JURIST Guest Columnist Andrew Spiropoulos of the Oklahoma City University School of Law discusses the tactical strategies of all parties involved in the Oklahoma Courts’ death penalty decisions … On April 28, Oklahoma’s execution by lethal injection of convicted murderer Clayton Lockett went awry. According to witnesses, 13 minutes after being injected with the drug [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Bonnie Docherty of Human Rights Watch discusses fully autonomous weapons and their human rights implications… Fully autonomous weapons, which could select and fire on targets without meaningful human intervention, have the potential to revolutionize the nature of warfare, bringing greater speed and reach to military operations. In the process, though, this emerging [...]

A Russian court on Monday sentenced two men to life in prison for the 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya . Rustam Makhmudov was convicted last month of pulling the trigger, and his uncle, Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, was convicted of organizing the murder on behalf of an unknown party. Both men received life sentences , while [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled 7-2 Monday in CTS Corp. v. Waldburger that the discovery rule set forth in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) does not preempt a state’s law limiting the time to seek remedies. The case arose after North Carolina landowners filed a claim against CTS Corp. for allegedly [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday in Executive Benefits Ins. Agency v. Arkison that when a bankruptcy court lacks jurisdiction to enter a final judgment, the bankruptcy court can still issue proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law to be reviewed de novo by the district court. In Stern v. Marshall the Supreme [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Monday in Scialabba v. Cuellar de Osorio that a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) does not automatically grant relief to all aliens who qualify as “child” derivative beneficiaries at the time a visa petition is filed but age out of qualification by the time the visa [...]

UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry on Sunday met with ministers of the new Palestinian unity government in the Gaza Strip. Serry’s UN envoy are the first international officials to meet with the new unity government, announced by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last week. President Abbas’ announcement followed the signing [...]

Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on Sunday agreed to create a truth commission to investigate the deaths of thousands of people in the last five decades of the country’s conflict. During negotiations in Havana, Cuba, the government and FARC agreed to recognize victims on both sides of the conflict, as [...]

The head of the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Saturday strongly condemned an outbreak of deadly violence in the eastern areas of the DRC, sparked by a confrontation over cattle. The UN deployed peacekeepers to the area to work alongside local authorities to help restore calm. According to the [...]

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement Sunday commemorating World Oceans Day calling on the international community to “commit to keep healthy and productive and to use their resources peacefully, equitably and sustainably for the benefit of current and future generations.” The Secretary General emphasized the importance of the world’s oceans noting how they [...]