An equally divided US Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed a 2014 decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in favor of unions concerning First Amendment rights of public teachers who do not wish to pay union fees. In Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association the court was asked to decide whether public [...]

Louisiana jails are failing to provide basic HIV services to inmates, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report Tuesday. HRW said this failure occurs through “limited, haphazard, and in many cases, non-existent” services provided to inmates. Louisiana’s two largest cities, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, lead the nation in new HIV infections every year, [...]

Utah became the first state to require doctors to administer anesthesia to women receiving an abortion after 20-weeks on Monday when the governor signed Senate Bill 234 . The bill was signed into law along with 55 other bills by Governor Gary Herbert. Previously, anesthesia was a woman’s choice and abortions are still prohibited in [...]

The UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) ruled on Monday that Argentina’s maritime territory includes the area surrounding the Falkland Islands. Argentina had previously submitted to the commission a report fixing the territory at 350 miles from its coast instead of 200. The commission made clear that it was not in [...]

Azeri human rights lawyer and advocate Intigam Aliyev was freed from jail on Monday. The Azerbaijan Supreme Court reduced his sentence from over seven years to a five year-probation period. Aliyev had been charged with tax evasion, abuse of office and illegal entrepreneurship. Amnesty International Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia Denis Krivosheev stated [...]

Former Pardon Attorney Deborah Leff indicated that the pardon system is broken in her resignation letter that was obtained by USA Today on Monday after a Freedom of Information Act request. Leff resigned from her position in the Obama administration in January, citing reasons such as being denied access to the White House Counsel’s Office [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday dropped its case seeking to compel Apple to assist unlocking the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, saying the DOJ has accessed the data itself. The DOJ had requested a postponement of a hearing that had been scheduled for last week to determine whether Apple must comply with an [...]

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said Monday that he will veto a controversial religious freedom bill . HB 757 was given final legislative approval earlier this month and awaited the governor’s signature. The governor expressed concern that the bill “contained language that could give rise to state-sanctioned discrimination.” The legislation would have given “faith based organizations” [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Jocelyn Simonson of Brooklyn Law School discusses the consent decree between Ferguson, Missouri, and the Department of Justice… Last week, the City of Ferguson, Missouri, entered into a consent decree with the Department of Justice (DOJ) under which it has agreed to overhaul its Police Department practices through a series of changes [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday granted certiorari in Moon v. United States and Jeffries v. United States , both dealing with criminal sentencing. The cases had ben remanded to the US Courts of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Fifth Circuit , respectively, with instructions to consider the cases in the light of [...]