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Mexico issues first permits for marijuana under court ruling
Court News |
2015/12/12 17:24
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The Mexican government on Friday granted the first permits allowing the cultivation and possession of marijuana for personal use.
The federal medical protection agency said the permits apply only to the four plaintiffs who won a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court last month. The court said growing and consuming marijuana is covered under the right of "free development of personality."
The permits issued Friday won't allow smoking marijuana in the presence of children or anyone who hasn't given consent. The permits also don't allow the sale or distribution of the drug. Ironically, the plaintiffs said that even with the permits in hand, they don't plan to smoke the marijuana permitted.
They said they filed the suit to make a point about prohibitionist policies being wrong, not to get their hands on legal weed. "The objective is to change the policy, not to promote consumption," said Juan Francisco Torres Landa, one of the four plaintiffs. "We are going to set the example; we are not going to consume it."
The court's ruling didn't mean a general legalization for Mexico. But if the court ruled the same way on five similar petitions, it would then establish the precedent to change the law and allow general recreational use.
The government medical protection agency, known as COFEPRIS, said it has received 155 applications to get such permits. But other applicants would have to go through the appeals process, something supporters say would probably take at least a year. |
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Supreme Court torn over Texas affirmative action program
Headline Legal News |
2015/12/10 17:27
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Torn as ever over race, the Supreme Court on Wednesday weighed whether it's time to end the use of race in college admissions nationwide or at least at the University of Texas.
With liberal and conservative justices starkly divided, the justice who almost certainly will dictate the outcome suggested that the court may need still more information to make a decision in a Texas case already on its second trip through the Supreme Court.
"We're just arguing the same case," Justice Anthony Kennedy said, recalling arguments first held in 2012 in the case of Abigail Fisher. "It's as if nothing has happened."
Kennedy said additional hearings may be needed to produce information that "we should know but we don't know" about how minority students are admitted and what classes they take to determine whether the use of race is necessary to increase diversity at the University of Texas.
Fisher has been out of college since 2012, but the justices' renewed interest in her case appeared to be a sign that the court's conservative majority is poised to cut back, or even end, affirmative action in higher education.
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Finland court jails Iraqi twins suspected of IS killing
Court Watch |
2015/12/10 17:25
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A Finnish court on Friday jailed 23-year-old twin brothers from Iraq for four months pending trial on suspicions they were Islamic State militants who fatally shot 11 unarmed soldiers in Iraq in June 2014.
Friday's custody hearing was held behind closed doors at the Pirkanmaa District Court in Tampere.
The two were arrested Tuesday at a refugee center in the town of Forssa, 120 kilometers (75 miles) northwest of capital of Helsinki. Finnish police say an IS video shows the men taking part in a massacre outside the Iraqi city of Tikrit.
The killing of the 11 Iraqi soldiers was part of atrocities committed by IS in the Camp Speicher military base outside Tikrit, where 1,700 Iraqi soldiers were captured and then killed by IS militants.
National Bureau of Investigation spokesman Jari Raty said the court case will start in April. If guilty, the brothers face up to life imprisonment, which in Finland means being released — although not automatically — after serving between 12 and 15 years.
It was not known what the men had pleaded because their defense lawyers were barred from commenting.
The men had arrived in Finland in September but it was unclear whether they were asylum-seekers — although Finnish media claimed they are. Some 17,000 Iraqis have sought asylum in Finland so far this year, by far the biggest national group to seek shelter in the country.
The tabloid Ilta-Sanomat quoted Omar Mohammed, an asylum-seeker from Baghdad at the Forssa refugee center, as saying the brothers had avoided talking to other refugees. |
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EU court dismisses Barcelona football trademark case
Opinions |
2015/12/09 17:28
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A European Union court has rejected an attempt by Spanish soccer giant Barcelona to have part of its club crest registered as a European trademark.
Known best for its passing game, Barcelona tried last year to have the outline of its badge registered for use on things like stationery, clothing and sports activities.
The attempt failed so the club went to court.
