|
|
|
|
230 entries in 'Attorney News' |
2024/07/14
Boston lawyer once named ‘most eligible bachelor’ is sentenced to 5-10 years
2024/04/19
Judge in Trump case orders media not to report where potential jurors work
2024/04/15
Supreme Court rejects appeal from Black Lives Matter activist
2024/01/12
The top UN court is set to hear South Africa’s allegation of Israeli genocide in Gaza
2023/11/20
Russian authorities ask the Court to declare the LGBTQ ‘movement’ extremist
2023/10/30
Court strikes down new law giving participants right to change venue
2023/08/03
Grieving families confront Pittsburgh shooter at death penalty sentencing
2023/07/10
Judge dismisses lawsuit seeking reparations for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
2023/06/09
Assange loses latest bid to stop extradition to the U.S. on spying charges
2023/02/24
Maryland mulls ending child sexual abuse lawsuit time limits
2023/02/03
Federal appeals court strikes down domestic violence gun law
2022/12/27
Military police enforce driving ban in snow-stricken Buffalo
2022/12/24
North Dakota woman who brought raccoon to bar gets probation
2022/12/06
Former Nazi camp secretary voices regret, seeks acquittal
2022/10/24
Idaho Supreme Court won’t weigh legality of child marriage
2022/10/11
Fishermen hire Bush-era official in challenge to whale laws
2022/07/13
Court reinstates ban on lobster gear to protect right whales
2022/05/12
Abortion rights protesters rally in cities around US
2022/02/28
Man convicted of fraudulently seeking $13M in COVID-19 loans
2021/07/24
40-year sentence upheld for man who killed his roommate
2021/07/22
Bankruptcy proceedings can have long-term benefits
2021/07/19
New York Dental Malpractice Claims
2021/06/16
British lawyer Karim Khan sworn in as ICC’s chief prosecutor
2020/10/19
Michigan court blocks 2-week absentee ballot extension
2020/07/23
German court convicts former concentration camp guard, 93
2020/06/08
Black Lives Matter rallies start in Australia amid court ban
2020/04/12
Court drops rape, other charges against megachurch leader
2020/03/07
Supreme Court divided in 1st big abortion case of Trump era
2020/03/01
A clinic prepares for Supreme Court abortion fight
2019/05/01
Challenge to Georgia election system faces first court test
2019/04/09
Media lawyers in Australian court over Cardinal gag order
2019/02/25
Court upholds car rental tax imposed in Maricopa County
2019/02/12
Spain's courts put to test by trial of Catalan separatists
2019/01/04
WVa AG's help sought in Supreme Court impeachment appeal
2018/12/03
High court seems to lean against West Virginia in tax case
2018/11/17
Supreme Court: Judges can be Facebook friends with attorneys
2018/11/10
Court fight likely in 10-year-old girl’s homicide case
2018/10/29
Bomb suspect set for Florida court appearance
2018/10/21
EU court orders Poland to reinstate Supreme Court judges
2018/10/03
UN court orders US to lift some Iran sanctions
2018/09/15
States urge Supreme Court to hear Kennedy cousin case
2018/09/13
Chicago, surfer group oppose US Steel settlement in court
2018/09/08
Audit: West Virginia Supreme Court skirted pay law
2018/09/04
Rancorous, partisan start for Kavanaugh high court hearing
2018/09/03
Chaos marks start of Kavanaugh confirmation hearing
2018/08/25
Attorney Website Design. Simple.
