The Supreme Court of Costa Rica on Thursday found the country’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional and discriminatory. This decision follows opinion given just seven months ago by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that same-sex couples have the same rights to marry as any opposite-sex couple.< The decision is a significant one for Costa [...]
UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced Wednesday that former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet will succeed Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights . Bachelet completed her second four-year term as the Chilean president earlier this year. Upon her initial election in 2006, she became the first female to assume the Chilean [...]
UN human rights experts urged the government of Nicaragua Thursday to stop repressing voices that are critical of the government after “100 days of unrest in which at least 317 people have been killed and 1,830 injured.” The experts stated that “eports indicate that there has been an increase in targeted repression, criminalisation and alleged arbitrary [...]
Venezuela’s pro-government National Constituent Assembly voted unanimously to strip two members of the opposition-controlled legislature of their immunity accusing them of playing a role in the attempted assassination of President Nicolás Maduro. The move comes after the Venezuela Supreme Court ordered the arrest of the two lawmakers, Julio Borges and Juan Reuesens, on Wednesday. The [...]
UN human rights experts expressed concern Thursday about the increase in attacks against human rights defenders in Guatemala. The experts reported that 11 human rights defenders in Guatemala were killed between May 9 and July 27, 2018. The killings were “of an unusually violent nature—four suffered fatal cuts by bladed weapons, including cuts to their [...]
The West Virginia House Judiciary Committee adopted articles of impeachment on Tuesday against all four justices remaining on the state’s Supreme Court of Appeals. A West Virginia legislature statement outlines the 14 articles that were approved, including accusing all four justices of failing to “properly carry out the administrative duties of the court” and wasteful [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled Tuesday that banks must comply with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) rules requiring the arbitration of all claims brought against them by customers, breaking from two 2014 decisions issued by the Second and Ninth Circuits. The issue concerns FINRA Rule 12200 , which requires [...]
A federal judge in New York ruled on Tuesday that Puerto Rico will not have full control of its financial management under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act of 2016 (PROMESA) . Instead, the court ruled that oversight of financial management shall be handled by the PROMESA—created Financial Oversight and Management Board for [...]
The Argentine Senate on Thursday rejected a bill that would have legalized abortion in a 38-31 vote after a debate that lasted for more than 16 hours. The measure had passed in the Chamber of Deputies two months prior to the vote, making it the first abortion legislation to successfully make it out of the lower house. [...]
New York Congressman Christopher Collins was charged Wednesday with insider trading, as well as lying to the FBI . The indictment alleges that Collins received inside information pertaining to the effectiveness of a medical vaccine from the drug manufacturer, Innate, before the information was made public in 2017. Collins was a member of Innate’s Board of [...]
