The Texas House of Representatives backed a bill Friday that would prohibit election officials from sending unsolicited mail-in ballot applications to voters. During the November 2020 general election, mail-in voting was very popular because of COVID-19. However, following the election, many states have considered imposing or have passed stricter restrictions, including Florida, Georgia and Iowa. On Thursday, Florida Governor Ron [...]
The Archdiocese of Wisconsin filed suit Friday against the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC), alleging that the department’s COVID-19 policy restricting ministers’ access to prisoners violates state law. To address COVID-19 concerns, the Wisconsin DOC adopted a policy temporarily suspending all visits. This blanket ban also prevents all volunteer religious ministers from visiting inmates. There [...]
The Supreme Court of India on Saturday formed a 12-member national task force to formulate a scientific, rational and equitable methodology for the allocation of medical oxygen to states and union territories. Since the beginning of the second wave of coronavirus infections in India the country has been facing an acute shortage of supply of [...]
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai Wednesday announced the Biden-Harris Administration’s “support for waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines.” These extraordinary times and circumstances of call for extraordinary measures. The US supports the waiver of IP protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help end the pandemic and we’ll actively participate in @WTO negotiations to make that [...]
A two-judge division bench of the Supreme Court of India on Thursday denied relief in a petition by the Election Commission of India seeking to restrict media coverage of open courts. The petition was made by the Election Commission on account of the oral remarks of the High Court of Madras that had compared the [...]
A federal judge struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) moratorium on evictions Wednesday, finding that the agency exceeded its authority under the Public Health Service Act in establishing the ban. In response, the Department of Justice filed a request for a temporary administrative stay on the order, which was granted Thursday morning. [...]
The Canadian government is being sued over its pandemic-era policy of turning back asylum seekers attempting to enter the country at official border crossings. The Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL) filed a legal challenge on Tuesday against the Federal government’s decision to restrict access through the Canada-US border, citing in a statement “the severe harm [...]
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed alarm Tuesday at overnight police violence against protesters in the Colombian city of Cali. This violence comes after more than a week of protests against tax reform which have allegedly resulted in 14 deaths across Colombia. The protests began on April 28 [...]
The Supreme Court of India on Monday issued an order asking the Central Government to review India’s current vaccination plan in the midst of the country’s second wave of infections. It stated that the present policy would infringe the right to public health, violating Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. The Court outlined several aspects [...]
The Indian Supreme Court on Sunday pronounced a set of directions for the central and state governments in light of the humanitarian crisis emerging from India’s second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The case, In Re: Distribution of Essential Supplies and Services during Pandemic, is a suo moto writ petition that was initiated last week [...]