2018/08/20
Man admits slaying wife, blames her for daughters' deaths
2018/08/15
Court: Dismissal of cop's Black Lives Matter lawsuit is just
2018/08/12
Court, regulators clash over uranium project in South Dakota
2018/08/11
N Carolina Supreme Court race lawsuit returning to court
2018/08/04
Oklahoma lawsuit against opioid makers back in state court
2018/07/11
Supreme Court enjoys relatively high public confidence
2018/07/02
Court: S.Korea must allow alternative for military objectors
2018/06/15
Gamers in court for first time after Kansas 'swatting' death
2018/06/14
USCIS Redesigns Citizenship and Naturalization Certificates
2018/05/11
Dutch court says time ripe for law to recognize 3rd gender
2018/04/18
Court: Sotomayor shoulder injury worse than first thought
2018/03/29
Supreme Court hears case alleging unconstitutional 6th District gerrymander
2018/02/08
Court: Idaho nuclear waste documents won't be made public
2018/02/03
UN court lays down Costa Rica, Nicaragua maritime borders
2017/12/03
Supreme Court won't hear dispute involving NC TV network
2017/11/26
Supreme Court rejects case over Mississippi Confederate emblem
2017/11/23
Court: Stress no grounds for rescinding guilty pleas
2017/11/23
Court: Colorado county wrongly OK’d asphalt plant near homes
2017/11/18
Steve Mostyn, Houston attorney and major Dem donor, dies
2017/11/13
Court gives go-ahead for minimum alcohol price in Scotland
2017/10/22
Washington Supreme Court to hear education funding case
2017/10/21
Tennessee church shooting suspect due in court Monday
2017/10/08
Man who killed NFL star's son taking case to high court
2017/10/04
Supreme Court declines Michigan emergency manager law case
2017/10/01
Spooked businesses shift headquarters out of Catalonia
2017/09/19
Court: State, Not Counties Accountable for Poor School Funds
2017/09/17
3 bank customers in Germany fined for ignoring collapsed man
2017/08/30
S. Korean court says worker's rare disease linked to Samsung
2017/08/27
Supreme Court justice blocks ruling on redrawing Texas districts
2017/08/15
German court sends ECB challenge to European court
2017/08/12
A Supreme Court pharma case deals consumers a big loss
2017/06/27
Supreme Court term ended much different than it began
2017/06/09
Court: Neighbors can sue pot grower for stinky smells
2017/06/03
Court filing questions innocence panel insistence on secrecy
2017/05/31
Doctor arrested at Trump hotel on gun charges due in court
2017/05/28
Mom sentenced in Australian court for drowning 3 children
2017/05/21
8 judges on Venezuela's Supreme Court hit with US sanctions
2017/05/10
New Mexico Supreme Court won't restore funds to Legislature
2017/05/09
Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya guilty of disobeying top court
2017/03/02
Ohio court considers privacy rights in backpack search
2017/02/12
Court: Police executing 'no-knock' warrant before shooting
2017/02/11
Supreme Court nominee has defended free speech, religion
2017/02/09
Kenya court blocks closing of world's biggest refugee camp
2017/01/10
Supreme Court temporarily blocks new NC districts, elections
2016/12/17
Dems to use hearings on Trump picks to court working class
2016/12/03
Ohio sheriff accused of drug theft changing not guilty plea
2016/11/19
Philippine court urged to order Marcos' remains exhumed
2016/10/21
Grassley: GOP can't stonewall a Clinton Supreme Court pick
2016/09/24
Court cites racial profiling in tossing gun charge
2016/08/22
Court considers Kansas rule that voters prove citizenship
2016/08/11
Appeals court rejects request to postpone voter ID decision
2016/06/12
Court Vacates $1.8M Ventura Award in 'American Sniper' Case
2016/05/21
Maryland high court issues opinion in Gray case
2016/05/02
Court in Russia-annexed Crimea bans Tatar assembly
2016/04/15
Despite court ruling, China gay rights movement makes gains
2016/04/14
Cosby asks court to reseal testimony about affairs, drugs
2016/02/25
Texas court tosses criminal case against former Gov. Perry
