Tag Archives: Global: Bench and Bar

Fox News: Prosecutors have reopened hundreds of dormant investigations of former Nazi death camp guards and others who might now be charged under a new precedent set by the conviction of retired U.S. autoworker John Demjanjuk, The Associated Press has learned.

The Globe and Mail: In a three-hour discussion – the only such interview he has ever given – Judge Binnie provided penetrating glimpses into an institution known for its secretive nature, at a time when the bench is entering an unsettling period of transition with five judges slated to be replaced by 2015. Widely seen as a towering intellect who is arguably the country’s premier judge, he spoke with the easy candour of a man who has spent his career as a renowned advocate.

The Local: Sweden’s top legal official has given backing to the decision to reassign the integration ministry civil servant who compared Islam to totalitarian ideologies.

News from The Associated Press: An explosion in the early hours of Wednesday morning damaged Amsterdam’s court complex and a government minister swiftly condemned the blast as an attack on the Dutch justice system.

Mary Honeyball at Public Service Europe: Finally, the organisation works in a realm where the notion of human rights varies wildly – depending on which country you are in. Some places do not have much of a tradition in upholding human rights, while the UK has one of the best records. With different standards, it makes the playing field somewhat uneven and difficult to monitor. And, I should imagine, it is a real problem within the ECHR. Every country can better its human rights standards, including the UK – which McDonald fails to see.

allAfrica.com: : The weighty, scandalous and damaging revelations by Wikileaks reports in the last two weeks about a possible conspiracy between some highranking judicial officers and highlyplaced government officials to subvert justice in Nigeria elicit many compelling questions that should not be left answered.

CatholicHerald.co.uk: Archbishop Peter Smith of Southwark has said the British courts are wrongfully penalising Christians through an “incorrect interpretation” of human rights laws.

Fides Service: A Christian high school teacher has suffered false accusations of blasphemy by a student and some Muslim professors, because of dislike, revenge and hatred towards Christians. He was forced to leave his job and hide, he appealed to Court, but the laconic sentence of the judge of first instance invited him to “leave the country”. It is the story reported by Fides sources in the Christian community in Punjab, that ask for anonymity for security reasons.

News from The Associated Press: Britain has amended a law to make it tougher for ordinary citizens or activist groups to get arrest warrants against suspected war criminals or torturers – a move that angered some human rights lawyers and activists.

Guardian.co.uk: he justice secretary believes member states, not Strasbourg, should take responsibility for compliance with the convention

CSMonitor.com: The Iranian judiciary’s denial that the detained US hikers were about to be released may reflect a power struggle between President Ahmadinejad and clerics.

The Mexican Supreme Court appears to be on the verge of overturning two state constitutional amendments that protect the right to life from the moment of conception, according to national media sources.

The Washington Post: A campaign to hold the pope responsible for “crimes against humanity” is not a publicity stunt, sex abuse victims say, even as experts doubt it will have much success at the International Criminal Court.

Boston.com: A Shariah court in northern Nigeria has ordered that two men have their right hands amputated for stealing a farmer’s bull.

BBC News – : Too many trivial cases are being sent to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), according a group of experts. The independent commission set up to consider a UK Bill of Rights has urged the government “to set the ball rolling on fundamental reforms” to the ECHR.

AP: President Jacob Zuma on Thursday appointed Mogoeng Mogoeng as chief justice of South Africa, casting aside accusations that the judge has been lenient on rapists and is homophobic.

India Today: Terror struck Delhi when a powerful bomb placed in a briefcase ripped through a crowded reception area at the entrance of the Delhi High Court on Wednesday morning, killing 11 people and leaving more than 80 injured. This is the second blast outside Delhi HC since May.

Law, David S. and Versteeg, Mila, The Declining Influence of the United States Constitution (September 6, 2011). Washington University in St. Louis Legal Studies Research Paper, Forthcoming; Virginia Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1923556

Spiegel: In mosques or tearooms, Muslim elders dispense verdicts that keep their communities in line. They mediate between aggrieved immigrants, sometimes at the expense of German justice. Some say the arbitrations ease caseloads in court, but others see the creeping advance of Sharia law. | Eugene Volokh comments at the Volokh Conspiracy

WSJ: A draft of the revised law, posted (in Chinese) Tuesday on the website of the National People’s Congress, confirms what many rights advocates had previously feared: That China plans to legalize the secret and illegal detentions that have previously been carried out in violation of existing law.

