the court to enforce that order, enforce that offer and enter a default judgment within the 14-day period, then I think that would have been something that might have been possible to do.

The court also heard arguments [transcript, PDF] on the Clean Water Act (CWA) [materials], in the consolidated cases Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center and Georgia-Pacific West v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center. The Northwest Environmental Defense Center (NEDC) [advocacy website] sued several logging companies under the CWA's citizen-suit provision, alleging that man-made logging roads were channeling discharge and stormwater into open waters. Whereas they described these as "point sources," which the CWA prohibits, the logging companies, joined by the government, argued that they were natural runoff. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed with the NEDC, and the Oregon Department of Forestry [official website] and Georgia-Pacific West [corporate website] appealed to the Supreme Court. They argued that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [official website] and its treatment of storm waters allows a clear reversal. Chief Justice Roberts began arguments by congratulating the counsel for petitioners on "getting almost all the relief they're looking for under the new rule issued on Friday." Congress has prepared several pieces of legislation [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] to support the logging industry and the EPA distributed a new rule [press release] clarifying the issue. The NEDC asked that the court dismiss the case as improvidently granted, in light of congressional and EPA reaction. Justice Stephen Breyer recused himself from considering the case.