2016/01/16
Ohio's top court declines to change rules on plea deals
2016/01/15
Rome court acquits ex-Vatican accountant of corruption
2015/11/30
High Court rules against Northern Ireland's abortion law
2015/11/14
Ruling gives Sandusky back $4,900-a-month Penn State pension
2015/11/13
Lufthansa cancels 930 flights Wednesday due to strike
2015/11/07
Mississippi Supreme Court narrowly grants same-sex divorce
2015/11/01
Chinese woman pleads guilty in college test-taking scheme
2015/08/16
Court fines Washington state over education funding
2015/06/16
Texas turns away from criminal truancy courts for students
2015/06/12
Egypt court sentences 11 to death over 2012 soccer riot
2015/06/01
Suge Knight returns to court to try to dismiss murder case
2015/04/15
Man kills his lawyer, judge, co-defendant in Milan court
2015/04/07
Supreme Court rejects North Carolina appeal on election law
2015/03/12
Missouri appeals judge appointed to take over Ferguson court
2015/02/16
Court nixes faith-based birth control mandate challenge
2015/02/16
NC Supreme Court considers status of private school vouchers
2015/01/30
Supreme Court refuses to halt execution of Ga. man
2015/01/30
Appeals court weighs suit in US Marshals shooting
2015/01/20
Contractor, Navy captain plead guilty in bribery scheme
2015/01/05
Argentine court says US fugitive can be extradited
2014/12/08
Houston Personal Injury Lawyers
2014/12/05
NY court: Chimps don't have same rights as humans
2014/12/05
Former Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor
2014/12/02
North Carolina Worker's Compensation & Social Security Disability
2014/11/25
Divorce Litigation and Child Custody & Visitation in Northern Virginia
2014/11/17
Intellectual Property Matters and Trademark Attorney
2014/11/07
Palm Beach Construction Law
2014/11/04
Southern California Personal Injury Lawyers
2014/11/04
Court rejects appeal over Senate filibuster rules
2014/10/30
Appeals court in Va. reviewing NC abortion law
2014/10/30
Personal Injury Lawyers Practicing Throughout Texas
2014/10/28
Trademark, Patent & Intellectual Property Rights
2014/10/20
Texas abortion clinics reopen after court reprieve
2014/10/03
San Francisco Intellectual Property Lawyer
2014/09/23
Court reverses woman's conviction in child's death
2014/09/23
San Jose Intellectual Property Lawyer - The Onu Law Firm
2014/08/28
Massachusetts Eviction Attorney – Law Office of Alan Segal
2014/08/19
Ala court upholds generic drug decision
2014/08/06
Court schedules night deer hunting arguments
2014/07/29
Brown appoints legal affairs aide to appeals court
2014/07/11
Drummond Firm - Las Vegas Accident & Injury Attorneys
2014/07/08
MJM Law Office, P.C. - Eugene, Oregon DUII and Criminal Defense Services
2014/06/17
Davis Law Group, PLLC - Detroit Area DUI/DWI Attorney
2014/06/13
Law Offices of Robert W. Jackson - Cardiff & Fallbrook Personal Injury Lawyers
2014/06/10
DiRusso & DiRusso - Surry County Worker's Compensation Lawyers
2014/06/06
Levin & Curlett, LLC - Baltimore Criminal Defense Lawyer Services
2014/06/03
The Salazar Law Firm - Houston Car Accident Lawyers Services
2014/05/30
Tenecia P. Reid - Manassas Divorce Lawyer Services
2014/05/29
McKennon Law Group - Los Angeles Insurance Attorney
2014/05/27
W. Bradley Ney - Washington, DC Business Litigation Lawyer Services
2014/05/20
Rita White - Canton Criminal Lawyer Services
2014/05/16
Fred Meissner - Phoenix, Arizona Tax Lawyer Services
2014/05/13
MJM Law Office, P.C. - Eugene DUI and Criminal Defense Lawyer
2014/05/05
Jackson Trial Lawyers - Cardiff Personal Injury Lawyer
2014/05/02
The Salazar Law Firm, PLLC - Houston Car Accident Lawyers
2014/04/30
W. Bradley Ney - Washington, DC Business Litigation Lawyer
2014/04/25
Fred Meissner - Tax Lawyer in Phoenix, Arizona
2014/04/25
Law Office of Rita O. White - Canton Criminal & DUI Lawyers
2014/04/12
Salvatore Scanio – Ludwig & Robinson PLLC.
2014/04/01
DiRusso & DiRusso, Attorneys At Law.
