Legal Wizards - Legal Resources

New Jersey same-sex couples who previously sued for marriage equality filed suit [motion, PDF] again Thursday seeking to legalize same-sex marriage . The case is being brought on behalf of six couples and the surviving partner of a seventh by Lambda Legal . They filed a motion in the Supreme Court of New Jersey ...

Turkish police detained 20 people Thursday in connection with the alleged Ergenekon [BBC profile, JURIST news archive] conspiracy to overthrow the Islamist-rooted government. Among those arrested are retired and active military officers, but the identities and ranks of the individuals have not been released. The arrests are part of an ongoing operation to investigate the...

The Constitutional Court of Togo [official website, in French] on Wednesday affirmed [Embassy press release, PDF] the election of incumbent President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe despite five suits alleging voter fraud filed by the opposition. The court held that the accusations made by the opposition were unsubstantiated. The final vote totals decided by ...

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Thursday affirmed [judgment, PDF; press release] the genocide conviction of popular Rwandan singer-songwriter Simon Bikindi [Trial Watch profile, case materials]. The charge was based on a speech Bikindi gave during the 1994 Rwanda genocide in which he called on Hutus to ...

Myanmar authorities on Thursday released [advocacy press release, PDF] jailed democracy activist Nyi Nyi Aung , ordering him to leave the country. Aung, a US citizen, had been sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted on fraud and forgery charges by a Myanmar court last month. Advocacy groups have argued ...

The Hebei Province People's High Court in northern China on Wednesday upheld a life sentence for former vice president of China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) [official website, in Chinese] Huang Songyou. Huang was convicted in January of bribery and embezzlement, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Huang is the highest-ranking judge to be charged ...

The number of inmates in US state prisons has dropped for the first time in 40 years, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Center on the States . Led by California and Michigan, the state prison population decreased by 0.4 percent during 2009. Because of a slight increase in the federal system, the total number of prisoners in US prisons increased ...

The US Senate unanimously passed legislation [S 1789 materials] Wednesday to reduce sentencing disparities for powder and crack cocaine offenses. The Fair Sentencing Act, introduced by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) , would amend existing law to reduce the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine convictions from...

Idaho Governor CL "Butch" Otter (R) on Wednesday became the first governor to sign a bill [H 391 text] into state law banning any federal mandate for individuals to have health insurance. The Idaho Health Freedom Act orders the state attorney general to file a lawsuit against the national government over any law making health insurance mandatory. The bill highlights ...

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) released its Annual Report on Human Rights 2009 [text, PDF] Wednesday, noting the increasing demand for human rights by citizens throughout the world. The report also cited the contrasting argument by some governments that human rights are merely a Western construct that are unnecessary or inappropriate in certain countries....

The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled [opinion, PDF] Wednesday that a Pennsylvania prosecutor cannot file child pornography charges against a teenage girl whose topless photo was found on a number of her schoolmates' cell phones, upholding a preliminary injunction. Wyoming County prosecutor George Skumanick threatened to bring felony charges against ...

Human rights group Amnesty International (AI) on Wednesday urged Cuban authorities to "revoke laws that restrict freedom of expression, assembly and association and to release all dissidents unfairly detained by the authorities." AI called on President Raul Castro to invite UN experts and human rights organizations into the country to ...

The State of Law Coalition led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [official website, in Arabic] on Wednesday asked the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) to recount ballots cast in the March 7 parliamentary election , alleging fraud. State of Law spokesperson Ali Al Adib claimed that the ballots were manipulated by the ...

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit [complaint, PDF] 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 [text, PDF] made in January. The ACLU alleges that the unmanned ...

The Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled [judgment text; press release] Wednesday that the constitution does not prevent President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo [official website; BBC profile] from replacing retiring Chief Justice Reynato Puno prior to the May presidential elections. The court found that the constitutional provisions that prevent ...

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 ...

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said [transcript; UN News Centre report] on Tuesday that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive] 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. ...

US Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday defended his intention to try suspected terrorists, including accused 9/11 conspirator Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC Profile; JURIST news archive] in civilian criminal court. Holder faced numerous questions on the issue while testifying [video; prepared testimony, PDF] before a House Appropriations ...

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Tuesday sent [press release, PDF] 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 ...

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 (...

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled [judgment; press release] 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 [text, PDF], ...

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 [RFE/RL backgrounder] was passed in 2007 by two-thirds of ...

Chinese officials on Tuesday repeated warnings to Google that even if the company decides to leave the country, it must obey Chinese laws [press release, in Chinese] and continue to filter search results. Spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce [official website, in Chinese] Yao Jian said that Google agreed to follow Chinese laws when it entered the market in ...

A judge in Sierra Leone ruled Tuesday that a woman has the right to become a regional political leader in the country. The High Court of Justice reversed a previous ban that had prevented Iye Kendor Bandabla from her birthright to compete for the position of paramount chief in her local district. The decision also upheld the 2009 Chieftaincy Act [text, PDF], which ...

Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee on Monday introduced the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 [text, PDF], aimed at increasing financial regulation in the wake of the recent financial crisis. The bill includes a provision meant to protect consumers from predatory lending by creating a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau housed within the ...