A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Thursday ruled that a Texas voter ID law violates the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the US Constitution because it is racially discriminatory and places a substantial burden on the right to vote. The law requires voters to obtain one of [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on Thursday overturned the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin’s decision that upheld a state statute prohibiting night hunting outside of Native American tribal reservations. Although state jurisdiction over Native Americans is limited, the district court’s decision was based on “the right to [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday that citizens cannot sue foreign governments for torture. Under the State Immunity Act , a foreign state is immune from the jurisdiction of any court in Canada, unless that state has waived such immunity. In the case at hand, a Canadian citizen visited Iran in 2003 as a [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Thursday revived a whistleblower’s lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase & Co. . In a unanimous decision, the court vacated and remanded a lower court’s grant of summary judgment to JPMorgan, which had effectively tossed a suit filed by former vice president Jennifer Sharkey. Sharkey filed a [...]

The Netherlands Ministry of Defense has announced plans to appeal a July ruling finding Netherlands liable for the deaths of 300 of the men and boys killed in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre . The court found that the UN-backed Dutch troops failed to adequately protect the Bosniaks at the UN compound in Potocari, which was [...]

Speaking at the Geneva presentation of a report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Moving Away from the Death Penalty , UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic urged the international abolition of the death penalty. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon released a statement in support of the sentiment, [...]

Lawmakers in South Sudan on Wednesday passed a controversial bill that gives security forces the right to arrest suspected criminals without a warrant. The bill was passed into law in its fourth reading after a three-hour debate. The leader of the minority Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) party Onyoti Adigo walked out during the [...]

States that have toughened voter identification laws have experienced steeper drops in election turnout than those that have not, including disproportionate falloffs among black and younger voters, according to a nonpartisan congressional study released on Wednesday by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) . By June of this year, 33 states had enacted voter photo [...]

The Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) on Thursday summoned for interrogation far-right politician Geert Wilders on suspicion of making criminally discriminatory statements regarding Moroccans. According to OM he “is suspected of insulting a group of people based on race and inciting discrimination and hatred.” If convicted, he could face up to a year in prison [...]

The US Supreme Court issued an order Wednesday allowing North Carolina to do away with same-day voter registration and out-of-precinct voting. The order stays a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which held that those provisions of the North Carolina law should not be enforced. Although the order was issued [...]