organization:supreme court

La Cour suprême israélienne autorise la démolition des habitations bédouines de Oum al-Hiran pour reconstruire une nouvelle ville juive.

Supreme Court allows state to replace Bedouin village with Jewish one - Israel - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/1.655145

Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a petition by residents of the unrecognized Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran against their removal and the demolition of the community – in order to construct a new town for Jewish residents in its place. The court ruled the land belongs to the state and the Bedouins have no legal rights to it.

“The state is the owner of the lands in dispute, which were registered in its name in the framework of the arrangement process; the residents have acquired no rights to the land but have settled them [without any authorization], which the state cancelled legally. In such a situation, there is no justification for intervention in the rulings of the previous courts,” wrote Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein in the majority opinion.

Rubinstein ruled that the appeal should be rejected for two reasons: First, because the petition was an indirect attack against the decisions of the government’s establishment of the new community of Hiran, to be built on the state-owned land – a challenge that should have been raised in other forums. Second, the judges ruled the government’s actions did not in any way violate the petitioners’ legal rights – and even if such rights were harmed, it was a “proportionate harm.”

The Supreme Court decision concerns only the evacuation orders. The Kiryat Gat Magistrate’s Court is scheduled to hold a hearing at the end of this month about the demolition orders for the houses in Umm al-Hiran.

Residents fought cabinet decision

In November 2013, a number of families from the Abu Alkiyan clan, who live in the unrecognized community of Umm al-Hiran, filed a petition with the aid of Adalah – Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, to prevent the demolition of their homes and the evacuation of the residents – after the cabinet approved the creation of Hiran and the demolition of their unrecognized village.

The petitioners claimed they did not squat on the land, but were transferred to the area in the Yattir Forest in 1956 by direct order of the military administration of the time. But now, their lands lie within the master plan of the Be’er Sheva metropolitan area. The government has never denied that the residents were moved to Umm al-Hiran by state authorities. Umm al-Hiran is now home to about 700 people, say residents, but like other Bedouin villages that lack official recognition as local municipal communities, it lacks infrastructure and electricity.

The Abu Alkiyan clan now resides in two villages, Atir and Umm al-Hiran, located near Wadi Atir, close to Route 316 and east of the village of Houra. Until 1948, the clan lived on the land now used by Kibbutz Shoval. After the War of Independence, they traveled across the Negev looking for new land, but did not find any, because most of it was already claimed by other tribes. In 1956, it approached the military administration and was transferred to the Wadi Atir area. A classified military administration document dating from 1957 says the clan received 7,000 dunams of land near the wadi. It then split into two hamlets that shared the land. Unlike in many Bedouin communities, the houses in Atir and Umm al-Hiran are built of stone.

Decade of house demolitions

Over the past decade houses in the village were demolished a number of times, and residents were offered a compromise of moving to the nearby town of Hura, where they would be compensated with an 800-square meter plot of land. But the families who petitioned the court refused the offer, saying they will not be removed from their land a third time.

Rubinstein wrote about this claim: “This is not expulsion and not expropriation, but the proposed evacuation involves various proposals of moving, construction, compensation and the possibility of homes, whether in the town of Hura where most of the residents of the illegal villages involved will be moved, or in the community of Hiran, which is to be built.”

In conclusion, Rubinstein said the issue of the Bedouin lands is one of the most difficult and challenging the court has dealt with, and is filled with sensitive emotions and political disputes.

Justice Daphne Barak-Erez, who disagreed with parts of Rubinstein’s opinion, criticized the government’s actions: “The petitioners cannot receive the full support they asked for, but it is also not possible to reconcile oneself with the flaws in the authorities’ actions concerning the decision on the evacuation and compensation involved.” She said the authorities should reconsider the compensation offered, since the residents had lived there for 20 years and were not trespassing. In addition the state should consider offering them a plot to live in the new town to be built on the land, in addition to the previous proposals, she suggested.

