Todd Carpenter : "Last week, the Supreme Court of Arizona issued a ruling overturning a lower court on whether file metadata must be turned over in a public records request. The ruling essentially binds the inherent file metadata within the file itself. In its finding, the court ruled that the plaintiff's request for the administrative [...]

Ohio voters on Tuesday approved a ballot measure to create the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board, commonly referred to as Issue 2. The purpose of the board will be to maintain food safety, encourage locally grown and raised food, and protect Ohio farms and families. The measure will amend the Ohio Constitution and prevent groups [...]

Voters in Maine on Tuesday approved an expansion of the state's existing medical marijuana laws by a 59 to 41 percent margin , with 87 percent of precincts reporting. The proposed legislation, Question 5 on the Maine ballot, will allow for increased access to medical marijuana through dispensaries, and will increase the number of ailments [...]

New York voters approved a ballot measure Tuesday amending the state constitution to allow the state legislature to pass a law permitting prisoners to work with non-profit organizations on a voluntary basis. Prisoners previously participated in work programs with non-profit organizations, but a 2005 opinion issued by the Commission of Correction indicated that the practice [...]

The UN Organization Mission in DR Congo (MONUC) has given funding and support to military groups that are committing human rights abuses , according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) Tuesday. HRW detailed the alleged attacks, rapes, and murders of civilians, calling them war crimes. HRW senior researcher Anneke Van Woudenberg said: Some Congolese army soldiers [...]

An amendment to the Texas Constitution limiting government enforcement of eminent domain was overwhelmingly approved by voters on Tuesday with more than 80 percent of those polled voting favorably. Proposition 11 prohibits government officials from taking private property and allotting it to private buyers for the purpose of economic development or to increase tax revenues [...]

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon attempted Tuesday to temper expectations for the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen set to take place in a month, saying that it might not result in a treaty. The meeting, which will host world leaders, is an effort to replace the controversial Kyoto Protocol , which several nations, including the [...]

Maine voters approved a ballot initiative Tuesday that repealed a same-sex marriage bill passed by the state legislature last May. Question 1 , which read, "Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?" was projected to prevail by [...]

Five men who claim they were illegally detained after 9/11 reached a settlement agreement with the US government for $1.26 million, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) , which represented the men, announced Tuesday. The men were part of Turkmen v. Ashcroft , a suit against several Bush administration officials and law enforcement organizations. The [...]

JURIST Guest Columnists Laurie Blank of Emory Law's International Humanitarian Law Clinic and Gregory Gordon of the University of North Dakota School of Law say that the most glaring failure of the controversial Goldstone Commission Report on the Gaza conflict has gone unnoticed…. The Goldstone Commission Report on the January 2009 Israel-Palestinian conflict in Gaza [...]