The European Union (EU) on Thursday called on Afghanistan to conduct a more extensive investigation into vote-rigging in their presidential election. Observers involved with the EU specifically stated that other aspects of the election should be investigated, such an uncharacteristically high number of votes for one candidate at certain polling locations. Yesterday the Independent Election [...]

The Missouri Supreme Court will hear legal challenges to a proposed constitutional amendment dealing with state gun rights that will appear on the ballot next month. Proposed Constitutional Amendment 5 would ask voters whether to enhance the right to keep and bear arms in the constitution. These changes include gun-control measures being subject to heightened [...]

JURIST Contributing Editor Haider Ala Hamoudi of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law discusses Grand Ayatollah Sisani’s call for jihad against ISIS in Iraq … As has been widely discussed, Grand Ayatollah Sistani recently issued a call for jihad against the terrorist organization currently rampaging throughout much of Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq [...]

Pakistan’s parliament on Wednesday passed a new anti-terrorism bill that detractors are claiming grants excessive power to police. The proposed legislation, known as the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance, allows police to use lethal force, to search buildings without a warrant and to detain suspects at secret facilities for up to 60 days without charge “on [...]

According to a report issued by the UN on Tuesday, children continued to be victims of violence and military recruitment in 23 conflict zones around the world in 2013. Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Leila Zerrougui condemned the abuses, particularly the recruitment of child soldiers by seven national armies and [...]

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) issued a report Wednesday endorsing the National Security Agency‘s (NSA) surveillance program before a final meeting to discuss and vote on the release of the report. The report contained the results of a study the board conducted on how the NSA uses section 702 of the Foreign [...]

The office of the North Dakota Attorney General on Wednesday filed a motion to dismiss a challenge to the state’s constitutional amendment limiting marriage to a union between one man and one woman. Seven couples challenged the law in June, alleging that it violates the equal protection, due process and right-to-travel clauses of the Fourteenth [...]

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in the Federal High Court of Nigeria against Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, Attorney General Muhammed Adoke and Muhammed Abacha, son of Nigeria’s former de facto President Sani Abacha . SERAP alleges that Jonathan and Adoke violated Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution by prematurely withdrawing the [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Bilal Khan discusses the legal implications of the use of force against ISIS in IRAQ… The Factual Background The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) made headlines in June, when it escalated its offensives in Iraq. By June 10, it had captured Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, followed by Tikrit, [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Akshat Tewary of the Law Offices of Kamlesh Tewary discusses Judicial Independence and Agency Accountability in reference to SEC v. Citigroup… The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently issued a ruling that could debilitate the ability of the judiciary to serve as an independent arbiter of federal agency action. [...]