Massachusetts, A Leader in Transgender Human Rights Protections
In the recent voting, Massachusetts heartily defeated a referendum that would have rolled back state transgender protections. In 2004, Massachusetts was the first state to recognize marriage equality. Subsequently, the Commonwealth enacted legislation to advance protections for members of the LGBTQ community. In 2011, Massachusetts passed legislation protecting those who identify as non-straight from discrimination [...]
On October 24, 2018, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood sued Exxon for defrauding investors about the business risks of climate change. Of course, Exxon will probably deny that it committed fraud. But, in anticipation of this day, the oil giant has spent the last two years preparing a far more insidious legal defense: that its fraud is actually protected [...]
Germany high court postpones YouTube intellectual property case for EU interpretation
The Federal Court of Justice (Der Bundesgerichtshof) delayed a ruling Thursday in a case concerning potential copyright infringement by streaming platform, YouTube, for uploads by third parties to receive input on the issue from the Court of Justice of the European Union . The plaintiff in the case is a music producer that has a contract with [...]
When considering the comments in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, with the perspective of thirteen years since their landfall, I’ll paraphrase Mark Twain’s comment about an erroneously pre-mature 1897 obituary: “the reports of death are greatly exaggerated.” The perspective of time and the restoration of many services to the Hurricane Katrina and Rita-stricken Gulf Coast reveal that matters [...]
International Religious Freedom Summit Fails to Mask Trump’s Scorn for Human Rights
From degrading disabled people, women, LGBT individuals, and other minorities to the forsaking of the United Nation Human Rights Council, and from separating migrant families to the coddling of authoritarians and racists, this presidency consistently ridicules human rights. It follows that the State Department’s first international conference to Advance Religious Freedom might trigger a collective [...]
Three justices on the Israeli Supreme Court have been sued for voting in favor of authorizing the construction of Israel's wall around the West Bank, which the International Court of Justice found illegal [advisory opinion,...
Embassy Bomber Faces Justice; What Do These Cases Say About Terrorism Prosecution?
JURIST Guest Columnist Tung Yin of Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon discusses recent terrorism trials...On August 7, 1998, al Qaeda terrorists simultaneously attacked the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania with massive truck bombs, killing a combined...
Rights group welcomes Lithuania ruling allowing secret prison investigation
Amnesty International (AI) on Wednesday applauded the Lithuanian Vilnius Regional Court ruling that Saudi Arabian national Mustafa al-Hawsawi has a right to investigate his alleged torture in a secret Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)...
ACLU files lawsuit challenging Arizona medical marijuana regulation
The Arizona chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit Monday on behalf of the Welton family seeking a declaration that the marijuana derivative used to treat five-year-old Zander Welton's epilepsy is...
Of the 139 states that signed the Rome Statute, 32 have not yet ratified the treaty. According to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties , a state that has signed but not ratified a treaty is obliged to...
