Fiji’s military ruler, Commodore Josaia Voreqe “Frank” Bainimarama announced Sunday that the nation’s state of emergency laws will be lifted this week to facilitate a nationwide consultation process for a new constitution. The announcement was cautiously welcomed by longtime regional critics , Australia and New Zealand. Local opposition politicians and critics — often victims of [...]

Myanmar President Thein Sein signed a clemency order on Monday that shortens sentences for many prisoners on humanitarian grounds in celebration of Myanmar’s independence day. The presidential order commuted death sentences to life imprisonment , reduced sentences of over 30 years to 30 years, those between 20 and 30 years were reduced to 20 years, [...]

The Egyptian government on Sunday denied cracking down on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are advocating democracy in Egypt. The government’s response came amid accusations by various human rights groups that Egypt was trying to silence the military council’s vocal opposition. Allegations against the Egyptian government for their treatment of the opposition came after Egypt raided [...]

Chief Justice John Roberts on Saturday in his year-end report expressed complete confidence in the ability of the US Supreme Court justices to recuse themselves from cases with a personal interest at stake. Roberts’ comments came amid controversy over whether two justices on the Court should recuse themselves when the Supreme Court decides the constitutionality [...]

US President Barack Obama on Saturday signed the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 (NDAA) into law despite having reservations over certain provisions in the bill. The contentious legislation contains a clause that allows the president to use “all necessary and appropriate force” to detain persons suspected of terrorism. Obama stated that while he supports [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Maira Sheikh, Notre Dame Law School Class of 2012, is a Research Associate at the Research Society of International Law in Lahore, Pakistan. She discusses Pakistan’s new women’s rights laws and argues that even if these laws are not properly enforced, they are still valuable for the social progress they indicate as [...]

The Egyptian government agreed on Friday to cease its crackdowns on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that advocate for democracy in Egypt, according to the US Department of State (DOS) . Egyptian officials assured the US that it would return all property and assets seized in the raids to the NGOs. Despite Egypt’s assurances, however, the US [...]

The Montana Supreme Court ruled on Friday to uphold a restriction on corporate independent expenditures related to state political campaigns and candidates. In the case, Western Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Montana, the high court affirmed a century-old ban on corporate spending, implemented by the 1912 Corrupt Practices Act . The high court concluded that corporations [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday ruled that a Washington law banning political action committees from taking donations of $5,000 or more in the last three weeks before an election is unconstitutional. The law was challenged by Family PAC on three grounds, including two that require political action committees to [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday unanimously ruled that a law granting immunity from civil suits for telecommunications companies that assist government intelligence agencies is constitutional. The Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act of 2008 (FISA) provides in Section 802 that “a civil action may not lie or be maintained . . [...]