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 . . [...]

The Poland Ministry of Interior announced Thursday a new amnesty program that will allow thousands of illegal immigrants to stay and work in Poland. The new policy will give illegal immigrants who have resided in Poland since December 2007 or longer to apply for residence. Residents who have been denied legal status in the past [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Arthur Hellman of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law discusses the impact of the recently passed Jurisdiction and Venue Clarification Act of 2011 on federal and state court litigation in the US…

The Supreme Court of Pakistan formed a judicial committee Friday to investigate a secret memo sent from an unknown Pakistani source to US Admiral Mike Mullen in May asking for help in preventing a suspected army coup. Former Pakistan ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari have been accused of [...]

The Indian upper house of parliament, the Rajya Sabha , on Thursday failed to pass an anti-corruption bill that proposed the creation of an official anti-corruption agency known as Lokpal. The upper house met in an extended session of parliament intended to allow for passage of the Lokpal bill, but adjourned at midnight after 14 [...]

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court on Wednesday sentenced opposition figure and former Iranian foreign minister Ebrahim Yazdi to eight years in prison for attempting to act against national security. Yazdi was also banned from civic activities for five years in the closed-door trial reportedly held in early November. Yazdi, now 80 and suffering from cancer and [...]

Chinese housing activist and lawyer, Ni Yulan, and her husband, Dong Jiqin, went on trial Thursday on charges of fraud and “inciting a disturbance” in Beijing. Lying on a stretcher and relying on an oxygen machine , Ni pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud for falsifying facts to steal property and inciting a disturbance [...]

Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuno (R) , a supporter of statehood, signed legislation establishing a two-part referendum on Wednesday that would allow Puerto Ricans to voice their opinions regarding Puerto Rico’s political status and connection to the US. The referendum would be held on November 6, 2012. The first part of the referendum asks whether [...]