Today's Legal News

Today's Legal News


Federal appeals court hears arguments on Texas abortion law
By Alison Sacriponte on Jan 08, 2015 04:00 pm
[JURIST] Federal appeals court judges heard arguments Wednesday on a restrictive Texas abortion law that critics say would close more than half the state's remaining abortion clinics. A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] is reviewing the law [HB 2], which requires that abortion clinics must have hospital-like settings for surgeries. Some of the law's effective requirements include that clinics be at least 7,000 square feet and abortion practitioners have admitting privileges...   +read more


Cambodia Khmer Rouge tribunal restarts genocide hearings
By Alison Sacriponte on Jan 08, 2015 03:22 pm
[JURIST] The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website] on Thursday restarted genocide hearings against the former Khmer Rouge regime's surviving leaders. Proceedings had been postponed since November, when defense lawyers refused to participate [JURIST reports] because they were still working to appeal an earlier verdict. Leaders of the 1970s regime Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, who were sentenced to life imprisonment [JURIST report] for crimes against humanity in August, are now on trial for separate charges...   +read more


ACLU urges Supreme Court to review Wisconsin voter ID law
By Alexandra Farone on Jan 08, 2015 12:31 pm
[JURIST] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] on Wednesday filed [press release] a petition [cert. petition, PDF] asking the US Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court ruling upholding Wisconsin's voter identification law. Wisconsin's Act 23 [text, PDF], which requires residents to present photo ID to vote, was struck down by a federal district court, but reinstated [JURIST reports] by the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit [official website]. Dale Ho, director of the ACLU's...   +read more


Bosnia court indicts Serb politician for genocide
By Valerie Howell on Jan 08, 2015 12:06 pm
[JURIST] The war crimes division of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [official website] on Thursday confirmed the indictment [press release] of Dragomir Vasic on charges of genocide. The charges stem from the executions of Srebrenica Muslims during the Bosnian Civil War [JURIST news archive]. Vasic, who is currently a member of parliament in the Republika Srpska [official website], was commander of police during the country's 1992-95 war and is charged with having aided and abetted in inflicting physical and...   +read more


Federal judge enters final ruling on Indiana abortion clinic law
By Steven Wildberger on Jan 08, 2015 11:38 am
[JURIST] Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson of the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana [official website] entered a permanent injunction Wednesday barring Indiana law IC 16-18-2 [text], which would redefine what qualifies as an abortion clinic and shut down Planned Parenthood's Lafayette facility. The law was barred for imposing rules on facilities that provided only medical abortions that would not have been imposed on physicians' offices providing the same service, violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment...   +read more


Federal appeals court upholds New York vaccination requirement
By Steven Wildberger on Jan 08, 2015 10:18 am
[JURIST] A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] on Wednesday upheld [text, PDF] a New York state rule [text, PDF] barring unimmunized children from public schools. On the district court level, Judge William Kuntz II of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York [official website] ruled in favor of the state in the original lawsuit. In Wednesday's opinion, the court stated, "the statute and regulation are a constitutionally...   +read more


Obama threatens to veto proposed health care changes
By Jacqueline Jones on Jan 08, 2015 08:40 am
[JURIST] A White House [official website] spokesperson said Wednesday that US President Barack Obama would veto proposed legislation [statement, PDF] that would reinstate the 40-hour work week requirement for employer health care coverage. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) [text, PDF] reduced the original 40-hour work week requirement to 30 hours in order to ensure more Americans would be covered by employers, but supporters of Save American Workers Act [HR 30 materials] argue the opposite has occurred. Supporters...   +read more