Rhodes, Charles W. (Rocky), Navigating the Path of the Supreme Appointment (July 20, 2011). Florida State University Law Review, Vol. 38, No. 3, 2011. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1890734 Nominees to the Supreme Court historically boasted political backgrounds as congressmen, governors, …

Butculescu, Claudiu Ramon, Consideration Regarding Natural Law in Common-Law Systems (April 26, 2010). DINAMICA DREPTULUI ROMÂNESC DUPĂ ADERAREA LA UNIUNEA EUROPEANĂ. COMUNICĂRI PREZENTATE LA SESIUNEA ŞTIINŢIFICĂ A INSTITUTULUI DE CERCETĂRI JURIDICE, 2010 . Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1907350 The traits of …

Sossin, Lorne, The Sounds of Silence: Law Clerks, Policy-Making and the Supreme Court of Canada (1996). U.B.C. Law Review, Vol. 30, pp. 279-308, 1996. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1911416 It is no longer controversial to refer to the Supreme Court of …

New Europe: The first results of the new system aimed at speeding up the processing of cases at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) have proved positive.

MarketWatch: The US-China Legal Cooperation Fund has announced its most recent round of grants for rule-of-law projects in China.

allAfrica.com: : Regional and continental legal bodies have launched another withering attack on the judicial authorities in Swaziland for failing to conclude the farcical disciplinary process involving High Court Judge, Thomas Masuku, who remains suspended from the bench.

New York Times: As the Bush administration sought to muster backing for a strike against Iraq in the Security Council, the United Nations moved forward this week toward creating an International Criminal Court — a project that America’s allies hope the United States will support over

The Denver Post: In 2007, the ACLU filed the case with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a seven-member panel that issues opinions and recommendations, but has no legal authority to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision.

Butculescu, Claudiu Ramon, International Law – Vector to Uniformization of Legal Cultures (May 1, 2010). Studii de Drept Românesc – Serie Nouă, Vol. 22, No. 55, 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1903974

CNBC: Italian prosecutors have seized documents at the offices of rating agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s in a probe over suspected “anomalous” fluctuations in Italian share prices, a prosecutor said on Thursday.

The Christian Institute: A Government inquiry into the rise of Sharia councils was abandoned after the Muslim courts refused to co-operate, it has been revealed. Politicians and pressure groups are becoming increasingly concerned at the growing influence of Sharia law in the UK. And there are fears that Islamist radicals will now be able to continue their activities unchecked.

AP: Foreign governments and human rights groups say the relatively light sentences given to 12 men who participated in the brutal killings of three minority Muslim sect members sends a chilling message about growing religious intolerance in Indonesia.

AP: A Canadian judge Thursday upheld the deportation of one of China’s most wanted fugitives, calling him a “common criminal.”

The Washington Post: U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Friday the Texas execution of Humberto Leal “raises particular legal concerns,” including whether he had access to consular services and a fair trial.

Guardian: UN Women’s 2011 report focuses on women’s access to justice in every country around the world. See how countries compare.

AP: The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, his son and his intelligence chief for crimes against humanity in the early days of their struggle to cling to power.

Europolitics: The president of the EU Court of Justice wants 12 more judges to enable his institution to cope with its increased workload.

AP: Kenya for the first time on Monday saw two judges sworn in to the country’s Supreme Court, a new judicial body created as part of political reforms after the country’s 2007-08 political violence.

San Diego Gay and Lesbian News: The Kenyan Parliament will decide tomorrow, 14 June, on the appointment of Dr Willy Mutunga and Nancy Baraza to that country’s top judicial and public prosecutorial jobs. Both have a pro-gay history and that – plus Mutunga’s earring – have led to an enormous fight . . .

William C. Duncan has authored this Institute for Marriage and Public Policy Research Brief: In court cases challenging the definition of marriage in the United States, a prominent claim is that same‐sex marriage is a fundamental right. This brief provides excerpts from cases from non‐U.S. jurisdictions that have weighed in on this claim and found that there is no right to same‐sex marriage in the relevant legal charters the courts were assessing. It also notes court decisions that have relied on the organic law of the nation to mandate a redefinition of marriage.

Telegraph: A leading humanitarian campaigner will today launch proposals for a new law to tackle the increasing influence of sharia courts in Muslim communities.

: A Moroccan court on Thursday convicted a top newspaper editor of discrediting court rulings and publishing information on unproven crimes and sentenced him to a year in prison.

The Christian Institute: A new Bill has been introduced to Parliament to tackle the problem of Sharia courts in England and Wales.

LifeSiteNews.com: The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has told the British government that they must clarify the rights of Christians with regard to the recently installed “equalities” laws.

The Globe and Mail: The contenders seen as the strongest are those with support in Conservative backrooms and a track record of conservative decision-making.

Telegraph: A major split has emerged between Alex Salmond and his Justice Minister after the First Minister said he would not withhold funding from the UK Supreme Court.

BBC News: The Scottish cabinet is taking action to stop the UK Supreme Court in London getting involved in criminal cases north of the border.

LifeSiteNews.com: The real issue goes much deeper, and the Catholic bishops’ conference and other Christian groups have raised the alarm, because of the stand of both appointees on gay rights and abortion.

AP: Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has taken his claim that he is being persecuted by leftist judges to the G-8 summit, telling a clearly perplexed President Barack Obama that in Italy they represent “almost a dictatorship.”

