Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urged the Italian government on Friday to amend their planned reforms to defamation legislation to comply with European and international law. This comes days after amendments to this proposed legislation were revealed to include a potential ban on working as a journalist as well as increased fines. RSF heavily criticized the [...]
Search Results for: constitutional amendment
Poland legislature votes on abortion rights issues, facing EU criticism for near-total abortion ban
After a contentious debate Thursday, the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish legislature, voted on four abortion–related proposals Friday and created an Extraordinary Committee to draft new abortion laws. Meanwhile, the EU Parliament voted to include the right to a safe and legal abortion in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, specifically condemning Poland’s [...]
Canada Supreme Court rules declaratory relief may be appropriate in First Nations treaty dispute
The Supreme Court of Canada found Friday that the government acted dishonestly when it reneged on an 1877 treaty with an Alberta indigenous community and allowed for declaratory relief. The case concerned the Blood Tribe, which is a member tribe of the Blackfoot Confederacy of First Nations. In 1877, the Crown and the Blackfoot Confederacy [...]
Arizona legislators showcase resistance to 1864 abortion ban
The Arizona House of Representatives erupted into chants of “shame” on Wednesday after Republican members voted to adjourn instead of discussing a bill that would repeal the state’s 1864 abortion ban. The state’s Supreme Court ruled this week that the Civil War-era law could go into effect, setting off a heated debate in the southwestern [...]
US federal judge blocks Florida ban on use of personal pronouns by teachers
US District Judge Mark Walker blocked the enforcement of a Florida law Wednesday that would have banned a transgender public school teacher from introducing themselves to students with their personal pronouns. The law, which went into effect in 2023, bans public school employees or contractors from providing to students a “preferred personal title or pronouns [...]
Arizona Supreme Court determines abortion law from 1864 is enforceable
Arizona’s Supreme Court found on Tuesday that a 159-year-old law banning abortion is enforceable following the US Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn abortion rights case Roe v Wade, sending a 52-year-old case back to trial court. The case, Planned Parenthood v. Kristin Mayes/Hazelrigg, was initiated in 1971, two years before the US Supreme Court [...]
New York City to pay $17.5M settlement to Muslim arrestees forced to remove hijabs
New York City settled a class-action lawsuit on Thursday that was brought by two Muslim women against the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) policy for removing their head coverings for arrest photos. The women filed a motion on Friday with presiding Judge Analisa Torres of the US District Court for the Southern District of New [...]
Tennessee Senate passes bill requiring fetal development video in public schools
The Tennessee Senate passed a bill Thursday that would require public schools to show a fetal development video comparable to one produced by an anti-abortion group to its students. SB 2767 will require public schools’ family life curriculum to include a three-minute “high-quality, computer-generated animation or high-definition ultrasound” that shows the development of vital organs [...]
On Thursday, the Indiana Court of Appeals largely affirmed an injunction the trial court had placed on the state’s near-total abortion ban. The vote was unanimous. The Court of Appeals ruling will send the lawsuit back to the trial court to narrow the effect of the trial court injunction. The Court of Appeals stated that [...]
Advocacy groups file lawsuit to block Alabama law criminalizing absentee voting assistance
Several advocacy groups on Thursday sued Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, Alabama’s 42 District Attorneys, and Alabama Secretary of Stae Wes Allen to block the state’s recently enacted Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), which would directly target, restrict, and severely penalize certain engagement measures that would enable broader access to the right to vote. SB [...]