On the first week of its new term, the U.S. Supreme Court held two hours of intense arguments about whether the main federal job-discrimination law protects gay, lesbian, and transgender employees.

The justices hear arguments Nov. 12 on the Trump administration's effort to end deportation relief under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, in a case pitting the administration and GOP-leaning states against a host of education and advocacy groups.

Some educators and advocates fear the rule will dissuade immigrants from seeking certain government benefits, and that further burdens will fall on schools.

The Colorado Supreme Court decided Douglas County's Choice Scholarship Program is unconstitutional.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Apr 20, 2020 / 09:25 am (CNA).- On Friday, Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court will hold a virtual hearing to consider whether to decriminalize abortion for pregnant women infected with the Zika virus.

The legal intervention, called “Direct Action on Unconstitutionality-ADI 5581,” was filed with Brazil’s highest court by the National Association of Public Defenders. Supreme Court Justice Cármen Lúcia Antunes Rocha will present the legal action to the court, whose 11 members will have until April 30 to vote on the issue.

Several pro-life organizations have come out strongly against efforts to expand abortion, which is illegal in Brazil but is considered a “non-punishable crime” in cases of rape, a proven risk to life of the mother and, as of 2012, babies diagnosed with anencephaly.

“It’s a usurpation of powers because the Supreme Court does not have competency to rule on this matter,” said jurist José Miranda de Siqueira, president of the National Association of Citizens for Life. “This is a crime against the Federal Constitution of Brazil which in Article V guarantees the inviolability of the right to life.”

“We’re working with the Union of Catholic Jurists of Rio de Janeiro and will soon issue a strong statement on the issue,” continued Miranda, who is also a bioethics professor and authored a book on euthanasia, “O Poder sobre a Vida” (The Power over Life), which specifically addresses ADI 5581.

“Life is a preeminent right in the legal world. I’m asking people to pray and publicize this serious situation which is going on,” the lawyer added.

In an open letter to all Brazilians, the National Network for the Defense of Life and Family argued that the court challenge is “part of a strategy to introduce abortion in case of disabilities in general, or even abortion on demand, with the weak justification that the pregnant woman would be in a state of distress.”

“Eugenic abortion carries an enormous burden of prejudice and discrimination towards people with disabilities, sending an unseemly message that it would be better if they did not exist,” the pro-life organization added.

The Zika virus garnered international attention in 2015 after areas of Brazil noted a spike in cases of the birth defect microcephaly – a condition marked by abnormally small heads, brains, and developmental delays – following a recent outbreak of the virus in areas of northeastern Brazil.

Research on the virus suggested a link between Zika virus infection during pregnancy and severe neurological birth defects, including microcephaly and incomplete brain development.

A CitizenGo petition addressed to the Supreme Court justices called for the case to be removed from the docket and for the lives of the unborn to be respected. The petition was launched April 16. Within 24 hours, it had garnered 35,000 signatures and as of April 20 has 85,000.
 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Apr 27, 2020 / 04:35 pm (CNA).- A majority of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal has voted against an intervention seeking to decriminalize abortion for expectant mothers diagnosed with the Zika virus.

The judges convened a virtual plenary session April 24 to hear arguments for and against the “Direct Action on Unconstitutionality-ADI 5581,” a legal intervention filed with the court by the National Association of Public Defenders.

While the court has until April 30 to vote on the matter, 7 of its 11 members have already voted in opposition, effectively rejecting the measure.

Abortion is illegal in Brazil but previous Supreme Court rulings have declared it a “non-punishable crime” in cases of rape, a proven risk to life of the mother and, as of 2012, babies diagnosed with anencephaly.

The Zika virus garnered international attention in 2015 after areas of Brazil noted a spike in cases of the birth defect microcephaly – a condition marked by abnormally small heads, brains, and developmental delays – following a recent outbreak of the virus in areas of northeastern Brazil.

Research on the virus suggested a link between Zika virus infection during pregnancy and severe neurological birth defects, including microcephaly and incomplete brain development.

However, some experts criticized what they described as technical and scientific flaws of the premise behind ADI 5581.
The Union of Catholic Jurists of Rio de Janeiro issued an official statement arguing that a causal relationship was never established between Zika virus and the microcephaly outbreak that occurred in Brazil.

Raphael Câmara, an obstetrician at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, said that when an attempt was made in 2016 to allow abortion in Zika cases, little was known about the virus.

“Since then, we have answers to many of the issues raised in ADI-5581 in support of allowing abortion,” Câmara said. “The first fact is that recent studies show that fetuses of infected mothers are affected only 5 to 14% of the time, with the majority having mild problems, as shown by research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

“In addition, a study recently released by the CDC showed that 73% of Brazilian labs have a low accuracy rate for diagnosing the Zika virus, so the request is meaningless because we cannot talk about someone 'infected with Zika', but rather 'maybe infected by Zika.’ Is it based on this inaccuracy that we will kill fetuses?” the obstetrician continued.

