UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday condemned Switzerland's ban on building minarets , a type of tower associated with Islamic mosques. The ban, which was approved Sunday with 57.5 percent of the vote and the majority of Swiss cantons, was put forth by conservative political groups and opposed by churches, the [...]

Richard Dieter : "In a rapid sequence of events, the state of Ohio has abandoned its longstanding commitment to the standard method of lethal injection, adopted a new protocol (and even more novel "backup plan") that no other state employs, and has asserted that it is ready to carry out its first execution under these [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in two cases. In Milavetz, Gallop & Milavetz v. United States and United States v. Milavetz, Gallop, & Milavetz, the Court heard arguments on the scope of a federal law prohibiting certain bankruptcy professionals from advising consumer debtors to incur more debt in contemplation of filing for [...]

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) began oral arguments on Tuesday regarding Serbia's request for an advisory opinion on Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008. The advisory proceedings will include arguments from 29 additional countries, including the five member-states of the UN Security Council , debating whether Kosovo's unilaterally proclaimed secession complied with international law. [...]

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on Tuesday rejected a request by lawyers for a former Khmer Rouge leader to examine two international judges for bias. Lawyers representing former minister of foreign affairs Ieng Sary sought a public hearing on the independence of Dutch judge Katinka Lahuis and Australian judge Rowan Downing [...]

Porter v. McCollum, et al., US Supreme Court, December 1, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has more on the death penalty.

Ekaterina Sivolobova, student at the Law Faculty of the University of Buenos Aires and legal intern at the Center for Justice and International Law in Buenos Aires, recently interviewed Costa Rican journalist Mauricio Herrera-Ulloa about his experiences appearing before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights… Freedom of expression is a fundamental right of all people, [...]

The European Union (EU) reform treaty, known as the Treaty of Lisbon went into effect Tuesday after more than two years of negotiations. The Treaty, which was ratified by all 27 member-states of the EU, was crafted to make the EU more democratic, transparent, and efficient, to more effectively promote and protect the values of [...]

Spanish National Court Judge Baltasar Garzon on Monday opened an embezzlement investigation against four associates of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet . Garzon accused Pinochet's widow Lucia Hiriart his former lawyer Oscar Custodio Aitken Lavanchy and bankers Pablo Granifo Lavin and Hernan Donoso Lira of laundering money for Pinochet while he was in power. Garzon [...]

The Argentine Supreme Court on Tuesday announced that it would rule on the constitutionality of two articles of the Civil Code prohibiting same-sex marriage . The announcement comes one day after National Court Judge Marta Gomez Alsina issued an injunction halting the country's first legal gay marriage, set for Tuesday in the capital city of [...]