The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in Dorsey v. United States on whether minimum sentencing mandates in the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA) should be applied to crimes committed before the FSA was enacted, but where sentencing occurred after. This case was consolidated with Hill v. United States. The FSA increased the amount of [...]

JURIST Assistant Editor Brandon Gatto, University of Pittsburgh School of Law Class of 2013, argues for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act to better protect immigrant partners and spouses from abuse… (His opinions are not intended to represent those of JURIST) While it remains surprisingly and disconcertingly true that roughly one-quarter of all [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday in Filarsky v. Delia that a private individual temporarily retained by the government to carry out its work is entitled to seek qualified immunity from suit under 42 USC § 1983. Firefighter Nicholas Delia brought suit against the city of Rialto, the Rialto Fire Department, several city officials [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday in Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, Ltd v. Novo Nordisk A/S that a generic drug manufacturer may employ the counterclaim provision of the Hatch-Waxman Act to force correction of a use code that inaccurately describes the brand’s patent as covering a particular method of using a drug. When the Food [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Creigh Deeds, a member of the Virginia Senate, urges Governor Bob McDonnell to veto the voter ID laws recently passed by the Virginia General Assembly because they will disenfranchise elderly and impoverished voters and the laws are not necessary given the lack of widespread voter fraud in Virginia…

The Supreme Court of the Netherlands on Tuesday approved the extradition of a Dutch-Pakistani man suspected of preparing terrorist attacks on an American military base in Afghanistan in 2010. The suspect, known under Dutch privacy laws only as Sabir K., claimed that his transfer to the US would be illegal under Article 3 of the [...]

James Ibori, the former governor of Delta State in Nigeria, was convicted in a UK court on Tuesday on 10 counts of money laundering and conspiracy to commit fraud and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Ibori, who governed the oil-rich Delta State from 1999-2007, was convicted by the Southwark Crown Court for fraud charges [...]

Human rights violations continue in Bahrain despite reforms, Amnesty International (AI) reported Tuesday. After the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) released a report in November concerning human rights violations committed against anti-government protesters, the Bahraini government responded through reforms. However, AI’s recent report criticized these efforts because they have failed to end human rights [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) concluded Tuesday that the 1940 Katyn Massacre of 21,000 Poles by the Soviets was a “war crime” but acknowledged that they cannot force Russia to investigate the killings further. The case was brought by 13 relatives of victims of the Katyn massacre who allege that the Russian government [...]

Human rights groups including Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday urged Council of Europe member states to reject proposed changes to the European Convention on Human Rights . The proposed changes, entitled the Brighton Declaration , were introduced by the UK , and began circulating to member states in February. The [...]