In 2012, the National Planning and Building Council approved the master plan for Hiran, the latest in a series of decisions on the matter by the state. Despite being approved, work on the town was delayed following the appeal by the Bedouin residents. Hiran is slated for 2,400 housing units, and the Bedouin can also choose to live there if they want, attorney Moshe Golan, representing the government, told the court in one of the hearings. But he noted the Bedouin residents would not receive the same 800-square meter plot in Hiran they would receive elsewhere, since the plots in Hiran were much smaller. The core group of families slated to move to Hiran are national religious Jews, who are to be joined by secular residents moving to the site from the nearby community of Meitar, along with others.

Salim Abu Alkian of Umm al-Hiran, who led the residents in the court petition, told Haaretz he was disappointed by the decision. “The decision was very disappointing, but we knew beforehand that is what would happen.” He accused the entire Israeli establishment, government and courts of racism.

Residents plan to stay put

Abu Alkian said the residents will go on refusing to be moved to nearby Hura: “I will continue to fight since I am not a criminal, and this is my home.” He said they were considering turning to an international court to protest.

Adalah said that even though the Supreme Court noted in its decision that the residents are living in the area with permission of the state and at its instruction, the “court makes do with the technical authority of the state to act as it pleases with the land on which Umm al-Hiran and Atir sit. In doing so, the court gave legitimacy to the erasing of an entire village off the face of the earth and the expulsion of its residents, while ignoring the entire human, political, social and historical perspective.”

Adalah said that together with the residents, human rights organizations and Arab community representatives, it would in the coming days examine legal and public tactics to protect the village from demolition

L’extrême droite veut affaiblir le pouvoir de la Cour Suprême, une institution essentielle à ce qui reste de la démocratie israélienne.

Kulanu balks at Likud demand to weaken Israel’s Supreme Court - National - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.652811

Et une autre décision de la Cour suprême autorise la confiscatin de terres palestiniennes à Jérusalem Est en vertu de la « Loi des Absents »
Supreme Court rules : Israel can confiscate Palestinian property in Jerusalem - National - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.652231

Supreme Court rules: Israel can confiscate Palestinian property in Jerusalem
The justices said the controversial Absentee Property Law is applicable in East Jerusalem, but warned it should be used only rarely, and with explicit approval of the attorney general.

Only a day after the High Court of Justice upheld most of the sections of the “Anti-Boycott Law,” the justices of the Supreme Court approved the use of another controversial law: The application of the Absentee Property Law to assets in East Jerusalem. The practical effect of the ruling is that it allows the state to take control of property in East Jerusalem whose owners live in the West Bank or Gaza.

(…)

#expropriation-terres-Jerusalem

Les Israéliens légifèrent sur le boycott qui peut devenir un délit. A voir

Legitimizing the anti-boycott bill harms Israeli democracy - National - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.652199

Just prior to the end of his three months after retirement – the last occasion on which a justice can sign off on rulings related to cases he adjudicated – former Supreme Court President Asher Grunis added his signature to the ruling on the so-called Anti-Boycott Law. This ruling captures the spirit of his entire term – one of judicial passivism, which leaves a broad area open for interpretation by the legislative body, as well as a fondness for the “immaturity” rationale, used in order to dismiss the court’s intervention in cases in which a new bill has not yet been implemented.

The ruling Grunis supported on Wednesday was written by Justice Hanan Melcer, who was joined by the court’s President Miriam Naor, as well as justices Elyakim Rubinstein and Isaac Amit. Thus, a slim 5-4 majority approved the contested part of the law, which states that a public call for boycotting Israel constitutes a civil wrong (or tort) liable to be sued for damages.

“Boycotting Israel” is defined here as a “purposeful avoidance of economic, cultural or academic ties with a person or other entity due solely to their affinity to Israel, one of its institutions or an area under its control, in a manner that would cause financial, cultural or academic harm.”

The justices noted that the law infringes on freedom of speech, but this could be justified since the infringement was proportional and directed at a worthy cause.

However, all the justices concurred that the clause allowing the person calling for a boycott to be forced to pay compensation, even in the absence of proven damage to anyone, was unconstitutional and should be struck down. Justice Melcer emphasized that only a person who could prove being directly affected by a call for a boycott could sue for damages – and that in order to succeed in such a suit, that person would need to prove a causal relationship between the call for a boycott and harm incurred by that call.

