Rights groups filed a writ petition with the California Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking to invalidate a state constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage. Proposition 8 , which was approved by about 52 percent of California voters Tuesday, provides that "nly marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." The writ [...]

A collective of Saudi citizens began a 48-hour hunger strike Thursday to protest what it called the illegal detention of 11 political reformists and to call for judicial reform. The protesters, who include Saudi lawyers, scholars, and activists, hope to call attention to Saudi legal and criminal procedures, which they say are not offering full [...]

An arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of genocide in Darfur could “derail” the peace process in Sudan according to a statement by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Edmond Mulet on Wednesday. Reporting to the UN Security Counsel on the status of the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Sudan, Mulet [...]

Vietnamese Justice Minister Ha Hung Cuong on Monday asked the country's National Assembly to consider reducing the number of crimes subject to the death penalty. Cuong’s proposal, which would eliminate the death penalty for crimes like bribery and producing counterfeit drugs, comes in response to strong international criticism of the country’s human rights abuses. Le [...]

Law enforcement officials from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Wednesday arrested Momir Pelemis and Slavko Peric on suspicion that they committed genocide by engaging in the capture and execution of 1700 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica during July 1995. The Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH directed the State Investigation and Protection [...]

Judge Nancy Atlas of the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas sentenced former US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent Santiago Perez to one year and one day in prison for civil rights violations Wednesday. Perez pleaded guilty in August to assaulting two men during separate incidents in 2006 and 2007. The [...]

Michigan became the thirteenth US state to legalize marijuana for medicinal use Tuesday after voters passed Proposition 1 by 63 percent to 37 percent . The Michigan Medical Marijuana Act urged by the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care will go into effect 10 days after the election results are certified later this month. The new [...]

Voters in Nevada Tuesday approved a ballot initiative that would restrict the state's ability to use eminent domain law to acquire private property. The initiative includes amendments to the Nevada State Constitution which provides that all property rights are fundamentally constitutional, that property transfers between private parties is not public use, that property must be [...]

Members from all parties of the German parliament passed a resolution Wednesday seeking to counter anti-Semitism in the country. The measure requires the government to develop a report on anti-Semitic behavior and feelings in the country, and to provide funding for school programs designed to combat anti-Semitism. The legislation was approved five days before the [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in two cases. In Negusie v. Mukasey , the Court will consider whether the so-called "persecutor bar" in the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) , which prohibits the Attorney General or Secretary of Homeland Security from granting asylum or stay of deportation to any person who "ordered, [...]