The Nigerian Senate passed a bill Tuesday that makes it illegal for same-sex couples to marry or for an individual to aid in the marriage of same-sex couples. The bill explicitly states that marriages entered into by persons of the same gender are prohibited and will not be recognized as valid, even if the marriage [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina ordered an injunction on Monday to prevent North Carolina from issuing specialty license plates that display a pro-life message, signifying a victory for the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation (ACLU-NCLF) . The judge declared that the “Choose [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Monday blocked a proposed $285 million settlement with Citigroup Inc over the sale of toxic mortgage debt. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) put no effort into learning what Citigroup did wrong, Judge Jed Rakoff wrote, adding that the [...]

President of the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) Judge David Baragwanath on Monday issued a statement defending his program following a visit to Lebanon. Tribunal Vice President Judge Ralph Riachi accompanied Baragwanath on the visit, where they saw a spirit of compliance that made them optimistic about their chances for success: I was particularly [...]

An appeals court in Vietnam reduced the sentence of pro-democracy blogger and professor Pham Minh Hoang , alias Phan Kien Quoc, by more than half on Tuesday. Hoang was sentenced in August to three years in prison after writing anti-government articles on his blog under his pen name. The appeals court reduced Hoang’s sentence from [...]

An estimated 7,000 detainees are still being held without due process by Libyan revolutionaries, according to a UN report made public Monday. The report to the UN Security Council, by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon , says that most of the prisoners are being held in facilities maintained by independent brigades not under the control of [...]

Malaysia’s lower house of Parliament approved a new law on Tuesday that would ban street protests and impose tougher restrictions on demonstrators in the nation. The Peaceful Assembly Bill contains an outright ban on street protests while simultaneously restricting the population that may exercise the right to peaceful protest. Under the Act, non-citizens and individuals [...]

A Bahrain civilian court on Monday postponed its ruling on the appeals of two protesters sentenced to death for the murder of police officers during anti-government protests. Also Monday, a Bahrain military tribunal resumed the retrial of 20 medical staff members convicted in September of participating in the country’s pro-democracy protests against the ruling regime. [...]

The Kenyan High Court ruled Monday that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir must be arrested if he ever returns to Kenya. The ruling was in response to al-Bashir’s second visit , where Kenya joined the ranks of the other African countries that have refused to enforce the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant. The judge explained [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Ann Schunicht, Saint Louis University School of Law Class of 2012, is a member of the Health Law Moot Court Competition Team. She compares the recently abandoned CLASS Act to France’s long-term health care system, arguing that the act’s failure was a missed opportunity to explore the impact of this long-term home [...]