This limits the ability to employ this law, since it will not be possible to use it for blanket litigation against people calling for boycotts. Despite this, as pointed out by the minority justices, the grave issue of freedom of speech and the chilling effects of the law are not resolved. Ironically, this ruling creates a situation in which anyone calling for a boycott should hope that his call fails – since only its success can lead to him being sued.

Despite the final result, the ruling will be remembered as the first in which the High Court struck down a law’s clause due to an infringement of free speech: Refusing to endorse a clause that allows for compensation without proof of damage anchors the approach that freedom of speech derives from the right to human dignity, which is protected by Israel’s Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom, even though freedom of speech is not specifically mentioned in the Basic Law.

This is hardly a source of comfort or consolation. This is a ruling determining that anyone calling for a boycott can end up being sued. It should be emphasized that the majority of justices made no distinction between the part of the law dealing with calls for boycotting Israel and the part dealing with calls for boycotting areas under Israel’s control. This means that calls for boycotting produce from the West Bank settlements or for boycotting the cultural center in Ariel can lead to a person being sued if this leads to financial damage. This imposes problematic limitations on political freedom of speech.

Justice Melcer writes in his ruling that calls for a boycott or participation in such actions could sometimes constitute acts of “political terror,” ignoring the historic role boycotts played repeatedly as nonviolent means of resistance. Was the boycott of South Africa during the apartheid years “political terror” or a nonviolent form of protest?

One can also criticize the broad comparison made by the justices between the boycott law and laws against discrimination, stating that the new law in fact implements the laws forbidding discrimination. However, the existence of these antidiscrimination laws shows that the boycott law is superfluous. There are already laws in place that proscribe discrimination in many areas, such as employment or supply of goods and services, and these laws could be expanded. These are the laws that should combat wrongful discrimination, such as refusal to hire someone based on their nationality or political opinions.

Calls for a boycott can be annoying and objectionable, but the High Court – even though it restricted the law – has failed to protect freedom of expression in areas where it is particularly important, such as when dealing with unpopular opinions that annoy many people. Consequently, it gave legitimacy to legislation that is part of a wave of proposed antidemocratic bills, designed to “kill the messenger” rather than dealing with the content of the relevant criticism.

The ruling can perhaps be best summarized by the words of Justice Rubinstein, who quoted from the Passover Haggadah, which states: “In every generation, they rise against us to annihilate us. However, the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand.” Rubinstein added, “There is nothing wrong in anchoring laws passed by the Knesset in the struggle against those who wish to annihilate us.” This is a viewpoint that perceives the BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) Movement as a threat to Israel’s existence – a view that sees Israel as a perpetual victim, and only a victim. In light of this perception, the High Court legitimized a bill that harms our democracy.

How the GOP Became the Israel Party
▻http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-the-gop-became-the-israel-party

Lipton focuses on the new money stream. He shows that Adelson, Paul Singer, and other right-wing, pro-Israel donors, their spending unleashed by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, have pushed the GOP past the Democrats as recipients of “pro-Israel” PAC money. He uncovers some fairly shocking facts, such as the rapid infusion of “pro-Israel” funds into Arkansas freshman senator Tom Cotton’s campaigns. This detailed reporting about Israel-related money in a widely read centrist publication is an important and welcome development: until recently, it was subject hidden in whisper and awkward euphemism, as when two election cycles ago, retired general and possible presidential candidate Wesley Clark referred to “New York money people” pushing for war with Iran. Clark had to be walked through an apology with the assistance of Abe Foxman.

But important as the finance angle is, the subject has other important dimensions.

Which Companies Are Buying the #Election? - NYTimes.com
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/28/opinion/which-companies-are-buying-the-election-securities-and-exchange-commission.

The bipartisan silence testified to the growing importance to both parties of anonymous campaign donations. With each passing year since 2010, when the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United opened the floodgates to secretive political giving, politicians appear to value so-called dark money more and value disclosure of unnamed donors less. The issue was finally broached by Representative Michael Capuano, Democrat of Massachusetts. He observed that shareholders have a right to know how corporate cash is spent, and demanded to know why the #S.E.C. has not required disclosure. Ms. White gave the same answer she has given since she became chairwoman in 2013 — essentially, that the agency is too busy with more important issues.

