The U.S. Supreme Court will soon consider whether to hear the case of Charles Rhines, who claims that the South Dakota jury that sentenced him to death harbored anti-gay bias. Such bias has no place in our criminal justice system because “our law punishes people for what they do, not who they are.” The Supreme [...]
The leading law-based news these days has been the ‘Mueller Report’ and its more-or-less exculpatory conclusions about U.S. presidential “collusion.” Even if evolving clarifications of this controversial report should further support the absence of presidential illegality in this specific matter, illegality that could involve certain corollary allegations concerning “obstruction of justice,” the Trump administration would [...]
The clock is ticking on the deadline set by the Constitutional Court of Taiwan to amend the law to allow same-sex couples to marry. On May 24, 2017, the court declared Taiwan’s existing marriage law unconstitutional on grounds of discrimination and gave parliament two years to amend it to include same-sex couples. If the government [...]
On February 11, 2019, the President of the United States signed an Executive Order (EO) directing the federal government to promote artificial intelligence (AI). President Trump’s EO aims to stimulate basic research in AI, reduce barriers to innovation, train AI technologists, and protect America’s advantage in AI such as it is. The EO also directs [...]
The Georgia legislature is poised to pass a “fetal heartbeat” law similar to those recently passed in Kentucky and several other states. The bill, which narrowly cleared the House, would prohibit abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected—generally at 6 to 7 weeks into pregnancy. Because pregnancy is generally dated from the last menstrual [...]
On June 17, 2015, Dylan Roof burst into a prayer service at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina with a .45 caliber Glock. He killed nine churchgoers and injured another. In the aftermath of the shooting, the FBI explained that Roof “should not have been allowed to purchase the gun he allegedly used that [...]
Contrary to conventional wisdom, both nuclear deterrence and associated forms of nuclear strategy, including preemption, can support the authoritative expectations of international law. The adequacy of international law in preventing a nuclear war in the Middle East will depend upon more than formal treaties, customs and “the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations.” [...]
“For there is nothing on earth more acceptable to that Supreme Deity who rules over this whole world than the councils and assemblages of men bound together by law, which are called States.” Cicero, Somnium Scipionis Recent news from the Middle East, though generally “beneath the surface,” deals with Sunni Arab state reactions to [...]
Much needed legislation, which reins-in use of algorithms to determine who stays in jail pending trial and who gets out, recently passed in the Idaho legislature. House Bill 118, sponsored by Representative Greg Chaney (R-Caldwell), is first-of-its-kind legislation that addresses inherent flaws in the criminal justice system. The bill calls for the algorithms to be [...]
Toledo, Ohio residents last month overwhelmingly voted in favor of the innovative Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR), an amendment to the city charter which declares Lake Erie has enforceable legal rights. What that vote signals may turn out to be more important to Lake Erie than the well-intentioned but legally flawed LEBOR itself. LEBOR [...]
