US President Blocking Twitter Users For Their Political Views Is Unconstitutional, Holds US Court [Read Judgment]

“The blocking of individual plaintiffs has the discrete impact of preventing them from interacting directly with the President’s tweets, thereby restricting a real, albeit narrow, slice of speech. No more is needed to violate the Constitution,” the court said.A district court in the United States of America has held that blocking of Twitter users from US President Donald...

Supreme Court Of Lesotho Holds Criminal Defamation Laws Unconstitutional [Read Judgment]

Civil remedies for reputational encroachment are more suited for redressing such reputational harm, the court said.The Supreme Court of Lesotho has declared country’s as criminal defamation laws unconstitutional observing that ‘crime of defamation has no place in its current constitutional dispensation’.Justice MA Mokhesi in his 37 paged Judgment observed that Section 101- 104 of the...

US Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Plea Against Power Project In Gujarat [Read Order]

The Supreme Court of the United States of America (SCOTUS) has agreed to take up an appeal filed against a power plant in Gujarat funded by US-based International Finance Corporation (IFC).SCOTUS on Monday granted the Petition for a writ of certiorari, limited to the following question posed by the Petitioners: "Whether the International Organizations Immunities Act—which affords...

Holding Foreign Corporations Liable In US Courts Might Impact American Corporate Investments In Developing Economies: SCOTUS [Read Judgment]

The recent decision by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in the case of Jesner et al. v. Arab Bank, PLC has further restricted the scope of holding foreign corporations liable in the Federal Courts of the United States under the Alien Torts Statute (ATS). The ATS is part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 which provides that “The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of...

Facebook Faces Action In US Court On Alleged Privacy Violation By Face Recognition Feature

A class action suit was filed against Facebook by a group of Facebook users in Illinois over usage of its facial recognition feature. This feature was introduced by Facebook in 2011 and allows it to scan pictures uploaded by users and suggest tagging of their friends.The lawsuit was filed in 2015 alleging violation of a 2008 Illinois law known as the Biometric Privacy Act (BIPA). BIPA...

First Lawsuit Against Facebook & Cambridge Analytica

A class-action complaint has been filed by Lauren Price, a resident of Maryland, before the U.S. District Court in San Jose, California seeking unspecified damages for Facebook’s failure to protect data of its users and the exploitation of the data by Cambridge Analytica in the 2016 US election campaign. The complaint alleges violation of California unfair competition law.It is only...

Pak Court Holds Suspension Of Mobile Services By Federal Govt On Ground Of National Security Illegal [Read Judgment]

The Islamabad High Court has declared that the Federal government has no authority to direct the suspension of mobile phone services on the ground of national security. It was held that such power can be exercised only after the proclamation of emergency by the President. The declaration was made while allowing an appeal filed by a telecom company, CM Pak Limited, against the shutdown of...

India, Pak Supreme Courts In Sync On Disqualification Of Convicts From Heading Political Parties

Hearing a public interest litigation seeking a ban on convicted persons from heading political parties filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Upadhayay, the Supreme Court recently expressed its view that a convicted person - criminal or corrupt - cannot head a political party and sought the final view of the Centre within two weeks on the matter.“A convicted person can’t contest...

Here Is What The US Court Of Appeals Said While Upholding Preliminary Injunction Against Trump's Third Travel Ban [Read Judgment]

In a 9-4 vote, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a lower court's preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of US President Donald Trump's most recent travel ban.Undisputed evidence of bias: President Trump's wordsWhile examining whether the Proclamation was tainted with anti-Muslim bias, the Court noted that instead of just allegations, the Plaintiffs had...

Pakistani Human Rights Activist And Senior Lawyer Asma Jahangir Passes Away

She was the first woman president of Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association Celebrated Pakistani human rights activist and senior lawyer Ms. Asma Jahangir passed away in Lahore on Sunday at the age of 66. According to reports, the former UN special rapporteur died of cardiac arrest.Born in 1952, Ms. Jahangir did her schooling at the Convent of Jesus and Mary and completed her LLB from the...

Justice Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf Elected As New President Of International Court of Justice (ICJ)

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), on Tuesday, elected Mr. Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf as its new President and Ms. Xue Hanqin as its Vice-President. Both of them will serve a term of three years.Mr. Yusuf will take over from French Judge Ronny Abraham to become the 25th President of ICJ as well as the 3rd one from Africa. He has been a Judge at ICJ since 2009 and was elected as its...

Chief Justice Of Bangladesh Resigns Following Conflict With Government

In a controversial move, the Chief Justice of Bangladesh Justice Surendra Kmar Sinha, the first Hindu to be appointed as Chief Justice of the Muslim majority nation, tendered his resignation papers on Saturday. He had assumed office on 17 January 2015. The Chief Justice had been on leave for past one month, and had gone oversees, reportedly staying in Singapore and Australia. There...