Since then, however, the S.E.C. has added new issues to its agenda, while neglecting to put political-spending disclosure on its to-do list. The omission is indefensible, because the investors’ need to know will only grow as the level of anonymous giving rises.

#SEC illustrates regulator too cozy with the industry it regulates - SFGate
▻http://m.sfgate.com/opinion/article/SEC-illustrates-regulator-too-cozy-with-the-6161571.php

In 2013, the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight published a study showing that “more than 400 SEC alumni filed almost 2,000 disclosure forms saying they planned to represent an employer or client before the agency.” In light of that, financial expert Yves Smith, who first flagged the Stanford video at her website, #Naked_Capitalism, said Bowden’s comments spotlight a deeper problem at the agency.

“Bowden’s most attractive career option, assuming he does not move into a more senior role at the SEC first, would be to join a private equity firm as a chief compliance officer,” she wrote. “The fact that Bowden made such an unabashed statement of his real loyalties, to his future meal tickets, is a strong and troubling sign that this sort of cozying up is a non-issue at (the) SEC.”

Such “cozying up” is the definition of regulatory capture. We can at least thank the SEC for providing such an easy-to-understand illustration of how it operates.

#Etats-Unis #conflit_d’intérêt #corruption_légale #démocratie

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: U.S. Territories
▻http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/last-week-tonight-with-john-oliver-us-territories

A set of Supreme Court decisions made over 100 years ago has left U.S. territories without meaningful representation. That’s weird, right? 

Why Kim Dotcom hasn’t been extradited 3 years after the US smashed Megaupload
▻http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/01/why-kim-dotcom-hasnt-been-extradited-3-years-after-the-us-smashed-megaupload/1

In short, Dotcom’s legal team has done a fantastic job of defending their client. His lawyers have thrown wrench after wrench into the legal process, appealing at nearly every turn and challenging the validity of the warrant executed upon the Dotcom estate.

The man whom New Zealand authorities dubbed “Billy Big Steps” has won some intermediate victories along the way, including recently defeating a bid to get him thrown back in jail. In September 2012, the New Zealand Prime Minister even apologized for the government’s illegal spying on Dotcom.

But in the most recent legal showdown, Dotcom’s lawyers came up short. On December 24, 2014, the Supreme Court of New Zealand found in a 5-1 decision that the search warrants served upon Dotcom and his three associates were valid, despite flaws in their drafting. That decision—seemingly exhausting all challenges to the extradition process—finally paves the way for a June 2, 2015 extradition hearing. However, this will almost certainly be appealed to the New Zealand Court of Appeal and then to the Supreme Court of New Zealand. The process is likely to take months, if not longer.

U.S. activist Rachel Corrie’s family loses appeal to Israel’s Supreme Court - Diplomacy and Defense - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.642274

http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.460092!/image/1708115288.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_474/1708115288.jpg

The high court on Thursday upheld a ruling by the Haifa District Court exempting Israel from paying civil damages for wrongful death to Corrie’s family since the incident occurred in a war zone.

Meet the Unusual Plaintiffs Behind the Supreme Court Case That Could Destroy Obamacare
▻http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/king-burwell-supreme-court-obamacare

These two plaintiffs seemed driven by their political opposition to President Obama; one has called him the “anti-Christ” and said he won election by getting “his Muslim people to vote for him.” Yet most curious of all, one of the plaintiffs did not recall exactly how she’d been recruited for the case and seemed unaware of the possible consequences if she wins. Told that millions could lose their health coverage if the Supreme Court rules in her favor, she said that didn’t want this to happen

What U.S. Intelligence Predicted the World Would Look Like in 2015 - The Atlantic
▻http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/12/what-us-intelligence-predicted-the-world-would-look-like-in-2015/384071
▻http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/newsroom/img/mt/2014/12/Globe/lead_large.jpg?nhgmym

Nine months before the September 11 attacks—and just days after the Supreme Court halted the Florida recount, handing the presidency to George W. Bush—U.S. intelligence officials published an 85-page prediction for what the world would look like in 2015. It’s a world that seems familiar in some ways, and utterly foreign in others. And it’s a world in which power is diffusing and decaying—reflecting one of the most significant trends of 2014 and perhaps the coming year as well.

