The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday on individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and their interaction with bankruptcy. In Clark v. Rameker the court will decide whether an inherited individual retirement account is exempt from a debtor’s bankruptcy estate under Section 522 of the Bankruptcy Code , which exempts tax-exempt retirement funds. In October 2010, [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to review the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit decision regarding Delaware’s state-funded arbitration for business disputes. The lower court held that the provision that allows confidential judge-run arbitration hearings violates the First Amendment but stated that the decision does not invalidate the entire statute. It [...]

Richard Falk , the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, on Friday called on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to assess the legal status of Israel’s prolonged occupation of Palestine. Falk accuses Israel of engaging in colonialism, apartheid and ethnic cleansing and argues that the ongoing settlement undermines the peace process. Falk, who [...]

An Egyptian court on Monday sentenced 529 supporters of deposed president Mohammed Morsi to death on charges of killing and attacking policemen in one of the largest mass trials to be held in the country in decades. The verdicts, which came after only two sessions, are subject to appeal and likely to be overturned, according [...]

Amnesty International (AI) on Monday said that Chinese authorities must put an end to the persecution of those remembering victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown as its twenty-fifth anniversary nears. AI also called for the unconditional release of Gu Yimin, who was found guilty on Monday of inciting state subversion by a court in [...]

A Cairo court on Sunday ordered the release on bail of blogger and activist, Alaa Abdel Fattah, who was imprisoned by Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) in October 2011 for violating Egypt’s controversial protest law and refusing to answer prosecutors’ questions. The SCAF accuses Abdel Fatah of inciting violence during protests in [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday granted certiorari in a dispute concerning the proper procedures a criminal defendant must adhere to in a federal habeas corpus petition. On appeal from the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit , the habeas petitioner in Jennings v. Stephens was sentenced to death in state court in [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Ramzi Kassem of the CUNY School of Law argues that a notice of warrantless wiretapping could lead to the reopening of criminal cases …

The European Union (EU) on Friday imposed new sanctions against 11 senior Russian politicians, including Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. The EU imposed the sanctions on the same day Russian President Vladimir Putin finalized legislation making Crimea officially part of Russia. Earlier last week, the EU announced restrictions against 21 individuals in Russia and [...]

A judge for the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Saturday declared a temporary hold on same-sex marriages in Michigan. The ruling arrived one day after Friday’s decision by a judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan that held that the ban on same-sex marriages in Michigan [...]