Foreign/International
SCOTUS rejects Arkansas plea to revive Abortion regulation law
The Supreme Court of United States has rejected a plea seeking a writ of certiorari against the ruling by Court of Appeals which affirmed the District court view which had blocked the Abortion law of Arkansas State.Before the District Court, Plaintiffs had challenged the constitutionality of Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Acts to the extent that, it prohibits all abortions, regardless...
While Indian SC Constitution Bench starts mulling over the issue, Canada SC gives green signal for Assisted Suicide
In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada on Friday gave a green signal for assisted suicide to begin now under certain circumstances, while providing the new Liberal Government four months time to pass a law regulating such practice.The Court ruled that doctors in Quebec would be allowed to facilitate the procedure, as the Province of Quebec had already put the law into effect in...
US Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Obama’s Immigration Actions
The SCOTUS agreed to hear the administration’s defense of President Obama’s immigration executive actions, which were challenged by Texas and more than two dozen other states. The Obama administration asked the justices to take the case in November; weeks after the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court ruling putting the executive actions on hold.The administration...
German Supreme Court rules Facebook‘s ‘Friend Finder’ illegal !
Germany’s Top Court has ruled that Facebook’s Friend Finder feature is illegal.  According to the Press release, The Federal Court of Justice upheld the concurrent findings of the courts below which had held that this feature constitutes advertising harassment.In 2010, Federation of German Consumer Organizations had complained that Facebook breached German consumer protection law by...
Supreme Court of Canada joins Twitter
On its 140th anniversary of the first hearings, the Supreme Court of Canada has joined Twitter, popular social networking service that enables users to send and read short 140-character “tweets". Now the Supreme Court can be followed in twitter as @SCC_eng.Press Release issued by the Supreme Court on Monday says that Tweets will pertain to the business of the Court and will be posted from...
SCOTUS holds Florida Capital Sentencing scheme Unconstitutional [Read Judgment]
The Sixth Amendment protects a defendant’s right to an impartial jury. This right required Florida to base Timothy Hurst’s death sentence on a jury’s verdict, not a judge’s fact-finding, said the Court while holding the scheme unconstitutional.Supreme Court of United States has held the Florida capital sentencing scheme which allows a sentencing judge to find an aggravating...
Google Book Scanning Project: Author’s Guild approaches US Supreme Court [Read Petition]
American organization for writers, Authors Guild has petitioned the US Supreme Court, seeking review of the Court of Appeals ruling which had upheld the Google book scanning project as legal.In October last year, US Appeals Courts had affirmed the judgment by the Court below, and held that Google’s unauthorized digitizing of copyright-protected works, creation of a search functionality,...
Cisco Systems wins 8 year-long patent dispute over Wi-Fi Technology [Read Judgment]
A US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that Cisco Systems Inc. did not infringe a patent on Wi-Fi technology of the US company Commil USA, LLC. The Court thus reversed a nearly $64-million judgment against the networking equipment maker in the 8 year long patent dispute which also went to the US Supreme Court.The bench comprising of Chief Judge Frost, Circuit Judges Newman...
Executions on a downward trend in the U.S; Death Penalty hits record low in 2015
The number of death sentences awarded by Courts and the executions carried out in the US both dropped to historic lows in 2015, according to an annual report on capital punishment published on Wednesday.Nationally, the number of new death sentences awarded has dropped from a peak of 315 in 1996 to a projected low of 49 in 2015, a 33 percent decline from what was already a 40-year low in 2014....
Supreme Court of Canada relief to Tamil teen in failed Refugee Claim Case [Read Judgment]
Supreme Court of Canada, in yet another judgment giving relief to Tamil Migrants to Canada, has held that the rejection of application for humanitarian and compassionate relief under s. 25(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to a Tamil teen, who migrated to the country, fearing persecution in his native land, is illegal. The court said that the words “unusual and undeserved...
Supreme Court of South Africa holds Oscar Pistorious guilty of Murder: Holds identity of the victim is irrelevant to guilt of the perpetrator
I have no doubt that in firing the fatal shots the accused must have foreseen, and therefore did foresee, that whoever was behind the toilet door might die, but reconciled himself to that event occurring and gambled with that person’s life. This constituted dolus eventualis on his part, and the identity of his victim is irrelevant to his guilt, the Supreme Court said.The Supreme Court of...
Relief for SL Tamil migrants from Canada Supreme Court- holds prosecution of Humanitarian aid to migrants unconstitutional [Read Judgment]
Allowing the appeal by Sri Lankan Tamil Migrants who had challenged the vires of Section 117 of Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), the Supreme Court of Canada has held it unconstitutional insofar as it permits prosecution for humanitarian aid to undocumented entrants, mutual assistance amongst asylum‑seekers or assistance to family members.7 Judges Bench of the Supreme...