Ahead of the Supreme Court ruling, pro-life groups in Brazil had spoken out against efforts to expand abortion in the country. A CitizenGo petition against the legal action drew more than 184,000 online signatures.

The Brazilian Bishops’ Conference had also opposed the attempt, calling on Catholics to defend life and oppose abortion. The conference wrote an open letter and also wrote privately to the Supreme Court, reiterating the duty to value the inviolable gift of life.

In 2017, the conference stated, “It does not belong to any public authority to selectively recognize the right to life or who will live or die. This discrimination is evil and exclusionary.”

 

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Digital. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

 

The ruling clears the way for Sunday church services in Kentucky.

Penn State Law in University Park will host "A Take on the Term" with Sarah Harrington and Erin Murphy, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, March 5, in the Sutliff Auditorium of the Lewis Katz Building.

The Penn State Law in University Park Civil Rights Appellate Clinic recently filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court. Biel v. St. James, a religious liberty case that was granted certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court.

"King of King Court" by Travis Dandro, published by Drawn & Quarterly, has won the 2020 Lynd Ward Prize for Graphic Novel of the Year. Penn State University Libraries sponsors the juried award and its administrator, the Pennsylvania Center for the Book.

Sanaa, Yemen, Mar 24, 2020 / 04:40 pm (CNA).- A Yemeni appeals court run by Houthi rebels on Sunday upheld the death sentence of a member of the Baha'i religion. The court also ordered the dissolution of Baha’i institutions.

Hamed bin Haydara was detained by Houthi rebels in 2013, and was denied access to a March 22 appeal hearing in Sanaa which upheld an earlier death sentence.

“This alarming decision is an egregious violation of religious freedom and the fundamental rights of Yemeni Baha’is,” Gayle Manchin, vice chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, said March 23. “USCIRF has been long concerned with the welfare of Mr. bin Haydara and the Yemeni Baha’i community. We call on Houthi authorities to immediately reverse this verdict and cease their baseless persecution of this peaceful religious minority.”

According to USCIRF, bin Haydara was charged with “with spying for Israel, teaching literacy classes deemed incompatible with Islam, and attempting to convert Muslims.”

The Baha'i International Community said it was "utterly dismayed at this outrageous verdict" and demanded the court reverse the decision, AFP reported.

"At a time when the international community is battling a global health crisis, it is incomprehensible that the authorities in Sanaa have upheld a death sentence against an innocent individual solely because of his beliefs instead of focusing on safeguarding the population, including Baha'is," said Diane Ala'i, a Baha’i representative to the United Nations in Geneva.

According to AFP, the Houthis have sought to ban the Baha’i religion.. The Houthi movement’s courts have started proceedings against 20 members of the religion, six of whom have been detained. The movement controls Sanaa and much of the westernmost part of the country.

In January, Pope Francis told Holy See diplomats that the crisis in Yemen is “one of the most serious humanitarian crises of recent history.”

The civil war between Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and a Saudi Arabian-led coalition has killed over 100,000 people since 2015. According to a Center of Strategic and International Studies report, the war has also caused nearly 24 million people to be in need of humanitarian assistance. 

Restraint on humanitarian organizations and aerial attacks has left 80% of Yemen’s population in need of food, fuel, and medicine, the CSIS Task Force on Humanitarian Access reported.

The Associated Press reported in February that half of the United Nations’ aid delivery programs had been blocked by the Houthi rebels. The rebels had requested that 2% of the humanitarian budget be given directly to them, heightening concerns that the group has been diverting charitable funds to finance the war.

In recent years, the pope has often asked for prayers for the Yemeni people in his public audiences.

“Pray hard, because there are children who are hungry, who are thirsty, who have no medicine, and are in danger of death,” Pope Francis said during an Angelus address in February 2019.

In a case from Montana, conservative justices suggested they were inclined to rule for parents who seek to reinstate a state tax credit funding scholarships for use at religious schools.

Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan would not have committed to the framework of his 'Leadership Compact' if he did not know where the money would come from, the Labour Court heard.

Newly appointed provisional liquidator of SA Express is in the process of investigating affairs of the state-owned regional airline.

Section 189 notices commencing a consultation process over proposed retrenchments at SAA were procedurally unfair, the Labour Court found on Friday.

Governor Jack Markell joined Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) Director Anas Ben Addi, Representative Stephanie Bolden, in addition to representatives from the City of Wilmington, The Michaels Development Company, Bank of America and Architectural Alliance, for a tour of Jazz Court Apartments, a new affordable 44-unit three-story apartment building located in Wilmington. This project is part of a master plan created by Banc of America Community Development Corporation and its development partners, utilizing a former Brownfield site remediated and donated by Bank of America to its partners. The project will also include 17 homeownership townhomes to be built by Inter-Neighborhood Foundation and Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County.

