The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday that House Bill 2013 , a law rescinding health benefits for same-sex couples in the public sector, is in violation of the equal protection clause of the Constitution. The ruling upholds an injunction issued by a district court that has temporarily reinstated these benefits, [...]

The California Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments on whether intervening advocacy groups can defend Proposition 8 in court, in response to a certified question by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit . When Judge Vaughn Walker struck down the same-sex marriage ban last year, then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former attorney [...]

UK Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke announced Tuesday that cameras will be allowed into criminal courts in the UK and Wales to improve transparency in courts. Two acts of Parliament in place since 1925 have banned filming in both Welsh and English courts. Clarke believes that this change will help to improve public confidence in the [...]

Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych on Tuesday threatened to take Russia to international arbitration over gas disputes. Ukraine relies heavily on Russian oil imports , and its territory provides transit for 80 percent of Russia’s oil supplies to Europe. Yanukovych would like to get out of a 10-year deal signed with Russia in 2009, but Russian [...]

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg on Monday urged Lithuania, Poland and Romania to investigate the roles their governments played in the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program of “secret detention and torture” of terrorism suspects. According to Hammarberg, the CIA collaborated with its foreign counterparts in detaining “high value detainees” [...]

A special security court in Bahrain heard the appeals of jailed anti-government protesters on Tuesday. According to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights , the National Safety Court of Appeal, a court composed of military prosecutors and civilian and military judges, heard the appeals of 21 activists who were sentenced to prison after the Bahraini [...]

Myanmar’s government on Monday formed the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) to promote and safeguard the country’s constitutional rights. Members of the commission include former government officials, diplomats, academics, doctors and lawyers, some of whom have made statements in the past defending the country’s human rights record. The commission has been met with skepticism [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Tuesday convicted ex-Yugoslav army chief Momcilo Perisic for crimes against humanity and war crimes , committed during the wars in Bosnia and Croatia, sentencing him to 27 years in prison. He was found guilty of 12 out of 13 charges, including aiding and abetting murders [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Leonard Baynes of St. John’s University School of Law says that in order for a lawyer to be an effective advocate for their client and for social justice, they must advocate to the public as well as the courts. He demonstrates this by introducing a series of articles written by his students [...]

Judd Baroff, St. John’s University School of Law Class of 2012, is the author of the first article in a ten part series from the staffers of the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development under the direction of Professor Leonard Baynes. Baroff writes on reforming US education policy through the introduction of high school [...]