Following a four-day trial, a US federal judge ruled on Friday that North Dakota’s 2021 legislative redistricting plan violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) because it dilutes the voting power of Native American voters. The case is in the US District Court for the District of North Dakota. Chief Judge Peter D. Welte [...]
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US Supreme Court releases orders after September 'long conference'
The US Supreme Court released orders Friday and Monday after its September “long conference.” The court granted certiorari for 12 cases Friday and two cases Monday for its Winter term, to be argued in January or February. All cases listed in Friday’s order were granted certiorari. The accepted cases include: Moody v. Netchoice; Netchoice v. [...]
Ohio dispatch: voters reject proposed constitutional amendment limiting direct democracy
JP Leskovich went to high school in Ohio and returned to the state in the run-up to Tuesday’s vote. He is a 2L at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and JURIST’s US Bureau Chief. Ohio voters on Tuesday strongly rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have limited direct democracy in the [...]
A UN report published this month found that racism from health care providers is likely contributing to higher rates of pregnancy-related deaths among people of African descent in North and South America. The analysis, led by the UN Population Fund (UNPF), made three key findings: 1. Afrodescendent women and girls in the Americas are disadvantaged [...]
Biden signs executive order designed to protect access to contraception
US President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday designed to strengthen and protect access to contraception. Biden signed the order nearly one year after the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the landmark reproductive rights case Roe v. Wade. Since then, some states in the [...]
Former North Dakota women's health clinic files amended complaint challenging statewide abortion ban
The Center for Reproductive Rights, Gender Justice and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP announced Monday that they filed an amended complaint on behalf of women’s health clinic Red River Women’s Clinic, formerly based in North Dakota, challenging the state’s newly passed and signed abortion ban, SB 2150. Meetra Mehdizadeh, Staff Attorney at the Center for Reproductive [...]
Human Rights Campaign (HRC), an LGBTQ+ rights group, declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the US on Tuesday in a new report that highlights the steep increase in laws and harassment targeting the LGBTQ+ community. This is the first time HRC, founded in 1980, has taken such an action. HRC president Kelley [...]
ACLU challenges Nebraska restrictions on abortion and gender-affirming care
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of Planned Parenthood Tuesday challenging a Nebraska law that restricted abortion access and gender-affirming care for transgender youth. The complaint asserts that the law, LB574, violates the Nebraska constitution because it is not limited to one subject, and asks the court to block the [...]
US abortion bans hamper medical standards and put patients at risk, study reveals
Healthcare providers in states with abortion bans are unable to meet the standard of care, resulting in negative health outcomes for their patients, a new study reveals. The report was published by Care Post-Roe, a project aimed at studying the impacts of narrowing abortion rights across the United States. The study is organized by the [...]
Abortion bans in Nebraska and South Carolina Thursday failed to pass state legislatures. Legislative Bill 626, known as the Nebraska Heartbeat Act, would have banned doctors from performing abortions after detecting a fetal heartbeat, with exceptions for a medical energy, an ectopic pregnancy, sexual assault, or incest. A fetal heartbeat typically occurs during the fifth [...]