The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Monday overturned a lower court decision that had allowed authors challenging Google’s digital books project to sue as a group . Google has scanned more than 20 million books after partnering in 2004 with major libraries around the world, and millions were scanned without consent [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Roland Adjovi, Academic Director of the Arcadia Center for East African Studies says that by forbidding independent political candidates, the Tanzanian Constitution violates the African Union Charter on Human and People’s Rights …

Senegalese police on Sunday detained former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre . Habre has been under house arrest in Senegal since 2005. Senegal and the African Union (AU) signed an agreement in December to set up the Extraordinary African Chambers to try Habre for allegations of crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture during his time [...]

The chief judge of the US District Court for the District of Kansas on Sunday refused to block a portion of a Kansas abortion law that requires abortion providers’ websites to contain a link to a state information page. The ruling, in a suit brought by Planned Parenthood, follows a ruling by a state court [...]

US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on Sunday rejected a request by Proposition 8 supporters to block the issuance of same-sex marriage licenses in California. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) , a Christian legal advocacy group, had filed an emergency petition ] on Saturday arguing that the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged European Union’s High Representative Catherine Ashton and other EU member states’ representatives to condemn Saudi Arabia for recently convicting seven governmental critics of inciting protests through Facebook. The men were detained for a year and a half before being charged and sent to trial. All seven were convicted of inciting [...]

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) , a Christian legal advocacy group, filed an emergency petition on Saturday, stating that the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s recent decision lifting California’s ban on gay marriage was not legal and was decided prematurely. This petition comes one day after the Ninth Circuit announced in a [...]

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Friday ruled that a Fremont, Nebraska ordinance that bans renting to undocumented immigrants is constitutional. The panel held that the ordinance does not have an “impermissible effect by removing a class of aliens from the city” or intrude on federal immigration [...]

Russia President Vladimir Putin on Sunday signed into law a bill banning the promotion of “homosexual propaganda” among minors. The law also imposes fines of up to 5,000 rubles ($166) and creates the power to suspend legal entities for 90 days for citizens who disseminate information suggesting that homosexuality is “socially equivalent” to heterosexuality. Additionally, [...]

A federal judge on Friday blocked Michigan’s ban on domestic partner benefits for employees who work for public schools or local governments, saying the plaintiffs have demonstrated a likelihood of success on their equal protection claim by providing evidence of the state’s discriminatory purpose. Passed in 2011 by a Republican-controlled Legislature, the law ended insurance [...]