The US Army, per a department memorandum Wednesday, said it will begin to immediately discharge soldiers who refuse to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. This move follows similar discharge orders for vaccine refusers among the Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. Approximately 3,300 active-duty service members are eligible for removal if they fail to [...]
ACLU filed a lawsuit Monday requesting access to COVID-19 booster shots for seven individuals (“the plaintiffs”) detained by immigration authorities. The lawsuit is aimed at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). According to the Complaint, the seven plaintiffs have been denied the booster shot, despite multiple requests. The plaintiffs [...]
Ian Profiri is JURIST’s Staff Correspondent for Canada. He files this dispatch from Calgary. Today marks the second official day of the “Freedom Convoy” protests in Ottawa. The protestors, initially self-identifying as long-haul truckers opposed to vaccine-related cross-border mandates imposed by Parliament, now appear to have devolved into a cacophony of individuals making complaints about [...]
JURIST is launching a new series of dispatches from major US states written by JURIST correspondents “on the ground” in those jurisdictions. JURIST Operations Director Ram Eachambadi files this report from Los Angeles. Earlier this month, Los Angeles County filed a petition in California Superior Court to hold Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva in [...]
The White House and the Justice Department announced Friday that 99 law schools across 35 states and Puerto Rico answered the attorney general’s call for action to help communities during the housing and eviction crisis. In August 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a letter to the legal community calling for help. He noted that [...]
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Tuesday ruled that plaintiffs in The Arc of Iowa v. Kimberly Reynolds are entitled to a preliminary injunction. Under the terms of the injunction, Iowa’s ban on school mask mandates must include an exception for schools with disabled students who are at elevated risk due [...]
New York Attorney General Letitia James Tuesday pushed back against opposition to the New York Department of Health’s (DOH) mask mandate. Robert J. Miller, New York Supreme Court Appellate Judge, stayed a January 24, 2022, ruling by fellow appellate judge Thomas Rademarker which voided 10 NYCRR § §2.60; 2.60(a). Commissioner of Health for the State of [...]
The US Supreme Court Monday rejected a challenge by Republicans to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s proxy voting rules introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The rules allow a member of the House to designate another member as a proxy. The proxy may cast the floor votes of members who are unable to physically attend [...]
The National Council of Austria Thursday passed a bill making Covid-19 vaccination mandatory for all adults in the country. If approved by the upper house and signed into law by the President, the bill will come into force on February 1, making Austria the first European country to introduce a vaccine mandate. The Austrian government first announced [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas Friday blocked the Biden administration’s federal employee vaccine requirement. US President Joe Biden signed an executive order in September requiring all federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. A lawsuit was filed in December. In blocking enforcement of the order Friday, Judge [...]
