The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in two cases concerning time bars for filing claims against the US government under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) . In United States v. Wong the court heard arguments on whether the six-month time bar for filing suit in federal court under the FTCA is subject [...]

Brazil’s National Truth Commission released a report on Wednesday declaring that state agents engaged in human rights violations between 1964 and 1985 when the country was under military rule. The human rights violations include enforced disappearances, torture, sexual violence, executions and hiding bodies. At least 434 people are believed to have died or gone missing [...]

Prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested last Wednesday on unknown charges, according to her husband Reza Khanda. Khanda reported that the couple’s car was surrounded by intelligence agents in Tehran and both were arrested. Khanda stated on his Facebook page,”Nasrin and I were arrested. I was freed but Nasrin is still in [...]

The UN Special Rapporteur on counter terrorism and human rights Ben Emmerson on Tuesday called for the prosecution of US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other government officials for the interrogation and torture of detainees. The statement follows the release of a US Senate committee report that found CIA enhanced interrogation techniques were ineffective and [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases Tuesday. In Gelboim v. Bank of America Corporation the court heard arguments on whether and in what circumstances the dismissal of an action that has been consolidated with other suits is immediately appealable. The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit determined “sua sponte [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in Warger v. Shauers that a party seeking a new trial may not use one juror’s affidavit of what another juror said in deliberations to demonstrate the other juror’s dishonesty during voir dire. During voir dire in a personal injury suit, a potential juror pledged to remain impartial but [...]

The Israeli army’s air strikes on four landmark buildings in Gaza from July to August this year were deliberate and indicative of war crimes , Amnesty International (AI) said Tuesday. No one was killed in the attacks, but many civilians in neighboring buildings were severely injured. AI reported that these attacks were different than previous [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk that employees are not entitled to overtime pay for the time spent waiting for and undergoing post-shift security screening procedures. The plaintiffs are warehouse workers at various sorting facilities connected to online retailer Amazon.com who were required to pass through security screening [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Jordan Paust of the University of Houston Law Center discusses the recently released Senate Torture Report … The recently released Torture Report of the Senate Intelligence Committee adds another layer of proof of serial international criminality that was manifestly authorized and/or facilitated by Bush, Cheney, Rice, Gonzales, Rumsfeld, Addington, Rizzo, Rodriguez, Yoo [...]

The so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” employed during the Bush administration were “ineffective,” according to a long-awaited report released Tuesday by the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence . According to the report, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) deliberately misled Congress and the White House about information obtained using enhanced interrogation techniques between 2002 and 2007, [...]