The Massachusetts Appeals Court held Thursday that same-sex couples who marry and have a baby via artificial insemination are bound by the same child custody laws as heterosexual couples. The decision came after an appeal by Della Corte, who tried to have the parental rights of her ex-wife, Angelica Rameriez, revoked in divorce proceedings since [...]

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday ruled that Germany has immunity from claims brought in foreign courts by victims of the Nazi regime. The Court found that a 2008 decision by Italy’s Supreme Court violated Germany’s sovereign rights by allowing an Italian national to seek reparations in response to his deportation in 1944. [...]

The Supreme Court Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on Friday sentenced Kaing Guek Eav , also known as “Duch,” to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity and violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions . In a supermajority decision , the Supreme Court Chamber overturned two decisions of the Trial [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Friday that Syrian army and security officers have been engaged in the torture of children . The allegations stem from HRW’s documentation of cases in which children were reportedly detained, tortured and shot in their homes. There are prior findings that the Syrian government has been involved in torturing and [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Crystal Whalen, Texas Tech University School of Law Class of 2012, is a student attorney at the Regional Public Defender’s Office for Capital Cases in Lubbock, Texas. She argues in favor of moving away from the death penalty and makes a case for its unconstitutionality…

The Virginia Senate approved a bill on Wednesday that would require a woman seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound before the procedure. The new requirements include the audio provision of fetal heartbeat and a determination of the gestational age of the fetus. Additionally, a written record must be created to indicate that the woman [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday ruled that it will not release video recordings from Perry v. Schwarzenegger , California’s 2010 trial which declared Proposition 8 , the state’s same-sex marriage ban, to be unconstitutional. In reversing the opinion of the US District Court for the Northern District of California [...]

Four accused assassins of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri will be tried in absentia, a UN tribunal said Wednesday. The UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) said Wednesday that after considering the efforts taken by the prosecution and the authorities to apprehend the suspects, they would move forward with the trial. The four alleged [...]

Lawyers for a suspect in the USS Cole bombing being held at Guantanamo Bay filed a motion Tuesday with the military commission overseeing detainee cases seeking to subpoena the president of Yemen for questioning. Lawyers for alleged al Qaeda senior leader Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri filed the motions seeking to question Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressed concern Thursday about excessive force used by Senegalese authorities in response to protests that ensued after the announcement of presidential candidates. Reports of shooting at protestors have caused the death of at least one police officer and four other people this week. The reports were “disturbing” [...]