A federal judge on Tuesday upheld Puerto Rico’s same-sex marriage ban. US District Judge Juan Pérez-Giménez for the US District Court for the District of Puerto Rico ruled that last year’s landmark Supreme Court decision on marriage rights does not necessarily apply to Puerto Rico. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges last June [...]

The South Carolina Senate approved legislation on Tuesday that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of gestation. The Senate approved the legislation by a vote of 36-9 allowing exceptions only if the mother’s life is in jeopardy or if a doctor were to determine that the fetus cannot survive outside the womb. There are no [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a lower court ruling finding Apple conspired with book publishers to increase e-book prices. Monday’s order, issued without comment, means that Apple is now responsible for the $450 million settlement it reached in 2014. Apple said that it is prepared to distribute the settlement funds , [...]

The Supreme Court of Bangladesh upheld the death sentence of a former opposition politician on Tuesday for allegedly committing war crimes during the 1971 war of independence. Mir Quasem Ali, who is accused of murder and torture during the conflict, was also a business man and member of the Jamaat-e-Islami Party. His party was opposed [...]

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe signed the Fantasy Contests Act into law on Monday, making the state the first to regulate online fantasy sports. The law requires fantasy contest operators to register with the state and conduct annual independent audits. The operators must also submit annual reports to prove compliance with other provisions of the law, [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Sunday urged the African Union to establish a hybrid court to prosecute members of the South Sudan government for war crimes committed in the Western Equatoria region. HRW said that there is evidence that killings, rapes and enforced disappearances have been committed against civilians in the region and that some [...]

Florida Governor Rick Scott on Monday signed into law a bill revamping the state’s death penalty law. The changes are in response to the US Supreme Court ruling in January that the state’s previous sentencing scheme was unconstitutional . The new legislation requires jurors to be unanimous on aggravating factors and for 10 of 12 [...]

Seven families living in Flint, Michigan, filed a class action lawsuit against Governor Rick Snyder on Monday alleging gross negligence in connection to the lead-contaminated water. The suit, filed under the Safe Water and Lead-Free Water Acts , alleges that Snyder, as well as other public officials, violated the Clean Water Act through gross negligence. [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Akhil Kang, discusses a case in Punjab and Haryana High court where castrated cis-gendered men brought a criminal case against religious groups claiming that they were induced to undergo castration on the promise of attaining higher enlightenment… Hans Raj Chauhan in the state of Haryana in northern India filed a case against [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday held that for the purposes of diversity jurisdiction, citizenship of an investment trust depends on the citizenship of its members, which includes its shareholders. In Americold Realty Trust v. ConAgra Foods , Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the unanimous court: In Maryland, a real estate investment trust is an [...]