La #CIA cite la cour suprême israélienne pour justifier la #torture,
►http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.630823

The scathing report published Tuesday by the United States Senate Intelligence Committee on the CIA’s interrogation of terror suspects reveals that the CIA’s lawyers used the rulings of Israel’s Supreme Court to construct a legal case justifying torture.

According to the 528-page document, a redacted version of the 6,000-page report that remains classified, in November 2001 some CIA officers were concerned they may need legal justification for the interrogation methods they had begun using when questioning Al-Qaida suspects in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

In a draft memorandum prepared by the CIA’s Office of General Counsel, the “Israeli example” was cited as a possible justification that “torture was necessary to prevent imminent, significant, physical harm to persons, where there is no other available means to prevent the harm.”

Gratuit ici ▻http://occpalgaza.wordpress.com/2014/12/09/no-surprise-cia-cited-israeli-supreme-court-rulings-to-justify

#film LE VILLAGE SOUS LA FORÊT
De Heidi GRUNEBAUM et Mark J KAPLAN

http://foaiy1wqzsc3yo4mb2hd0h052k.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Heidi.jpg

http://www.spoutnik.info/uploads/thumbsLarge/1417160150_Palestinefilmercestexisterfinal.jpg

La chercheuse juive sud-africaine, #Heidi_Grunebaum se souvient qu’étant enfant elle versait de l’argent destiné officiellement à planter des arbres pour « reverdir le désert ».

Elle interroge les acteurs et les victimes de cette tragédie, et révèle une politique d’effacement délibérée du #Fonds_national_Juif.

http://foaiy1wqzsc3yo4mb2hd0h052k.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/jnfbluebox2.jpg

►http://www.villageunderforest.com

Trailer :
►https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISmj31rJkGQ

#israel #palestine #carte @cdb_77 @reka
#Israël #afrique_du_sud #forêt #documentaire

–-

Petit commentaire de Cristina pour pour @reka :
Il y a un passage du film que tu vas adorer... quand un vieil monsieur superpose une carte qu’il a dessiné à la main du vieux village Lubya (son village) sur la nouvelle carte du village...
Si j’ai bien compris la narratrice est chercheuse... peut-etre qu’on peut lui demander la carte de ce vieil homme et la publier sur visionscarto... qu’en penses-tu ? Je peux essayer de trouver l’adresse email de la chercheuse...

More Federal Agencies Are Using Undercover Operations
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/us/more-federal-agencies-are-using-undercover-operations.html

WASHINGTON — The federal government has significantly expanded undercover operations in recent years, with officers from at least 40 agencies posing as business people, welfare recipients, political protesters and even doctors or ministers to ferret out wrongdoing, records and interviews show.

(...)

Across the federal government, undercover work has become common enough that undercover agents sometimes find themselves investigating a supposed criminal who turns out to be someone from a different agency, law enforcement officials said. In a few situations, agents have even drawn their weapons on each other before realizing that both worked for the federal government.

(...)

An intelligence official at the Department of Homeland Security, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss classified matters, said the agency alone spent $100 million annually on its undercover operations. With large numbers of undercover agents at the F.B.I. and elsewhere, the costs could reach hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

(...)

Supreme Court spokesman, citing a policy of not discussing security practices, declined to talk about the use of undercover officers. Mr. German, the former F.B.I. undercover agent, said he was troubled to learn that the Supreme Court routinely used undercover officers to pose as demonstrators and monitor large protests.

“There is a danger to democracy,” he said, “in having police infiltrate protests when there isn’t a reasonable basis to suspect criminality.”

#Etats-Unis #démocratie #surveillance #dissidence #gabegie

Displeasure with state housing administration at all-time high
▻http://www.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_displeasure-with-state-housing-administration-at-all-time-high

Plus de 100 000 plaintes d’habitants contre l’Administration du logement Collectif en Turquie :

The fact is that TOKİ already faced serious discontent from its customers before even the first round of 500,000 homes had been completed. Many of the customer complaints had already been taken to court. In fact, the number of complaints against TOKİ snowballed.

