Search Results for: hawaii

Most people in our societies identify as male or female, a man or a woman; but there have been people around the globe in different eras that have claimed other identities regarding their gender identity and have put this binary under challenge. Alternative genders across the globe demonstrate examples of cross-cultural gender diversity. In a [...]

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Monday granted a 30-day stay of a California judge’s ruling to overturn the state’s ban on assault weapons. The order comes just over two weeks after US District Judge Roger Benitez declared California’s 32-year-old Assault Weapons Control Act (AWCA) an unconstitutional [...]

The Photo That Haunts All of the United States In a recent JURIST post commemorating Memorial Day, May 31, 2021, one of us wrote about a photo that haunts us. Thanks to the kindness of Alessio Parisi, we are now able to share that photo with you. It is above in black and white and [...]

Critics of the D.C. Statehood Bill, which passed the House on April 22, rightly object that it cannot properly override the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution. The House Bill creates utterly unnecessary problems under the Amendment by proposing a greatly reduced “District”, encompassing the White House, the Capitol and Supreme Court buildings, and the National [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday upheld Hawaii’s firearm-licensing law, which restricts open-carry licenses to those who can demonstrate “the urgency or the need” to carry a firearm, that they are of good moral character, and are “engaged in the protection of life and property.” The appellant, George Young, applied for [...]

For many states, Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPSs) are a primary method of reducing energy-related emissions and promoting clean energy. RPSs are strengthened in several different ways, and the technology they aim to promote varies between states. The most effective method for achieving the goals of RPSs is directly increasing the clean-energy percentage goals they set [...]

Puerto Rican Governor Pedro Pierluisi said Sunday that the US is “morally obligated” to take action following the territory’s recent referendum in favor of achieving US statehood. Although Puerto Ricans have voted repeatedly on the issue of statehood in recent years, the November vote finally garnered majority approval with high enough voter turnout. Congress has [...]

On Thursday the US Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the temporary restraining order on President Trump’s proclamation banning entry to immigrants without health insurance needs to be lifted. In a 2-1 decision, the court said the initial proclamation was within the authority of the president. As such, the Ninth Circuit lifted [...]

As a rabbi who has not attended an indoor prayer service since March, I still would have been happy if the Supreme Court had held that draconian restrictions on indoor religious services are unconstitutional. However, what the Court’s liberal and conservative justices actually evaluated in Roman Catholic Diocese v. Cuomo was whether New York’s coronavirus [...]

In the days leading up to the 2020 presidential election, cries had already gone out to make Puerto Rico the 51st state. These calls were not simply a celebration of the non-binding referendum that Puerto Rico held on statehood on Election Day. They were, as well, a response to Democrats’ frustration with the balance of [...]