Supreme Court - The African Mirror

Oct

2022

Nigeria appeals court decision to free separatist leader Kanu

THE Nigerian government has approached the Supreme Court to overturn a Court of Appeal ruling that freed separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu and dropped terrorism charges against him. Last week the appeal court ordered that Kanu be discharged, saying the government did not follow due process in his extradition to Nigeria from Kenya and that the federal court did not have jurisdiction to try the case. The government had been considering what steps to take after the appeal court ruling. On Friday, government lawyers said the state had appealed to the Supreme Court, saying the appeal court did not consider the…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

Senate confirms Jackson as first Black woman on U.S. Supreme Court

WORLD

LAWRENCE HURLEY, ANDREW CHUNG and RICHARD COWAN KETANJI Brown Jackson was confirmed by the Senate as the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court in a milestone for the United States and a victory for President Joe Biden, who made good on a campaign promise as he seeks to infuse the federal judiciary with a broader range of backgrounds. The vote to confirm the 51-year-old federal appellate judge to a lifetime job on the nation's top judicial body was 53-47, with three Republicans - Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney - joining Biden's fellow Democrats. A simple…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Zuma must pay at least R16-million in legal fees

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER FORMER South African president Jacob Zuma’s legal woes mounted after he failed in his attempt to overturn a high court ruling that stopped the state from paying for his legal fees for his corruption trial. Five judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) today dismissed Zuma’s appeal, he must now pay back an estimated R16-million in legal fees incurred by the state. Zuma went to the SCA after the Gauteng High Court found that there was no sound legal basis for the state to pay for his defence in the corruption trial where he faces over…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Uganda’s Wine drops election result challenge

NEWS

ELIAS BIRYABAREMA OPPOSITION leader Bobi Wine announced yesterday that he was dropping a legal challenge to Uganda's presidential election results that handed victory to incumbent Yoweri Museveni, saying Supreme Court justices hearing the case were biased. Museveni, a former guerrilla leader who has led the East African country since 1986, was declared winner of the Jan. 14 election with 59% of the vote, while Wine was given 35%. Wine, 39, a pop star and lawmaker whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has rejected the results and said he believed victory was stolen from him. He asked the court to overturn…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Biden wins – experts on what it means for race relations, US foreign policy and the Supreme Court

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE American public has had its say and for the first time in a generation denied a sitting president a second term. BRIAN J PURNELL, Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History, Bowdoin College MORGAN MARIETTA, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell NETA C. CRAWFORD, Professor of Political Science and Department Chair, Boston University President’s Trump’s tenure lasted just four years, but in that time he dragged policy on an array of key issues in a dramatic new direction. Joe Biden’s victory, confirmed by the Associated Press late morning on Nov. 7, presents an opportunity to reset…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

How RBG’s death could shift the Supreme Court – and American life – rightward

WORLD

LAWRENCE HURLEY THE death of liberal U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has huge implications for the future of law and life in the United States, giving Republican President Donald Trump the chance to cement a 6-3 conservative majority on the court. Here are several ways in which a rightward tilt would be felt if Trump gets to pick Ginsburg's successor: ABORTION AND OTHER SOCIAL ISSUES Ever since the Supreme Court legalized abortion in its 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, conservative activists have sought to overturn the decision and always fallen just short. If Trump replaces Ginsburg with a…