BBC: A former Turkish judge who says he was prosecuted for his views on the fate of Armenians and Kurds has been granted asylum in the Netherlands.

MonstersandCritics.com: Officials in the Russian capital Moscow will defy threatened penalties by the European Court of Human Rights and ban a public demonstration by gays and lesbians, human rights officials said Tuesday.

NY Times: The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Monday sought arrest warrants for Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya, his son and his brother-in-law on charges of orchestrating systematic attacks against civilians that amount to crimes against humanity.

Globe and Mail: The sudden retirement of two Supreme Court judges has handed Prime Minister Stephen Harper the chance to remake the high court along conservative lines, opening a debate over how to select their successors.

AP: “An international prosecutor said Friday he will seek arrest warrants next week for three top Libyan leaders on charges of murder and persecution during their attempts to crush the uprising against Moammar Gadhafi’s regime.”

AP: One question would dissolve the current judicial oversight body and overhaul it. The other would create a government panel to police the news media.

Reuters on Yahoo: The United Nations’ top human rights official called on the United States Tuesday to give the U.N. details about Osama bin Laden’s killing and said that all counter-terrorism operations must respect international law.

Courthouse News Service: The highest court of the European Union ruled that member states may not jail immigrants who enter their countries illegally and then refuse to leave.

BBC: One of the country’s most high profile barristers has been appointed a judge to the UK’s highest court.

Forbes: Cambodia has asked the United Nations’ highest court to order Thailand to withdraw troops and halt military activity around a temple at the center of a decades-old border dispute that has flared into deadly military clashes.

Waldron, Jeremy, A Religious View of the Foundations of International Law (April 26, 2011). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1823702

Canada.com: Today’s judges are making decisions that should be in the domain of our elected representatives. Do we want a judge in British Columbia rewriting our 121-year-old law banning polygamy? Should an Ontario judge be responsible for the decriminalization of cannabis? An elected bench would be democratically accountable to the public.

ADNKronos: The EU Court of Justice ruled that jailing migrants contradicts an EU directive whose main objective is “to set up an effective policy to drive out and repatriate third country nationals whose stay (in the EU) is irregular, while respecting their fundamental rights,” the court said in a statement.

Telegraph: The Strasbourg-based European Court has been heavily criticised for a range of judgements which appear to overrule the United Kingdom Parliament, including the granting of votes to prisoners and an extension of privacy laws which paved the way for super injunctions.

AP: Mukhtar Mai was assaulted after the council in her village in Punjab province ordered she be raped as punishment for her 13-year-old brother’s suspected affair with a woman of a higher caste.

AGI News: “A full 27 percent of cases pending at the European Court of Human Rights concern Italy.”

AP: “A judge has asked lawyers to shed their wigs next time they appear before her at the International Criminal Court.”

Radio Netherlands: The European Court of Human Rights is making too many inroads on democratically agreed legislation.

UK Human Rights Blog: In an interesting post, Aidan O’Neill QC concludes that the European Court of Human Rights is “in danger of imminent collapse” due to its backlog of 140,000 applications with around 1,600 arriving every month; a conclusion compounded by inherent delays. He suggests that the way to draw back Strasbourg from the brink of judicial Armageddon is to abolish the individual right to petition Strasbourg and to introduce a referral system whereby national courts request Strasbourg’s opinion on human rights issues, akin to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

Daily Mail: “An Australian woman is suing a five-star UAE hotel after she was drugged and raped by co-workers – but ended up in jail for eight months for having sex outside marriage.”

CNN: “Many months later on a winter night, as Hena’s sister Alya told it, Hena was walking from her room to an outdoor toilet when Mahbub Khan gagged her with cloth, forced her behind nearby shrubbery and beat and raped her . . . The next day, the village elders met to discuss the case at Mahbub Khan’s house, Alya said. The imam pronounced his fatwa. Khan and Hena were found guilty of an illicit relationship. Her punishment under sharia or Islamic law was 101 lashes; his 201.”

Douglas J. Feith writes at the Wall Street Journal (full text via Google): Mr. Obama has the constitutional authority to make his own detainee policy. And, if he wants to, he can issue a regulation or an executive order using principles from Article 75. But the Constitution does not empower him to recognize as a legal obligation a part of a treaty that the Senate has never approved.

Noticias Globas (Google translation): Peru’s Constitutional Court rejected the application requesting the removal of religious symbols from courts across the country. In Argentina, two judges of the Supreme Court intended the removal of crucifixes from the courts.

Independent: “The number of foreign students and their dependants coming to Britain could be cut by around 100,000 a year under plans.”

Religion Clause Blog: “In Malaysia yesterday, the High Court (Appellate and Special Powers) upheld the requirement that only Muslims can practice as Syariah lawyers.”

The judges think it is wise and humane to assert that there is no hierarchy of values, and that all creeds are equal. But this is both absurd and nihilistic. Some values will always trump others.’