JURIST EXCLUSIVE – As a second wave of COVID-19 rages across India, with more than a million new infections officially reported in the past few days, JURIST staff correspondent Neelabh Bist files his first letter from Delhi reflecting on the profound constitutional challenge the surge of disease represents for India’s courts in their relationship to [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases on Monday: Yellen v. Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation and Sanchez v. Mayorkas. These cases will determine which Alaskan native groups are eligible to receive COVID-19 relief funds and will impact tens of thousands of immigrants living and working in the US under a [...]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Monday issued a rule supporting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) eviction moratorium, and requiring debt collectors to provide written notice to tenants of their rights under the eviction moratorium. The rule further prohibits debt collectors, including attorneys, from misrepresenting tenants’ eligibility for protection from eviction under [...]
Ten Democratic Senators have delivered a letter to US President Joe Biden urging him to support temporarily waiving intellectual property (IP) rights for COVID-19 vaccines. The letter, delivered Thursday, claims that granting the temporary patent waiver would allow for countries to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines locally and increase vaccination rates in poorer nations, as well as [...]
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the Department of Health Services (DHS) lacked authority to limit capacities for indoor public gatherings. DHS issued Emergency Order 3 in October in response to COVID-19, which “limited the size of indoor public gatherings either to 25 percent of a facility’s permitted capacity or, if no general [...]
UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged governments on Monday to impose a “solidarity or wealth tax” on the rich who made money during the COVID-19 pandemic in an effort to reduce inequality. “We must make sure funds go where they are needed most. Latest reports indicate that there has been a $5 trillion surge in the [...]
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock on Monday announced that the agency will allow abortion pills by mail during the COVID-19 pandemic—a departure from a Trump-era rule requiring patients to go in-person to a medical clinic or hospital. Woodcock’s communication came via a letter sent to two leading non-profit organizations representing [...]
The US Supreme Court on Friday granted a petition to put restrictions on in-home bible study and prayer meetings on hold. The plaintiffs sought an injunction last December against a California restriction on the allowable size for indoor gatherings. The restrictions were instituted last year to slow the spread of COVID-19. After a judge for [...]
The European Court of Human Rights issued judgment on Thursday that mandatory vaccinations of children under the Czech Republic’s health policy do not violate Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights. The policy, mandated by section 46 of the Public Health Protection Act, requires long-term residents to undergo routine vaccinations covered by public [...]
The Attorneys Generals (AGs) of Tennessee and Kentucky filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging part of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan. In their complaint, the AGs allege that an aspect of the plan that “prohibits any State acceding federal financial assistance under the Act from lowering the tax burden on its citizens for the next [...]
