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 [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged Venezuela on Tuesday to re-commit to the American Convention on Human Rights , the treaty that empowers the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) . Venezuela, under the edict of President Hugo Chavez , withdrew from the court in July, but had not officially withdrawn from [...]

The Supreme Court of Appeals for West Virginia on Friday struck down a new West Virginia law that provides public financing for candidates in state Supreme Court elections. The case was brought directly to the court by a writ of mandamus by Allen Loughry, a Republican candidate seeking to use the funds who has been [...]

An attorney for former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld announced on Tuesday that the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) awarded Birkenfeld $104 million for information leading to an agreement between UBS and the IRS for $740 million in fines and penalties for its role in helping US clients shelter assets from US tax liability. This is [...]

JURIST Guest Columnists Jane Mansbridge of the Harvard Kennedy School and Chibli Mallat of the S.J. Quinney College of Law say that the international community ought to develop a system to trigger intervention when governments violently suppress nonviolent revolutionary efforts, so that revolutionaries are not encouraged to utilize violent means…

JURIST Guest Columnist Michael Pinto, St. John’s University School of Law Class of 2013, is the author of the third article in a 15-part series from the staffers of the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development. Pinto explains why expanding the available exemptions to the New York Marriage Equality Act to include individuals could [...]