The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit Tuesday seeking information related to the US government's use of unmanned Predator drones. The suit, filed in the US district court for the District of Columbia, seeks to enforce a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made in January. The ACLU alleges that the unmanned warplanes have [...]

The Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled Wednesday that the constitution does not prevent President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from replacing retiring Chief Justice Reynato Puno prior to the May presidential elections. The court found that the constitutional provisions that prevent the president from appointing officials immediately before or after elections do not apply to the Supreme [...]

The UK High Court ruled Wednesday that the Catholic social services agency Catholic Care may refuse to consider same-sex couples as candidates for adoption, pending a review of their policy by the UK Charity Commission. The case revolved around interpretation of Regulation 18 of The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations of 2007 . That legislation [...]

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will continue to operate beyond its originally planned end date at the end of this year. Ban estimated that it will be necessary for the court to remain open until 2013. Part of the reason for the extension [...]

US Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday defended his intention to try suspected terrorists, including accused 9/11 conspirator Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in civilian criminal court. Holder faced numerous questions on the issue while testifying before a House Appropriations subcommittee, repeatedly defending the decision to use federal courts, as opposed to military commissions . Holder drew [...]

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Tuesday sent to Congress its National Broadband Plan , which seeks to enact regulations to update the communications infrastructure in the US and to make broadband service available to millions of Americans. The plan is mandated by provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) . Notable [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Laurie Blank of Emory Law's International Humanitarian Law Clinic says while legal debates about sovereign immunity most often center on principles of comity versus principles of victim access to justice, courts ruling on this issue should not forget about broader policy considerations and national security…. Remarkably, the United States Supreme Court and [...]

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that he would not delay his plan to set up a UN panel to investigate allegations of human rights violations during the Sri Lankan civil war . Ban made the statement during a press conference in response to a question about a letter from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to [...]

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Tuesday that the practice of segregating Roma minority primary school students in Croatia from other pupils is discriminatory. The court declared the practice to be in contravention of Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights , which prohibits discrimination, and of [...]

The Afghanistan Office of the President openly confirmed for the first time on Tuesday that the government has enacted a law providing a blanket pardon for all war crimes and human rights violations occurring before December 2001. Spokesperson Waheed Omar said that the National Stability and Reconciliation Law was passed in 2007 by two-thirds of [...]