In the United States and throughout the Global North, people generally take for granted that law means state courts and legal institutions. Sure, people may opt out of certain government regulations, for example, by signing an arbitration agreement, but state courts can still step in if deemed necessary. This may all seem intuitive but globally [...]

On October 12, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States heard a copyright case that could reshape the future of the nation’s copyright regime. Renowned photographer Lynn Goldsmith, who captured portraits of the rock star Prince that Andy Warhol later used to create the iconic Prince series, filed the suit. In 1984, Vanity Fair [...]

The Supreme Court of India recently delivered a judgment in Janhit Abhiyan v. Union of India upholding the Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019, creating a regime for income-based affirmative action in state-run educational institutions and state-sponsored employment programs. This explainer will illuminate the historical underpinnings of India’s affirmative action scheme and explain its legal evolution. [...]

The Honoring our PACT Act was signed into law by President Biden in August of 2022. This landmark legislation included the Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA), which will be consequential for the thousands of victims poisoned by contaminated water – up to 280 times higher than permitted levels – at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune [...]

Since the February 2021 coup d’état in Myanmar, human rights conditions have continued to deteriorate throughout the country. While the current ruling military dictatorship is guilty of causing and/or perpetuating many rights violations, some — such as restrictions on labor rights — had started even before the coup. In this explainer I will look at [...]

American basketball star Britney Griner was transferred to a Russian penal colony this week to serve out her nine-year sentence for possession of vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. The transfer — which comes nearly nine months after she was detained in a Moscow airport in the days leading up to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine [...]

Following months of protests over rapidly rising inflation rates and economic turmoil in Sri Lanka, the government has imposed a series of repressive measures against its people. Officials were banned from expressing their own concerns about Sri Lanka’s beleaguered economy via social media platforms. Certain neighborhoods were subject to heightened security requirements which included an [...]

As the US Supreme Court considers oral arguments in the cases of Students for Fair Admission vs. Harvard College and the University of North Carolina, JURIST’s latest explainer offers a breakdown of the parties, the legal issues, and the factual allegations at play in the case. What are the cases about? A race-neutrality advocacy group [...]

On June 24, 2022, in the landmark Dobbs v. Jackson decision, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in a 5-4 decision, posing a risk to the reproductive rights of millions of American women. Though of course, the debate is limited in many ways to US constitutional laws and practices, it also draws on [...]

In late August, Pakistani publisher and human rights activist Faheem Baloch was detained by unidentified plain-clothes law enforcement officers in his Karachi bookshop and ushered away. A native of the Balochistan region of Pakistan, the publisher is known to be a dedicated cultural advocate, heading up a publishing house specializing in Balochi literature, and serving [...]