2014/04/01
The Davis Law Group, PLLC
2014/03/28
Levin & Curlett LLC
2014/03/28
The Law Offices of Place and Hanley, LLC
2014/03/24
AB & Co IP Services - Sierra Leone Intellectual Property Lawyers
2014/03/21
McKENNON LAW GROUP PC.
2014/03/21
The Law Offices of Tenecia P. Reid, PLLC
2014/02/28
High court climate case looks at EPA's power
2014/02/18
Jacksonville man guilty of lesser counts in music shooting
2014/02/13
CA Supreme Court justice to retire
2013/12/20
Court: LAPD can continue eased auto impound policy
2013/12/02
Appeals court to take up San Francisco jail suit
2013/11/18
Russian court: Greenpeace activist to stay in jail
2013/11/04
Court-martial date set in Naval Academy case
2013/10/25
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Attorneys
2013/10/25
Josef Cowan | Civil Litigation Construction Law Firm Los Angeles
2013/09/23
The Law Offices of Craig Hubble - Carson Employment Law
2013/07/18
Court: Legal status can't be used in civil cases
2013/06/25
San Diego, California - Personal Injury Law
2013/06/25
The Law Offices of David Stein - Maryland Gun Lawyer
2013/06/25
San Antonio, Texas - Texas Probate Overview
2012/10/19
Lawyer: Bahrain court postpones activist's appeal
2012/10/12
2 King Co. candidates vying for Attorney General
2012/09/22
High court won't stop Texas voting map
2012/02/08
Corvallis Criminal Defense Attorneys - Arnold Law Office, LLC
2012/02/01
Securities Litigation Attorney - Robert L. Herskovits
2012/01/22
Herskovits PLLC - New York Securities Litigation Law
2011/12/20
Gingrich assails judges as he courts conservatives
2011/11/26
Exclusive Interview with Author Jeff Madrick "The Age of Greed"
2011/09/23
9th Circuit appeals court Judge Pamela Rymer dies
2011/09/20
Noted NJ attorney Michael Cole dies at 67
2011/09/09
W.Va. lawyer nominated to federal appeals court
2011/09/05
Brockport man guilty of shooting deputy in leg
2011/08/04
NYC lawyer pleads guilty to tax charge
2011/07/28
Jeffco Commission chooses to hire California law firm
2011/06/02
Bauer leaving, Ruemmler in as White House counsel
2011/05/18
Holland & Hart adds 29 attorneys in Salt Lake City
2011/05/05
Welcome Indiana Trial Lawyers Association Members
2011/02/11
Former Ga. Labor Commissioner Joins Law Firm
2011/01/31
At least 135 attorneys keep law license after convictions
2011/01/19
Attorney - Nathaniel D. Johnson
2011/01/18
Former Wisconsin governor takes job with law firm
2011/01/12
Former Attorney General Cox will join Dykema Gossett
2011/01/04
Artur Davis joins international law firm
2010/12/30
Daniels appoints new judges in 2 Indiana counties
2010/08/02
PAUL M. SMITH TO RECEIVE 2010 THURGOOD MARSHALL AWARD
2010/04/16
SHEPPARD MULLIN RE-ELECTS CHAIRMAN GUY HALGREN
2010/03/09
Arent Fox names Mark M. Katz new chairman
2010/02/25
Keith Halleland departs Halleland Lewis law firm
2010/01/28
Top Cravath litigator Joffe dead at 66
2009/10/19
Los Angeles DUI Defense
2009/07/27
Former Staff Attorney's Discrimination Suit Against Covington Back On Track
2009/01/13
Shuman Law Firm Investigates Advanced Med Optics
2008/12/02
Ages of Supreme Court justices and recent retirees
2008/09/26
Court Worker Says Judge Groped Her
2008/06/23
1st black La. Supreme Court justice dies at 84
2008/06/12
Trial Suspended Over Judge's Dirty Web Site
2008/04/07
Attorney: SC Firm, Railroad to Settle
2008/03/31
Former Latham Partner Pleads Guilty
2008/03/31
23 Districts Improperly Report Attorneys
2008/03/28
Herbies Promotes Record Number of Partners
2008/03/27
Diana Sen Selected as Regional Finalist
2008/03/26
Sidley Austin Expands with Addition of Six
2008/03/05
Former Judge Z. Mae Jimison dies
2008/03/04
Former Court justice Baldwin joins Pittsburgh law firm
2008/03/03
Logan lawyer appointed to 1st District Court
2008/03/01
FCC General Counsel Feder Leaves for Law Firm
2008/02/05
Helped law firm go global
|
|
|
|
Boston lawyer once named ‘most eligible bachelor’ is sentenced to 5-10 years
Attorney News |
2024/07/14 15:50
|
A former Boston lawyer and prosecutor who was once named one of People magazine’s most eligible bachelors was sentenced Monday to between five and 10 years in state prison for rape.
