JURIST Guest Columnist Paul Johnson, Anniversary Reader of the University of York, says the British government’s proposed allowance of same-sex civil marriages, but not religious marriages, shows deference and support for the Church of England’s canon laws, despite the Church’s strong protests to the contrary…

The Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt dissolved the Egyptian Parliament on Thursday after finding that one-third of its members were elected illegally. The court determined that because some of the members were elected illegally, the entire body is invalid . The decision was an affirmance of a lower court ruling finding that the election process [...]

Pro-democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday urged the international community to support Myanmar in its attempt to build a stronger democracy and uphold the rule of law. In her speech at the 101st International Labour Conference by the International Labour Organization (ILO) , a specialized agency of the UN, Suu Kyi said that [...]

Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday submitted a renewed application seeking an arrest warrant for Sylvestre Mucadumura , a field commander in the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) . Mucadumura is accused of having committed five counts of crimes against humanity (murder, inhumane acts, rape, torture and [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by seven Guatemalans who alleged that they had been the subject of non-consensual human medical experimentation by the US Public Health Service (PHS) . In its decision, the court found that under the Federal Tort Claims Act [...]

The state of Arizona on Wednesday filed an Application to Stay Mandate asking the US Supreme Court to allow state election officials to demand voters to show proof of citizenship before registering to vote. In April, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit , sitting en banc, upheld a portion of Arizona’s 2004 [...]

The Obama administration on Thursday filed a brief in the US Supreme Court asking the justices to limit corporate liability for human rights violations occurring overseas. The government argued that the court should dismiss the lawsuit in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. . The issue in the case is whether three oil companies are [...]

Syrian armed forces are continuing to engage in a pattern of abuses against and deliberate killings of civilians, according to an Amnesty International (AI) report released Thursday. The 70-page report was based on interviews conducted in 23 towns and villages in the Aleppo and Idlib governorates. AI found new evidence of crimes against humanity and [...]

The Supreme Court of Libya on Thursday nullified a controversial law that criminalizes and punishes speech and propaganda endangering the security of the state or glorifying former leader Muammar Gaddafi . In a brief hearing, the court’s constitutional chamber announced that the law is unconstitutional. The law prohibits speech and other expression that would interfere [...]

The Rhode Island Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that is designed to affirm the rights of homeless individuals and prevent discrimination. The “Homeless Bill of Rights” was passed to ensure that “no person should suffer unnecessarily or be subject to unfair discrimination based on his or her homeless status.” Among the rights ensured by [...]