The Montana Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that there is no constitutional right to the cultivation, distribution and use of medical marijuana . The plaintiffs in the case sought to prevent the enactment and enforcement of a 2011 law that repealed an earlier law permitting the use of marijuana for medical purposes in Montana. They claimed [...]

UN Special Rapporteur on torture Juan Mendez on Wednesday called on the Egyptian government and courts to stop permitting evidence acquired through torture to be admitted in any legal proceedings including military trials. The announcement comes after three men were sentenced to death on terrorism charges based on confessions alleged to have been obtained through [...]

Amnesty International (AI) on Wednesday urged Italy to change its discriminatory policies against the country’s Roma . In its report , AI revealed that in the 10 months after the “Nomad Emergency” was deemed unlawful by the Council of State, the highest administrative court, discrimination against Roma including housing and education across the country is [...]

The UN Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia Shamsul Bari on Wednesday welcomed the elections of the new president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and the new Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawaari, urging them to respect the rule of law and human rights. He warned the government that it will [...]

The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany on Wednesday rejected a preliminary injunction to halt the implementation of the the 500 billion euro (USD $632 billion) European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the fiscal compact, but imposed a cap on Germany’s contribution to the fund. The ESM and fiscal compact—measures intended to deal with the European debt [...]

A Libyan judge on Tuesday temporarily suspended the trial of former intelligence chief Buzeid Dorda following claims by his defense lawyer that the trial was unconstitutional. Dorda, who was intelligence chief under former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi , had argued that his trial should not go forward as he was denied access to a lawyer [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday filed petitions in the US Supreme Court asking them to consider two additional challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) . The recent petitions bring the number of cases challenging DOMA in the Supreme Court to four. These petitions argue that section 3 of DOMA, which [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday reinstated a $220,000 jury verdict in a music file-sharing case against Jamie Thomas-Rasset for downloading 24 copyrighted songs. Sony BMG, Arista Records, Interscope Records, UMG Recordings, Capitol Records and Warner Bros. Records brought the lawsuit claiming $9,250 in damages per song. Thomas-Rasset claimed that [...]

Ohio officials on Monday asked a federal appeals court to overturn a lower court ruling requiring Ohio’s three-day early voting to be available to military and civilians alike. Ohio Secretary of State John Husted and Attorney General Mike DeWine filed an appeal in the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth District hoping to reinstate [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday narrowed the scope on a preliminary injunction against a 1972 Idaho law that makes it a felony to end one’s own pregnancy. Mother of three Jennie Linn McCormack was prosecuted in May 2011 under the criminal statute. McCormack filed suit in August of last [...]