Gary Zerola, 52, was found guilty last month after a jury deliberated for five hours and has been incarcerated since then. He was acquitted of a greater charge of aggravated rape and burglary.
Prosecutors said that Zerola, in January 2021, paid more than $2,000 for a night of drinking with a woman he was dating and her 21-year-old friend who’d just graduated from college. The friend became intoxicated and had to be helped back to her Beacon Hill apartment. Zerola later entered the apartment without permission and sexually assaulted the woman around 2 a.m. while she was sleeping, prosecutors said.
In a victim impact statement that was read in court, the woman said she’d tried desperately to not allow the incident to affect her, or to give Zerola any power over the rest of her life. But she said that participating in the trial had brought up “the significant and insidious effect this event has had on my life.”
“For months after the incident, I experienced nightly recurring nightmares reliving the assault. Even today, I still have nightmares of someone breaking into my apartment and trying to assault me,” the woman wrote. The Associated Press does not generally name victims of sexual assault.
“These cases are always difficult, and this victim deserves enormous credit for taking the stand and telling the jury what happened to her that night,” Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement after the verdict.
Zerola’s attorney Joseph Krowski Jr. said Monday that his client is appealing the conviction. He said the sentence wasn’t what they wanted, but was within or close to the recommended guideline range for somebody without a previous criminal record. He pointed out that Zerola had been acquitted on two of the three original charges.
Krowski Jr. said his client was doing “as well as could be expected under the circumstances” and was going to put his time to good use and come out of the experience for the better.
Zerola had previously been accused of other sexual assaults but wasn’t convicted in those cases. He had faced two rape charges in Suffolk County and was acquitted in 2023, according to the district’s attorney’s office. He also was charged in three sexual assault cases between 2006 and 2007, but was not convicted.
Zerola worked as an assistant district attorney in Essex County for one year, and in Suffolk County for two months in 2000, according to former District Attorney Rachael Rollins’ office. He was arrested in January 2021. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Judge in Trump case orders media not to report where potential jurors work
Attorney News |
2024/04/19 14:25
|
The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money trial ordered the media on Thursday not to report on where potential jurors have worked and to be careful about revealing information about those who will sit in judgment of the former president.
Judge Juan Merchan acted after one juror was dismissed when she expressed concerns about participating in the trial after details about her became publicly known.
The names of the jurors are supposed to be a secret, but the dismissed juror told Merchan she had friends, colleagues and family members contacting her to ask whether she was on the case. “I don’t believe at this point I can be fair and unbiased and let the outside influences not affect my decision-making in the courtroom,” she said.
Merchan then directed journalists present in the courthouse not to report it when potential jurors told the court their specific workplaces, past or present. That put journalists in the difficult position of not reporting something they heard in open court.
Some media organizations were considering whether to protest having that onus placed on them. Generally, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution bars judges from ordering journalists not to disclose what they hear and see in courtrooms open to the public, though there are exceptions, such as when military security is at stake.
New York criminal defense lawyer Ron Kuby said that while judges typically can’t control what the media reports, other options are available to protect juror anonymity, including restricting what reporters see and hear in the courtroom.
“There are actions the judge could take,” he said. “Courts have extraordinary powers to protect jurors from tampering and intimidation. It is really where a court’s power is at its peak.”
The court action underscored the difficulty of trying to maintain anonymity for jurors in a case that has sparked wide interest and heated opinions, while lawyers need to sift through as much information as possible in a public courtroom to determine who to choose.
