Federal civil rights laws require schools to provide equal opportunities, not give anyone an unfair head start. So schools don't have to change the essential rules of the game, and they don't have to do anything that would provide a student with a disability an unfair competitive advantage. But they do need to make reasonable modifications (such as using a laser instead of a starter pistol to start a race so a deaf runner can compete) to ensure that students with disabilities get the very same opportunity to play as everyone else. The guidance issued today will help schools meet this obligation and will allow increasing numbers of kids with disabilities the chance to benefit from playing sports.

Education and access to it in the US has several nuanced issues. For example, earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire (ACLU) and Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) [advocacy websites] challenged [JURIST report] the constitutionality of a tuition tax-credit program designed to divert taxpayer money to private religious schools across the state. In November, Oklahoma voters approved [JURIST report] a ballot measure to eliminate affirmative action programs within the state. In May, JURIST Associate Editor James Craig discussed [JURIST op-ed] the history of affirmative action, arguing that recent studies and case law have left affirmative action with an uncertain future. In May, the Tennessee House of Representatives [official website] passed a bill that augments [JURIST report] the state's abstinence-only sex education curriculum to allow parents to sue school teachers or organizations that promote "gateway sexual activity."

The CIA has faced a number of legal challenges in the past year. Last month, the High Court of England and Wales refused to allow [JURIST report] a legal challenge to the possible role of the UK's spy agencies in aiding CIA unmanned drone strikes [JURIST news archive] in Pakistan. This was in response to a Pakistani citizen who sued [JURIST report] the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office [official website] in order to discover the extent and lawfulness of UK government aid to US drone strikes in Pakistan. In October, JURIST guest columnist Douglas Cox opined that the CIA should respond [JURIST op-ed] to the National Archives inquiry into the CIA's destruction of detainee interrogation tapes in order to prevent any further destruction of important records. In September, JURIST Guest Columnist Tung Yin argued that Attorney General Eric Holder should have given some explanation [JURIST op-ed] for his decision to refrain from prosecuting any suspects after spending years investigating the CIA's abuse of interrogation methods that led to the deaths of at least two detainees. Earlier that same month, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] heard arguments [JURIST report] on whether to grant a Freedom of Information Act [5 USC § 552] request by the American Civil Liberties Union [advocacy website] to obtain information from the CIA on its use of unmanned drones. Also in September, the Italian Court of Cassation [official website, in Italian] upheld the convictions [JURIST report] of 23 former CIA officers for the 2003 kidnapping and rendition [JURIST news archive] of Egyptian terror suspect Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr.

Discrimination based on sexual orientation has been a controversial issue worldwide. In July UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon [official profile] called for an end to sexual orientation discrimination [JURIST report]. In June a group of LGBT plaintiffs filed an appeal [JURIST report] in their suit challenging a Tennessee law that bars local governments from creating anti-discrimination laws that are stricter than those of the state. The US Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) held a hearing [JURIST report] in June on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), focusing on discrimination faced by LGBT employees across the country. Earlier in June JURIST guest columnist Brynne Madway argued [JURIST op-ed] that the LGBT community must shift some of its focus to promoting anti-discrimination laws, noting that "only 16 states have nondiscrimination laws that include gender identity and sexual orientation." In December 2011 the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released its first ever report [JURIST report] on the global human rights of LGBT people. The report details LGBT people around the world being killed or enduring hate-motivated violence, torture, detention, criminalization and discrimination in jobs, health care and education because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

Two weeks ago the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] asked the DC Circuit to reverse Al Bahlul's conviction [JURIST report] because the court is bound by its decision last October to dismiss the case against bin Laden's former driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdan. In September 2011 the US Court of Military Commission Review [official website] ruled in a 7-0 vote that Al Bahlul had been properly convicted of being a propagandist and should spend the rest of his life in prison [JURIST reports]. He previously boycotted much of his trial proceedings. Al Bahlul, a 39-year old Yemeni citizen, went on trial [JURIST report] at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST backgrounder] in 2008. He is alleged to have been Osama bin Laden's personal assistant and media secretary and was charged in February 2008 with conspiracy, solicitation to commit murder and attacks on civilians, and providing material support for terrorism. He is accused of researching the financial impact of the 9/11 attacks and also releasing the "martyr wills" of 9/11 hijackers Muhammed Atta and Ziad al Jarrah as propaganda videos. Al Bahlul was the second detainee to go on trial at Guantanamo since the prison there opened in 2002 and is the only convicted criminal currently held at the facility.