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...

US Court dismisses Sikh group suit against Facebook Blocking its page [Read Judgment]

Communication Decency Act must be interpreted to protect websites not merely from ultimate liability, but from having to fight costly and protracted legal battles, the Court said dismissing the suit against FacebookA District Court in North California dismissed a suit against Facebook, by a Sikh group “Sikhs For Justice (SFJ)” which had alleged that the Facebook violated federal and state...

Bangladesh Executes Two Opposition Leaders over 1971 war Crimes after SC rejects Review Petitions; Justice Krishna Iyer and Bachan Singh Jt mentioned [Read Judgment]

Does Islam permit killing of those unarmed people? While awarding the sentence, the Court must take into consideration the unbearable pains, tears rolling down the cheeks and sufferings of the widows and children of the victims who cried for getting justice for about 43 years, the four Judges bench said, affirming the death sentenceTwo top opposition leaders of Bangladesh who were involved in...

‘Hate crime’ at Harvard Law School: Photos of black tenured professors defaced with black tape

The students of Harvard Law School’s Wasserstein Hall were confronted with a disconcerting sight when they walked to their classes on Thursday. They were reportedly greeted with defaced photograph of every black tenured professor in the history of the schoolMichele D. Hall, a second year Harvard law student, explained on Blavity.com, “The portraits of black professors, the ones that...

Oklahoma Supreme Court expands custodial rights of non-biological parent in a same-sex relationship

Ramey, the plaintiff, is not a mere "third party" like a nanny, friend, or relative, as suggested by the district court. On the contrary, Ramey has been intimately involved in the conception, birth and parenting of their child, at the request and invitation of Sutton, the Court said while allowing the appeal of a non-biological parent in a Lesbian relationship.Oklahoma Supreme Court has held...

US Supreme Court sanctions ‘Shoot first, Think later’ approach to policing ; Sotomayor.J dissents [Read the Opinions]

While Majority opined that “Qualified immunity protects actions in the “‘hazy border between excessive and acceptable force.’”, the Dissenting judge said “By sanctioning a “shoot first, think later” approach to policing, the Court renders the protections of the Fourth Amendment hollow”.Supreme Court of United States have ruled that Qualified immunity applies to the actions of...