US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Tuesday ordered a stay of execution for Cleve Foster , a former Army recruiter and convicted murderer. The execution, which had been scheduled for Tuesday evening, was stayed for the third time and will remain so until the court decides whether to grant certiorari in the case. Foster [...]

Chief US District Judge James Ware of the US District Court for the Northern District of California decided Monday to unseal video recordings from last year’s trial over Proposition 8 , California’s same-sex marriage ban. Unless a higher court overrules the order, it will take effect September 30. In August of this year, Ware held [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday suggested a need for UN intervention in Belarus and demanded the nation free non-violent political prisoners. Although Belarus is an active member of the UN and has ratified many of its human rights policies, Pillay noted a sharp deterioration in human rights since the 2010 [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Monday ended an injunction on damages levied against US oil company Chevron , making the company potentially liable for $18 billion in damages to Ecuadorian citizens for an oil spill in the 1990s. The award will not be granted immediately, pending appeals in Ecuador and [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Charles Adeogun-Phillips of Charles Anthony LLP says that despite concerns surrounding the ability of the new Libyan government to provide Muammar Gaddafi with a fair trial upon capture, it should be allowed the opportunity to establish a hybrid international and domestic court for the purposes of institution building and reconciliation… From all [...]

US Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday President Barack Obama remains committed to closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay , despite political opposition. At the European Parliament in Brussels, Holder stated the administration’s commitment to closing Guantanamo before the next presidential election . Obama has faced criticism for not closing Guantanamo after issuing an [...]

Alaska Superior Court Judge Frank Pfiffner on Friday ruled it unconstitutional for Alaska to deny same-sex couples the senior citizen and disabled veteran property tax exemptions given to married couples. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the ACLU of Alaska challenged the state’s tax exemption law on behalf of three same-sex couples in Anchorage [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Tuesday that, although Russia did not misuse legal proceedings in order to destroy an oil company, it did violate the business’s rights. The former Russian oil company, Yukos Oil, filed suit against the country alleging that it forced the company into liquidation through unfair taxation practices. In [...]

The repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) officially took effect Tuesday at 12:01 AM ET. With the repeal of the law, the military can no longer prevent gays and lesbians from serving openly among its ranks. The occasion was marked by statements of commemoration from various government agencies, as well as individual officials. President [...]

Violent crime in the US dropped for the fourth consecutive year, the FBI announced on Monday. The estimates are part of the annual figures prepared as part of the Bureau’s Crime in the United States (CIUS) report for 2010 . In addition to an overall drop in violent crime, property crimes also decreased for the [...]