Hungary and Poland vetoed the EU budget and COVID-19 recovery package Monday in objection to a rule of law clause. The leaders of Hungary and Poland took issue with a provision that would tie the funds to respect for democratic norms. Another provision would allow a qualified majority of EU governments to impose sanctions on [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday urged the EU to press for human rights reforms in Central Asia during an upcoming meeting. Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU, was set to have a virtual meeting with foreign ministers of five Central Asian countries—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan—at the 16th EU-Central Asia Ministerial Meeting [...]
Supreme Court Justice Alito gave a speech at the Federalist Society’s annual National Lawyers Convention on Thursday in which he declared that “religious liberty is fast becoming a disfavored right.” The theme of the convention was the ways in which the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the rule of law, and Justice Alito said the pandemic [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Friday denied a motion to separate Pennsylvania mail-in ballots received after 8 PM on Election Day. The decision affirmed a ruling from the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the validity of more than 9,300 mail-in ballots. The court based its decision [...]
The Supreme Court of Kentucky ruled in favor of Governor Andy Beshear’s COVID-19 restrictions Thursday, reversing a lower court’s ruling for businesses that challenged the mandates. In late June, three business owners from northern Kentucky filed suit following Beshear’s state of emergency declaration in March. Following the statewide declaration, the state Cabinet for Health and [...]
The Paris prosecutor’s office on Tuesday announced plans to advance the criminal investigation against the public officials responsible for France’s response to COVID-19. Initiated in June, the inquiry now seeks to identify and prove the nature of the offenses committed. The decisions made by these public officials are now being scrutinized for their effect on [...]
Ten Republican attorneys general (AGs) filed a multi-state amicus brief Monday with the US Supreme Court in the Pennsylvania mail-in ballot challenge, Republican Party of Pennsylvania v. Boockvar. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court allowed mail-in ballots to be received up to three days after Election Day, even without postmarks. The AGs of Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, [...]
A Texas judge ruled Friday that El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego’s shutdown order was valid. The order, issued in response to rising COVID-19 cases, temporarily closes all non-essential businesses in the area. Directly after Samaniego issued the shutdown order over a week ago, a group of restaurant owners filed a lawsuit to have the [...]
The Wisconsin Court of Appeals on Friday blocked Governor Tony Evers’ third emergency order to limit public gatherings and business occupancy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The court blocked the order after a lower court declined to grant an injunction. The court reasoned that the emergency order was unenforceable in light of a recent Wisconsin Supreme [...]
In a 5-3 decision on Monday, the US Supreme Court rejected requests to allow Wisconsin to maintain modifications to its election rules to extend the deadline for counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day. There was no one opinion agreed upon by the five justices ruling against the election modifications. Chief Justice John Roberts and [...]