But the Luxembourg-based EU court dismissed the case on Thursday, saying that "none of the characteristics of the sign at issue contains any striking feature which is liable to attract the attention of consumers."
The court added: "In fact, the mark sought will rather tend to be perceived by consumers merely as a shape and will not enable them to distinguish the proprietor's goods or services."
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Kansas Court of Appeals mulls state protections for abortion
Legal Interview |
2015/12/08 17:29
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A lawsuit blocking Kansas’ first-in-the-nation ban on a common second-trimester method for terminating pregnancies forced an appeals court Wednesday to wrestle with whether the state constitution independently protects abortion rights.
Abortion opponents are watching the case before the full Kansas Court of Appeals closely. If the two doctors who’ve challenged the ban prevail, the state courts could find grounds to invalidate other state abortion laws — even if federal courts declare that the U.S. Constitution permits the restrictions.
During arguments from attorneys Wednesday, several judges expressed skepticism that broad language in the state constitution’s Bill of Rights about individual liberty can be interpreted as specifically protecting abortion rights. But several also questioned the state’s position that the language is only a statement of principles.
The state is appealing a Shawnee County judge’s ruling in July that blocked the law from being enforced while the doctors’ lawsuit is heard. The judge said the ban imposes an unconstitutional burden on women seeking abortions. He also said the state constitution protects abortion rights at least as much as the federal constitution — something higher courts haven’t previously declared.
“It’s important to have the Kansas courts recognize these rights under the Kansas Constitution,” said Janet Crepps, a senior attorney for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing the doctors. |
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Court papers: Witness ID'd man in playground shooting
Legal Business |
2015/12/03 06:10
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A witness's statement and photo identification led to the arrest of a man accused in a playground shootout that wounded 17 people, court papers show.
Joseph "Moe" Allen, 32, faces 17 counts of attempted murder in the Nov. 22 gunfight at Bunny Friend Playground after a neighborhood parade. He's being held in lieu of $1.7 million bond on those charges, and without bond on a Texas warrant accusing him of violating probation.
Defense attorney Kevin Boshea did not immediately return a call and email Monday. Allen's mother, Deborah Allen, told NOLA.com ' The Times-Picayune Sunday night that her son was in Texas the night of the gunfight. Calls to her home on Monday got repeated busy signals.
Police are still trying to identify other people involved in the shooting. Allen's arrest was based on a witness who gave the "name and nickname of one of the many shooters ... in this mass shooting," and then identified Allen in a "six-pack photographic lineup" at the local police station, New Orleans police Detective Chad Cockerham said in a sworn statement.
Allen "was observed walking into Bunny Friend Playground and firing a semi-automatic handgun into the crowd," Cockerham said.
Cockerham described hearing a "barrage of gunfire erupt" at Bunny Friend Playground as police headed there to break up an "unauthorized party."
"They were met with chaos and panic of citizens running in numerous directions across the park as well as throughout the surrounding streets," he wrote, adding that "tires ... were spinning and screeching."
For Allen, the Texas warrant was issued Nov. 25, based on the New Orleans allegations, since travel outside of Texas would violate Allen's parole, said Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
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US court rejects Virginia death row inmate's appeal
Headline Legal News |
2015/12/02 06:10
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A federal appeals court has rejected a Virginia death row inmate's appeal of his murder-for-hire conviction.
Ivan Teleguz was sentenced to death in 2006 for hiring a man to kill his former girlfriend, Stephanie Sipe, in Harrisonburg. After two key prosecution witnesses recanted, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2012 ordered a judge to conduct a hearing on Teleguz's innocence claim.
After one of those witnesses refused to testify and the other did not attend the hearing, U.S. District Judge James P. Jones determined that affidavits recanting their previous testimony were unreliable. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Monday that it found no reason to overrule Jones on that issue.
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Headline Legal News for You to Reach America's Best Legal Professionals. The latest legal news and information - Law Firm, Lawyer and Legal Professional news in the Media. |
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