JURIST Guest Columnist Frans von der Dunk of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law discusses the recent US Space Launch Competitiveness Act… On November 25, 2015, President Obama signed into law the US Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (H.R. 2262). This Act encompasses four titles: I. Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship (acronym: SPACE), [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases Monday. In Green v. Brennan the court heard arguments to determine whether, under federal employment discrimination law, the filing period for a constructive discharge claim begins to run when an employee resigns, as five circuits have held, or at the time of an employer’s last [...]

UNICEF on Friday called for aid to approximately 1.2 million children distressed by conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR) . Violence has persisted in the CAR since the predominately Muslim-based Seleka rebels ousted former president François Bozize in March 2013. More than 400,000 people remain displaced due to the violent overthrow, with over a [...]

El Salvador’s complete ban on abortion negatively affects not only women and girls, but also their families, according to an Amnesty International (AI) report released Monday. The report indicates that woman who suffer miscarriages or complications in the course of their pregnancy can be charged with counts of abortion or even aggravated homicide, which breeds [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday denied certiorari in an appeal by Mexican states attempting to sue BP over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The court let stand a lower court ruling in Veracruz, Mexico, et al. v. BP, P.L.C., et al. , finding that the states of Veracruz, Tamaulipas and Quintana Roo [...]

Stockholm’s district court on Friday, ruled against forcing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block The Pirate Bay and Swefilmer, a file sharing and streaming website, respectively. The plaintiffs, Swedish Film Industry, Nordisk Film, Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music, filed suit against Bredbandsbolaget, the second largest Swedish ISP, requesting that the ISP either block [...]

An Israeli court on Monday found two Israeli minors guilty of murdering and kidnapping Mohammed Abu Khdeir, a Palestinian minor, in 2014 in Jerusalem. The minors, whose names were not mentioned in court proceedings , will face sentencing in January and will be able to appeal their convictions. The minors allege that they were involved [...]

The High Court in Belfast on Monday ruled that Northern Ireland’s abortion laws, which only allow abortion when the mother faces the risk of death or serious injury, is a violation of human rights. The court said that by failing to provide exceptions for women who have been victims of sexual abuse and cases in [...]

A federal judge has dismissed a discrimination lawsuit filed against a gun store owner that deemed his store a “Muslim Free Zone.” Judge Beth Bloom of the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida said in her order that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) , the organization that brought the lawsuit, “insufficiently [...]

A UN humans rights expert on Friday urged the government of Honduras to increase its efforts to put a stop to an “internal displacement epidemic” caused by organized and gang violence throughout the country, as well as a failing criminal justice system. Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons Chaloka Beyani said [...]