A judge for Arkansas’ Pulaski County Circuit Court ruled Thursday that the state ban on court clerks issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples is unconstitutional. In doing so, Judge Chris Piazza effectively expanded his May 10 decision wherein he ruled that the state ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional. An immediate appeal was taken to [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Oregon on Wednesday rejected an attempt by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) to intervene in litigation to defend the state’s same-sex marriage ban. NOM presented the petition in oral argument, and it was immediately denied by Judge Michael McShane, who questioned why the [...]

The Missouri House of Representatives approved a bill Wednesday to extend the abortion waiting period from 24 to 72 hours. The House voted 111-39 in favor of the bill after the Missouri Senate approved the measure by a vote of 22-9 on Monday. The bill is now forwarded to Governor Jay Nixon for approval and [...]

The Congress of the Republic of Guatemala on Tuesday approved a non-binding resolution denying any existence of genocide during the civil war lasting from 1960-1996. The resolution calls for national reconciliation and states: “It is legally impossible … that genocide could have occurred in our country’s territory during the armed conflict.” The Movement of victims [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Brandon L. Garrett of the University of Virginia School of Law comments on the recent problems with botched lethal injections being administered for purposed of imposing the death penalty … “We’re going to close the blinds temporarily,” the Oklahoma corrections officer told those in the witness room, when Clayton Lockett’s execution started [...]

The High Court of Kenya issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for journalist Walter Barasa, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for interfering with witnesses in the trial of Deputy President William Ruto . Barasa is accused of attempting to bribe prosecution witnesses to try and persuade them to withdraw testimony against Ruto. [...]

The Arkansas Supreme Court issued an unsigned order Thursday declining to put on hold a ruling that overturned the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriages. The court however, ruled that the the circuit court’s order had no effect on Ark. Code Ann. § 9-11-208(b) and its prohibition against circuit and county clerks issuing same-sex marriage [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Tuesday granted a stay of execution for a Texas inmate just hours before he was to be put to death in order to review his claim that he is intellectually disabled. Robert James Campbell, a 41-year-old convicted rapist and murderer, was to be the first [...]

Amnesty International (AI) on Monday launched a global anti-torture campaign, as it released a report summarizing the results of a global survey analyzing attitudes towards torture in 141 countries. The report found that 44 percent of the 21,000 people surveyed would not feel safe from torture if arrested in their home country. Brazil and Mexico [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Wednesday affirmed without comment a US International Trade Commission (ITC) decision finding that Apple did not infringe upon Samsung Electronics patents. The ITC had previously found in June that Apple infringed on a separate Samsung patent, and issued a ban on the importation of AT&T [...]