Despite the setback, 12 jurors were seated by the end of Thursday for the historic trial. Trump is charged with falsifying his company’s business records to cover up an effort during the 2016 presidential election campaign to squash negative publicity about alleged marital infidelity. Part of the case involves a $130,000 payment made to porn actor Stormy Daniels to prevent her from making public her claims of a sexual meeting with Trump years earlier. Trump has denied the encounter.
New York state law requires trial attorneys to get the names of jurors, but the judge has ordered the lawyers in Trump’s case not to disclose those names publicly. The jurors’ names haven’t been mentioned in court during three days of jury selection.
Still, enough personal information about the jurors was revealed in court that people might be able to identify them anyway.
Some news organizations described details including what Manhattan neighborhoods potential jurors lived in, what they did for a living, what academic degrees they had earned, how many children they had, what countries they grew up in and what their spouses did for a living.
On Fox News Channel Wednesday night, host Jesse Watters did a segment with a jury consultant, revealing details about people who had been seated on the jury and questioning whether some were “stealth liberals” who would be out to convict Trump. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Supreme Court rejects appeal from Black Lives Matter activist
Attorney News |
2024/04/15 11:16
|
The Supreme Court on Monday allowed a lawsuit to go forward against a Black Lives Matter activist who led a protest in Louisiana in which a police officer was injured. Civil rights groups and free speech advocates have warned that the suit threatens the right to protest.
The justices rejected an appeal from DeRay Mckesson in a case that stems from a 2016 protest over the police killing of a Black man in Baton Rouge.
At an earlier stage of the case, the high court noted that the issue was “fraught with implications for First Amendment rights.”
The justices did not explain their action Monday, but Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a brief opinion that said lower courts should not read too much into it.
The court’s “denial today expresses no view about the merits of Mckesson’s claim,’' Sotomayor wrote.
At the protest in Baton Rouge, the officer was hit by a “rock-like” object thrown by an unidentified protester, but he sued Mckesson in his role as the protest organizer.
A federal judge threw out the lawsuit in 2017, but a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the officer should be able to argue that Mckesson didn’t exercise reasonable care in leading protesters onto a highway, setting up a police confrontation in which the officer, identified in court papers only as John Doe, was injured.
In dissent, Judge Don Willett wrote, “He deserves justice. Unquestionably, Officer Doe can sue the rock-thrower. But I disagree that he can sue Mckesson as the protest leader.”
If allowed to stand, the decision to allow the suit to proceed would discourage people from protesting, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote, representing Mckesson.
“Given the prospect that some individual protest participant might engage in law-breaking, only the most intrepid citizens would exercise their rights if doing so risked personal liability for third-parties’ wrongdoing,” the ACLU told the court.
Lawyers for the officer had urged the court to turn away the appeal, noting that the protest illegally blocked the highway and that Mckesson did nothing to dissuade the violence that took place. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The top UN court is set to hear South Africa’s allegation of Israeli genocide in Gaza
Attorney News |
2024/01/12 13:18
|
A legal battle over whether Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza amounts to genocide opens Thursday at the United Nations’ top court with preliminary hearings into South Africa’s call for judges to order an immediate suspension of Israel’s military actions. Israel stringently denies the genocide allegation.
The case, that is likely to take years to resolve, strikes at the heart of Israel’s national identity as a Jewish state created in the aftermath of the Nazi genocide in the Holocaust. It also involves South Africa’s identity: Its ruling African National Congress party has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to “homelands” before ending in 1994.
Israel normally considers U.N. and international tribunals unfair and biased. But it is sending a strong legal team to the International Court of Justice to defend its military operation launched in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas.
“I think they have come because they want to be exonerated and think they can successfully resist the accusation of genocide,” said Juliette McIntyre, an expert on international law at the University of South Australia.
In a statement after the case was filed, the Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry urged the court to “immediately take action to protect the Palestinian people and call on Israel, the occupying power, to halt its onslaught against the Palestinian people, in order to ensure an objective legal resolution.”