DOVER – Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) held an event today marking the completion of renovations at Liberty Court, a public housing site in Dover, and recognizing the authority’s 20th year participating in Moving to Work (MTW), a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program. Many of the residents at Liberty Court participate […]

25-state coalition files briefs in Bankruptcy Court Attorney General Kathy Jennings, along with a bipartisan group of 24 attorneys general, filed today two briefs opposing a request by Purdue Pharma to stop all lawsuits against the company and the Sackler family. “The Sacklers extracted up to $13 billion from Purdue while drugs like OxyContin wreaked […]

Exhibit examines the 17th-century struggle for control of New Castle, Del. by the Dutch, Swedes and English.

“William Penn Day” plus readings and historical theater to be featured.

Accreditation is the highest recognition afforded to museums in the United States.

Accreditation is the highest recognition afforded to museums in the United States.

Program will explore what life would be like for a two-month crossing of the Atlantic Ocean from Europe to the New World.

The event will include scholarly presentations on My Lord’s Gift, a 17th century archaeological site in Queenstown, Md.; and the Coleman Farm, Reedy Island and Fort Casimir sites in Delaware.

Exhibit-opening on Feb. 23, 2019 to include a lecture, historical re-enactment and music

Program on the travel and vacation guidebook for people of color during the segregation era

Activities to include demonstrations by the First Delaware Regiment and "Caesar Rodney in his Own Words," a historical play exploring the views of the famed Delaware patriot.

Living-history interpreter Ron Whittington will portray baseball Hall of Famer William “Judy” Johnson.

Historical play about the Delaware patriot by museum historic-site interpreter David Price.

Event commemorates the 337th anniversary of Penn’s disembarkment at New Castle, his first landing in the New World.

"Such coercive and forcible extraction of personal information from an individual is unheard of in a democratic and republic setup and it is attribute of a dictatorial system," the petition said.

New Delhi: Two days after lawyers and police engaged in a violent clash at the Tis Hazari Court complex, an on-duty policeman was seen assaulted by advocates purportedly outside Saket Court on Monday. A video that’s gone viral on social media showed lawyers stopping a policeman travelling on a

US President Donald Trump on Monday nominated an Indian-American attorney to a federal court in New York.

The Delhi High Court has asked the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to ensure that dispensation of medicines from its pharmacy, which was functioning in limited capacity due to the...

[Wilmington, DE, August 16, 2019] — The plaza in front of the Leonard L. Williams Justice Center was the site for the Second Annual Community Resource Center Fair. The event was open to the community and marked the formal opening of the Community Resource Center on the second floor of the courthouse and the launch […]

Governor Markell has ordered the American and Delaware flags lowered on Thursday, October 22, in honor of Family Court Judge Alan N. Cooper and his many years of public service to the State of Delaware.

Governor Markell has ordered the American and Delaware flags lowered in honor of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

With the passing of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, President Trump has ordered U.S. flags at all government buildings and facilities be flown at half-staff the day of his interment, Tuesday, July 23rd as a mark of respect for the memory of Justice Stevens and to honor his service to our country. […]

DOVER – The Delaware Supreme Court, by decision dated Dec. 7, 2017 in the matter of Bridgeville Rifle & Pistol Club, LTD, overturned a Superior Court ruling and ended a ban on visitors’ possessing firearms in Delaware’s state parks and state forests. Pursuant to the ruling, visitors may now possess firearms unless they are prohibited by law due to a past conviction for a violent crime, active Protection from Abuse Order, or mental health commitment. Following the Court’s decision to invalidate the existing regulations limiting firearms in state parks and forests, and some Division of Fish & Wildlife properties, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA) anticipate issuing interim firearm regulations. The interim regulations would respect the State Constitutional provisions on firearms cited by the Court, by implementing the State’s interest in ensuring the safety of the public in a less restrictive manner.

Agency: HSS Closing Date: 6/11/2020

The National Green Tribunal slapped an interim penalty of Rs 50 crore on LG Polymers India and sought response from the Centre and others on Friday in the gas leak incident in Visakhapatnam, Andhra...

The Madras high court has ordered the Tamil Nadu government to close all liquor shops in the state, saying the social distancing protocol implemented to stem coronavirus growth are being violated. It...

Kerala High Court on Friday said that the petitioner, seeking directions to allow opening of churches in the state in the wake of various lockdown relaxations, can move a representation for...

WILMINGTON, Del. – Governor John Carney on Friday announced his intention to nominate New Castle County Superior Court Judge Charlie Butler as Superior Court Resident Judge, New Castle County. Judge Butler – who since 2012 has served as a judge on the Superior Court in New Castle County – would replace Resident Judge of Superior […]

Program tells the story of an African American girl from New Castle, Del. who was kidnapped and taken to Maryland to be sold into slavery.

On Wednesday, a federal high court prevented the President Trump’s led administration from sending back a man of Afghan descent who was attempting to come into the United States with a special permit kept specially for those who have come to the aid…

A court document has surfaced showing that Tara Reade – a former Senate staffer for Joe Biden who has accused him of sexual assault – told her then-husband she was harassed while working in his office.
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Read Full Article at RT.com

The European Union’s highest court said on Friday it alone has legal authority over the European Central Bank (ECB). It rejected the recent ruling in Germany questioning the ECB’s power to print money without members’ consent.
Read Full Article at RT.com