The court also declined to hear several other cases. The court refused to consider The Real Truth About Abortion, Inc. v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) [docket], a case on the vagueness of FEC regulations that require political action committees (PACs) to publicly disclose its finances. The court also rejected Hall v. Sebelius [docket], an attempt of a group of citizens to enroll in Social Security but not Medicare Part A. The court also denied GeorgiaCarry.Org, Inc. v. Georgia [docket], which challenged a Georgia statute that barred firearms from places of worship.

Last year saw a large number of arrests of suspected ETA members throughout Europe. In October the French police [official website, in French] and the Spanish Civil Guard [official website, in Spanish] arrested [JURIST report] Isaskun Lesaka, one of the three suspected leaders of ETA. In 2011 a Spanish court sentenced [JURIST report] a former military leader for the group to 105 years in prison for ordering the murder of a Socialist political leader and his bodyguard. Two months earlier a group of ETA prisoners released a statement [JURIST report] calling for the ETA to stop violence and commit to a truce. In 2010 the Spanish government also accused the Venezuelan government [JURIST report] of aiding ETA members in a plot to kill Colombian government officials in Spain. A Spanish judge also found earlier that year that a member of ETA had attempted three times [JURIST report] to kill Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar in 2001.

The National Safety Courts, special military tribunals, were instituted in March 2011 under King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa's [official profile] three-month state of emergency [JURIST report] and have been internationally criticized, especially by human rights groups [JURIST report] such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website]. In May HRW urged Bahrain to release the remaining prisoners [JURIST report] because the trial violated international fair trial standards in that the convictions were based on apparently coerced confessions and the individuals were merely engaged in peaceful protest. In April a Bahrain appeals court ruled that al-Khawaja and the other protesters would be retried in civilian court [JURIST report], prompting the review by the Court of Cassation. Also in April Amnesty International (AI) issued its own report [JURIST report] alleging human rights violations continue in Bahrain despite reforms. Also that month, four independent UN human rights experts called for al-Khawaja's immediate release [JURIST report].

China has been known for its strict policy against dissidents. In June a Chinese court quashed the sentence [JURIST report] against a Chinese blogger and former forestry employee for lack of evidence. With the annulment of the sentence, the Chongqing Third Intermediate Court ruled that the one-year detention of Fang Hong in a police-run labor camp was illegal. Also in June dissident artist Ai Weiwei was banned [JURIST report] from attending the first hearing in the case brought by his company, Fake Cultural Development Ltd., against Beijing tax authorities, despite the fact that the Chinese court had agreed to hear [JURIST report] the case in early May. Filming and key witnesses were excluded from the courthouse while other rights activists such as Hu Jia were also barred from attending the hearing. In May the blind Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng asked the US to increase its effort in promoting the rule of law in China a week following his arrival in New York after he left the US embassy [JURIST reports] in early May.

It's unfortunate that the state has chosen to prolong what is really a very clear-cut First Amendment issue. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has consistently ruled that any time the government creates an avenue for private speech, it cannot restrict that avenue to only one side of a contentious debate. This case is ultimately about the right of North Carolinians of all political beliefs to have equal access to avenues for the free expression of ideas, and we look forward to making our arguments before the Court of Appeals.

Fox struck down the "Choose Life" license plates in December after issuing an injunction [JURIST reports] the previous month. Abortion [JURIST news archive] has remained a controversial issue in North Carolina. In June 2011 the Woman's Right to Know Act [HB 854 materials], which called for a 24-hour waiting period before receiving an abortion and requiring women to view an ultrasound of the fetus prior to the procedure was vetoed [JURIST report] by the state's governor. However, in July both the House and Senate [JURIST reports] voted to override the veto.

In October US Attorney Preet Bharara [official profile] filed a $1 billion civil lawsuit against BOA [JURIST report] in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) [official website], with similar claims that BOA subsidiary Countrywide Financial committed fraud in originating residential mortgages. In September BOA settled [JURIST report] a $2.43 billion class action lawsuit with investors over their $18.5 billion acquisition of Merrill Lynch. In July BOA agreed to pay $375 million [JURIST report] in a settlement with bond insurer Syncora Guarantee [corporate website] over claims that Syncora was misled into insuring toxic mortgage-backed securities of Countrywide Financial. Also that month a federal judge rejected [JURIST report] a motion by BOA to dismiss a shareholder lawsuit alleging BOA's purposeful concealment of the bank's exposure to billions of dollars in loan repurchase claims and its problematic reliance on an electronic loan registry. In December BOA reached a $315 million settlement of claims brought by investors alleging they were misled with respect to mortgage-backed investments, and a $335 million settlement [JURIST reports] with the Department of Justice, relating to discriminatory lending practices.

Last month Justice Mohammed Nizamul Huq, a judge for the ICTB resigned [JURIST report] from his position. Huq was the chairman of the tribunal's three-judge panel, and is a Justice for the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh [official website]. His resignation followed recent allegations of impropriety. The report indicated that Huq ordered two journalists to appear before to explain how they obtained e-mails and recorded telephone conversations between an outside lawyer and himself. The journalists obtained the information in a wider investigation into the practices of the tribunal, the results of which they have yet to publish. The ICTB was established in 2010 [JURIST report] to handle war crimes charges stemming from the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War [GlobalSecurity backgrounder].

Last week the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ruled [JURIST report] that the impeachment proceedings against Bandaranayake were unlawful. The court held that the parliamentary committee does not have the authority to investigate or proceed with the impeachment of a senior judge; these tasks are left to the judiciary. Thus, by stepping into the judiciary's role, the parliament had exercised power beyond its authority, ultimately rendering the entire proceeding unlawful. The parliament had not yet commented on the ruling, but was expected to make an announcement after the debate concerning Bandaranayake's impeachment. The decision came only days after a UN independent expert expressed concern [JURIST report] about the increasing threats and attacks against judges and lawyers who fight for the independence of the judiciary.