Two days of preliminary hearings at the International Court of Justice begin with lawyers for South Africa explaining to judges why the country has accused Israel of “acts and omissions” that are “genocidal in character” in the Gaza war and has called for an immediate halt to Israel’s military actions.
Thursday’s opening hearing is focused on South Africa’s request for the court to impose binding interim orders including that Israel halt its military campaign. A decision will likely take weeks.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 23,200 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. About two-thirds of the dead are women and children, health officials say. The death toll does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
In the Oct. 7 attack, in which Hamas overwhelmed Israel’s defenses and stormed through several communities, Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mainly civilians. They abducted around 250 others, nearly half of whom have been released. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Russian authorities ask the Court to declare the LGBTQ ‘movement’ extremist
Attorney News |
2023/11/20 09:16
|
The Russian Justice Ministry on Friday said it has filed a lawsuit with the nation’s Supreme Court to outlaw the LGBTQ+ “international public movement” as extremist, the latest crippling blow against the already beleaguered LGBTQ+ community in the increasingly conservative country.
The ministry said in an online statement announcing the lawsuit that authorities have identified “signs and manifestations of extremist nature” in “the activities of the LGBT movement active” in Russia, including “incitement of social and religious discord.” Russia’s Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing to consider the lawsuit for Nov. 30, the ministry said.
It is not yet clear what exactly the label would entail for LGBTQ+ people in Russia if the Supreme Court sides with the Justice Ministry, and the ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the move in itself represents the latest, and possibly by far the most drastic, step in the decade-long crackdown on gay rights in Russia unleashed under President Vladimir Putin, who has put “traditional family values” at the cornerstone of his rule.
The crackdown, which began a decade ago, slowly but surely chipped away at LGBTQ+ rights. In 2013, the Kremlin adopted the first legislation restricting LGBTQ+ rights, known as the “gay propaganda” law, banning any non-critical public depiction of “nontraditional sexual relations” among minors. In 2020, Putin pushed through a constitutional reform to extend his rule by two more terms that also outlawed same-sex marriage.
In 2022, after sending troops into Ukraine, the Kremlin ramped up its rhetoric about protecting “traditional values” from what it called the West’s “degrading” influence, in what rights advocates saw as an attempt to legitimize the war in Ukraine. That same year, the authorities adopted a law banning propaganda of “nontraditional sexual relations” among adults, too, effectively outlawing any public endorsement of LGBTQ+ people.
Another law passed this year prohibited gender transitioning procedures and gender-affirming care for trans people. The legislation prohibited any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person,” as well as changing one’s gender in official documents and public records. It also amended Russia’s Family Code by listing gender change as a reason to annul a marriage and adding those “who had changed gender” to a list of people who can’t become foster or adoptive parents.
“Do we really want to have here, in our country, in Russia, ‘Parent No. 1, No. 2, No. 3’ instead of ‘mom’ and ‘dad?’” Putin said in September 2022 at a ceremony to formalize Moscow’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions. “Do we really want perversions that lead to degradation and extinction to be imposed in our schools from the primary grades?”
Authorities have rejected accusations of discrimination against LGBTQ+ people. Earlier this week, Russian media quoted Andrei Loginov, a deputy justice minister, as saying that “the rights of LGBT people in Russia are protected” legally. Loginov spoke in Geneva, while presenting a report on human rights in Russia to the U.N. Human Rights Council, and argued that “restraining public demonstration of non-traditional sexual relationships or preferences is not a form of censure for them.”
Putin, speaking at a culture-related event in St. Petersburg on Friday, called LGBTQ+ people “part of the society, too” and said they are entitled to winning various arts and culture awards. He did not comment on the Justice Ministry’s lawsuit. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Law Firm Web Design Information |
| Law Promo has worked with attorneys, lawyers and law firms all over the world in designing beautiful law firm websites that look great on all devices, from desktop computers to mobile phones. Law Promo can construct your law firm a brand new responsive law firm website, or help you redesign your existing site to secure your place in the mobile world. Solo Practice Law Firm Website Design |
|
|
Legal News RSS Feed
