The US Supreme Court granted certiorari in four cases on Tuesday. First are the two cases surrounding the birth control mandate contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) . Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores is a challenge by a closely held corporation claiming religious freedom. In addressing this question, the court will [...]

An Israeli Rabbinical Court has ordered a woman to circumcise her son against her will or face daily fines. The ruling was issued by a three-rabbi panel after the boy’s parents filed for divorce, and the father insisted on circumcision and the mother opposed. The mother argued that her son was born with a medical [...]

A New Zealand High Court judge on Tuesday held that two Kiribati citizens, could not be granted refugee status based on the effects of climate change on Kiribati. Ioane Teitiota and his wife moved to New Zealand from the island nation of Kiribati in 2007 and had three children born in New Zealand. As New [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Monday ordered the Cook County Clerk to immediately issue a marriage license to same-sex couple Vernita Gray and Patricia Ewert. Gray and Ewert petitioned for an immediate marriage license due to Gray’s battle with terminal breast cancer. Cook County officials complied [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Monday denied Samsung’s request to stay on a trial to determine damages owed as a result of the company’s infringement of five Apple patents. On November 20, Samsung asked Judge Lucy Koh to postpone recalculation of the $450 million award she [...]

The Council of Europe (COE) Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks on Tuesday released a report describing numerous rights violations committed by Turkish police forces during protests in May and June of this year. In particular, Muiznieks reported the police actions resulted in injuries to thousands of peaceful demonstrators, as well as the death of [...]

A judge for the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Florida on Monday ruled the sedative midazolam hydrochloride is permissible in state executions. Florida is the only state in the US that uses the drug, which was implemented as part of its three-drug protocol in executions on October 15 and November 12. Witnesses of these executions voiced [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Jeffrey Addicott of St. Mary’s University School of Law says that the Second Circuit’s opinion upholding the conviction of alien enemy combatant Ghailani offers a unique view into how a federal appeals court grapples with the legal complexities existing between law of war concerns and domestic criminal processes …

The UN Deputy Secretary-General on Monday briefed the UN Security Council on the quickly deteriorating situation in the Central Africa Republic (CAR) . On behalf of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon , the Deputy Secretary-General explained the mounting human rights violations that have recently been occurring in the CAR, along with the rise in the use [...]

A Zimbabwean magistrate on Tuesday acquitted human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa on charges of obstructing justice and being unruly to police officers. Mtetwa was arrested in March , and was determined to be a flight risk. She was denied bail, and has been on trial since June . Officers claimed that Mtetwa called them President [...]