A judge for the US District Court for the Central District of California ordered last week that the City and County of Los Angeles humanely relocate approximately 7,000 homeless individuals currently “camping near freeway overpasses, underpasses, and ramps.” Judge David Carter found that living near highways exposes people to “toxic fumes, ‘hazardous waste concentrations of [...]
Delegates to the first ever virtual World Health Assembly decided Tuesday to adopt a resolution co-sponsored by more than 130 countries to increase efforts to combat the COVID-19 outbreak and conduct a complete assessment of the global response to the pandemic. The resolution was adopted to increase efforts to combat the virus, including greater measures [...]
Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered shopping centers and markets to reopen after declaring that COVID–19 is “not a pandemic in Pakistan.” In the order, Chief Justice Galzar Ahmed warned against using all government resources to fight COVID–19 because doing so would be “highly detrimental to the people of Pakistan,” and would render the country [...]
El Salvador’s Supreme Court suspended President Nayib Bukele’s state-of-emergency decree on Monday, citing a violation of Article 2 of the Constitution. El Salvador’s attorney general filed suit challenging the emergency decree on Sunday, calling it unconstitutional without legislative approval. The decree sought to extend the nationwide lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bukele took [...]
The Oregon Supreme Court on Monday stayed Circuit Court Judge Matthew Shirtcliff’s order that granted a preliminary injunction against Governor Kate Brown’s stay-at-home orders. Brown has issued multiple stay-at-home orders since March 8 due to COVID-19. Brown’s orders have closed schools, non-essential businesses, and dine-in services at restaurants and bars. In response, various Oregon churches [...]
US President Donald Trump threatened Monday to permanently end US funding for the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO is an international organization responsible for monitoring public health concerns and coordinating governmental responses. The US contributes between $400 and $500 million annually to the WHO. In a public letter to the director of the WHO, [...]
With an expected increase in mail-in voting during the COVID-19 pandemic, voter rights advocates have filed lawsuits across the country challenging existing obstacles in states’ mail-in voting procedures. Challenges to mail-in voter restrictions have been filed in Tennessee, Texas, Minnesota, Georgia and North Carolina, among others. Some challenges primarily address the general restrictions states have [...]
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the House of Representatives passed the largest relief package in U.S. history on Friday. The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act authorizes more than $3 trillion in new spending, including aid to state, local, tribal and territorial governments, as well as additional $1200 payments directly to [...]
Seven prisoners in the Oregon state prison system sued Governor Kate Brown, the Department of Corrections and its directors, Wednesday out of fear that COVID-19 would spread among the prison. The suit asks the court to issue a temporary restraining order and preliminary restraining order that would require the Department of Corrections to reduce the [...]
The FBI served a search warrant Wednesday evening on North Carolina Senator Richard Burr in an investigation into his early 2020 stock sales. Reports indicate that Burr provided his cellphone to federal authorities. Officials are examining the communication between the North Carolina Senator and his stockbroker. The investigation stemmed from Burr’s stock sales earlier this [...]
