Mélanie Cantin is a JURIST Staff Correspondent in Ottawa, and a rising 2L at the University of Ottawa.  On Friday May 13th, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its judgment in the case of R v Brown, rejecting the constitutionality of section 33.1 of the Criminal Code, a provision removing “extreme self-induced intoxication akin to [...]

Oklahoma’s Governor Kevin Stitt Wednesday signed the United States’ strictest abortion ban into law. The ban, HB 4327 makes Oklahoma the first state to ban abortion from fertilization until birth. Under the law, abortion is prohibited at “any stage of pregnancy.” The law includes an exception for medical emergencies and rape or incest. However, rape [...]

The United Nations Security Council urged the Taliban Tuesday to reverse its restrictions on the fundamental freedoms and human rights of Afghan women. During a 15-member state panel in Norway, the Security Council expressed “deep concern” over the policies being implemented in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Since taking rule of Afghanistan eight months ago, the [...]

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey Wednesday announced a $161.5 million settlement with drug manufacturers Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (Teva) and Allergan over their involvement in the state’s opioid epidemic. The cash value of this settlement alone is “the highest per capita settlement in the nation” according to the announcement. A civil trial between the Attorney Generals office [...]

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller Tuesday announced a $19.2 million settlement with Ford Motor Co. over false advertising claims. The settlement resolves allegations that Ford falsely advertised the real-world fuel economy of model year 2013–2014 C-Max hybrids and the payload capacity of model year 2011–2014 Super Duty pickup trucks. Miller claimed Ford misrepresented the distance [...]

US federal prosecutors in Brooklyn Tuesday indicted a fundraiser for the Donald Trump campaign on multiple charges amidst allegations that he illegally lobbied on behalf of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Thomas Barrack, the owner of a private equity firm, DigitalBridge Group has been charged with receiving funds from the UAE amounting to $374 million [...]

Amnesty International Tuesday released its annual Report on Death Sentences and Executions which noted a sharp increase in executions in Iran and Saudi Arabia while describing global use of the death penalty between January and December 2021.  The report reflects that there was a rise in executions and death sentences in 2021 after Covid-19 restrictions [...]

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Órban Tuesday declared a wartime state of emergency, citing physical, energy and economic fears originating from the ongoing war in Ukraine. Órban declared a similar emergency during the Covid-19 pandemic and assumed special emergency powers set to expire next week. Órban won a fourth term as prime minister in a “landslide” [...]

In the early hours of Tuesday April 19, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation issued a notification ordering the commencement of a “special joint encroachment removal action programme” in the Jahangirpuri area of New Delhi, a predominantly Muslim district of the city. The notification, issued from the 19th of April to the 21st of April, was [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Tuesday ruled that post-Civil War amnesty laws do not protect members of Congress who voiced support for the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Voters brought a case against Representative Madison Cawthorn, claiming that Cawthorn was ineligible to run for re-election because of his [...]