The range of general complaints was wide, from apartments being handed over to customers very late to portions of the homes being incomplete. Many of those filing a lawsuit against TOKİ won their cases and were awarded compensation by the courts.

A report issued in 2012 by the Court of Accounts (Sayıştay) draws attention to the fact that the number of court cases against TOKİ had swelled to reach 30,000. It also focused on the compensation being awarded by the courts. At the beginning of 2014, the number of court cases against TOKİ had reached 100,000 in total.

Nombre qui pourrait s’alourdir car nombreux habitants ont peur de s’engager devant la justice. Même les avocats des plaintifs restent anonymes de peur des représailles de TOKI :

One fact of note is that many of the lawyers representing TOKİ residents in court opt to keep a low profile and routinely ask to be cited anonymously when speaking to media out of fear of possible retaliation from TOKİ.

In other words, Turkey has found itself in a period when even lawyers fear becoming victims. When Sunday’s Zaman asked TOKİ about the number of court cases against the administration, they declined to respond.

Most TOKİ residents face similar problems regarding poor housing quality, yet many opt to remain silent, as opening a court case is a costly process. And many people, in the excitement of being first-time homeowners, simply decide to remain quiet about the problems they are having. There are also those who use their own money to make necessary repairs, and others who sit back and wait to see what sort of results emerge from neighbors’ attempts to attain justice at the courts

Alors que la justice donnait raison aux plaintifs jusque là, les dernières élections locales semblent constitués un retournement de la situation avec des pressions politiques sur les juges. Le coût des compensations financières commençait à être important effectivement :

After the March 30 elections, a new development looked set to stop this general trend against TOKİ. Though the Supreme Court of Appeals had ruled in favor of plaintiffs, the 13th chamber of the court suddenly changed its stance and began to rule in favor of TOKİ.

Many of the lawyers involved in these cases note, however, that the sudden change in the court’s views on the TOKİ cases seemed to reflect some sort of political pressure being applied.

Another dimension to the switch in the approach of the Supreme Court of Appeals in these cases is the general cost to TOKİ in all of this. Lawyer “T,” drawing attention to the rising costs, said: “If there are 100,000 plaintiffs and the average awarded recompense is TL 15,000, we are talking about total costs of TL 1.5 billion.”

This same lawyer noted that, in Istanbul alone, some TL 70,000-80,000 in compensation has been awarded, with a total bill to TOKİ of some TL 2 billion

#logement
#justice
#Turquie

Language testing of asylum claimants: a flawed approach

Following a critical Supreme Court judgment on the Home Office’s use of controversial language analysis tests to determine the nationality of asylum seekers, Aisha Maniar asks: why does the government insist on using these tests?

http://www.irr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/WeAreSomali-150x72.jpg

#test_de_langue #langue #nationalité #réfugiés #asile #migration

Greek court acquits farmers who shot 28 Bangladeshi strawberry pickers

’Scandalous’ verdict condemned by politicians and anti-racist groups after case that revealed migrant workers’ plight

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2014/7/31/1406766688113/Strawberry-picker-in-tear-011.jpg

#Bangladesh #fraise #Grèce #injustice #violence #migration #asile #réfugiés #jugement #justice #verdict #agriculture #travail #exploitation

Find Out If Your Senators Voted for Women or Hobby Lobby
▻http://www.filmsforaction.org/takeaction/find-out-if-your-senators-voted-for-women-or-hobby-lobby

First it was five male Supreme Court justices who put CEOs’ religious beliefs ahead of women’s health care. Now, 43 senators did the same thing. These senators stopped the “Not My Boss’ Business”...

Supreme Court enshrines privacy of smartphones (FT.com, 25 juin 2014) ▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/543dc0da-fc91-11e3-81f5-00144feab7de.html

US #police must obtain a warrant to search a suspect’s #smartphone after the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that constitutional #privacy protections apply to the often extensive data people keep on the devices in their pockets.

The fourth amendment bans “unreasonable searches and seizures” but police are usually allowed to search the personal belongings a suspect is carrying. Lower courts had been divided on whether to ban searches of smartphones without a warrant.

