California Governor Jerry Brown on Friday signed 20 bills into law , six of which were bills altering the gun laws in the state . Brown stated that he signed the bills “to enhance public safety by tightening our existing laws in a responsible and focused manner, while protecting the rights of law-abiding gun owners.” [...]

A federal judge on Thursday ruled that a Mississippi law allowing for religious objections to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community is unconstitutional . HB 1523 , set to go into effect Friday, sought to protect three religious beliefs: “(a) Marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and [...]

US District Judge Robert Hinkle issued a preliminary injunction on Thursday blocking provisions of a new Florida law that would cut state funding to clinics that provide abortions. Though the law was planned to take effect on Friday, Planned Parenthood affiliates challenged the law’s constitutionality. Hinkle found that cutting funding to certain abortion clinics would [...]

The UN Human Rights Council called on the African Union (AU) Friday to respond to a report that detailed gross human rights violations in Eritrea. The report found that systemic and widespread gross violations in the detention facilities and military camps may even amounts to crimes against humanity. The council had previously called on the [...]

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter on Thursday announced a new policy that allows transgender individuals to serve openly in the military, effective immediately. The announcement , promised last week, lifted the ban that not only prevented transgender persons from serving in the military but also made a transgender identity grounds for discharge. The policy shift [...]

JURIST Guest Colomnist Graciela Jasa Silveira discusses potential legal and constitutional consequences as a result of Mexican President Peña Nieto’s initiatives to support same-sex family rights… Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto made public two bills to make-constitutional the right to marriage, and to amend federal family law to guarantee same-sex partners access to marriage and [...]

The US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on Thursday struck down the state’s parenthood statute for violating the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment . Indiana Code Section 31-9-2-15, 31-9-2-16, and 31-14-7-1 provide that only birth mothers would be listed on a birth certificate, meaning that, where one [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday overturned a man’s drug possession and trafficking conviction because he had been made to wait too long for his trial. The man, Shane Vassal, had waited three years before his three day trial was held, leading the court to the conclusion that he was denied the right to [...]

The New Mexico Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the exclusion of farm and ranch workers from the New Mexico’s Worker Compensation Act is unconstitutional. The court relied on legislative interpretation to hold that the exclusion of the farm workers served no purpose in the furtherance of the act, and that the discrimination against such [...]

A judge for the Federal District Court for Southern Indiana placed an injunction on a restrictive abortion law Thursday, just days after the US Supreme Court found similar Texas legislation to be unconstitutional. The Indiana law would have banned women from seeking abortion procedures when they are based on race, sex, or the potential for [...]