Ca semble dérisoire mais ne l’est sans doute pas. #droit #Etats-Unis

“Modern cell phones are not just another technological convenience. With all they contain and all they may reveal, they hold for many Americans ‘the privacies of life’,” he wrote Chief Justice John Roberts. “The fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hand does not make the information any less worthy of the protection for which the Founders fought.”

Court Rejects Zone to Buffer Abortion Clinic
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/27/us/supreme-court-abortion-clinic-protests.html

The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously struck down a Massachusetts law that barred protests, counseling and other speech near abortion clinics.

The law, enacted in 2007, created 35-foot buffer zones around entrances to abortion clinics. State officials said the law was a response to a history of harassment and violence at abortion clinics in Massachusetts, including a shooting rampage at two facilities in 1994.

The US supreme court’s abortion buffer zone ruling protects a gauntlet of horror
▻http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/26/us-supreme-court-abortion-buffer-zone-ruling-gauntlet-horror

Abortion clinics are not safe places - anti-choicers have ensured that - and if women are going to be free from harassment, the fight must go on

Imagine trying to walk into a building, trying to get a medical treatment – and someone screams at you. Someone is two inches from your face – two feet from the front door – and that someone is videotaping you, calling you a whore. There’s ketchup poured in the snowbanks around you, made to look like spurted blood. You try to take a step forward, but people block your way, yelling that you’re going to be “mother to a dead baby”. They hold signs in your faces, whisper “murderer” in your ear as you pass. Maybe they shove you.

#ivg

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
▻http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-132_8l9c.pdf

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the Court.
These two cases raise a common question: whether the
police may, without a warrant, search digital information
on a cell phone seized from an individual who has been
arrested.

Held : The police generally may not, without a warrant, search digital information on a cell phone seized from an individual who has been arrested.

#privacy #surveillance

Top Libyan court says election of PM unconstitutional
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/top-libyan-court-says-election-pm-unconstitutional

Libya’s Supreme Court ruled on Monday that parliament’s election of #prime_minister #Ahmed_Maiteeq a month ago was “unconstitutional,” state television said. Maiteeq’s appointment as head of #Libya's interim government followed a chaotic vote and was disputed by some lawmakers and judicial experts. Outgoing Prime Minister #Abdullah_al-Thani, a career army officer who resigned in April, refused to hand over power to Maiteeq, who was elected by independent and Muslim Brother Islamists. read more

Libyan court rules PM’s election illegitimate
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/libyan-court-rules-pms-election-illegitimate

Libya’s Supreme Court said on Thursday the election of Ahmed Maiteeq as prime minister was illegal, court officials said. Maiteeq’s lawyers immediately filed an appeal against the ruling which was broadcast on television. Last month, parliament elected Maiteeq as new prime minister in a chaotic vote which has been disputed by some lawmakers and officials who said the quorum had been missed. (Reuters)

#Libya

Supreme Court refuses to take reporter’s case on revealing confidential source
▻http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-refuses-to-take-reporters-case-on-revealing-confidential-source/2014/06/02/d704de58-ea54-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to intervene on behalf of a New York Times reporter and author who has been subpoenaed to reveal a confidential source.

The court without comment turned down requests from reporter James Risen and a host of media groups to overturn a lower court order and find that reporters are protected by the Constitution from testifying about their sources.

In a 2006 book, “State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration,” Risen detailed classified information about the CIA’s efforts to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. Prosecutors want Risen to testify in its prosecution of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA analyst.

« Bush’s Fourth Term Continues » : #Guantanamo, #Torture, Secret Renditions ; Indefinite Detention
▻http://truth-out.org/news/item/24030-bushs-fourth-term-continues-guantanamo-torture-secret-renditions-in

In a Truthdig column condemning the Supreme Court’s dismissal, Hedges wrote that the decision “means the nation has entered a post-constitutional era. It means that extraordinary rendition of US citizens on US soil by our government is legal. It means that the courts, like the legislative and executive branches of government, exclusively serve corporate power - one of the core definitions of fascism. It means that the internal mechanisms of state are so corrupted and subservient to corporate power that there is no hope of reform or protection for citizens under our most basic constitutional rights.”

#Etats-Unis #leadership #exceptionnalisme