The Supreme Court of Florida ruled on Thursday that a Facebook friendship between a trial judge and an attorney appearing before him or her is not sufficient grounds for the judge to be disqualified from presiding over the matter. The Florida Code of Judicial Conduct requires a judge to “avoid impropriety or the appearance of [...]
The US Justice Department has secretly filed criminal charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The charges were revealed on Thursday in an unrelated court document in which prosecutors mentioned the charges against Assange. The document was an unrelated request for a sealing of charges for sex crimes against someone named Seitu Sulaymen Kokayi. There are [...]
Mexico’s highest court ruled on Thursday that the country’s recently enacted military policing law was unconstitutional. Mexico passed the controversial Internal Security Law in December 2017, establishing a legal framework for employing the national army and navy in place of civilian police forces in order to combat increasing violence in the country. Legislators argued at [...]
A federal judge on Thursday ruled that US Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s case against a Russian firm accused of interfering with the 2016 presidential race can move forward. This ruling follows Concord Management and Consulting, LLC’s (Concord) indictment back in February. Concord was charged with conspiring to defraud the United States by funding an organization that entered [...]
Judge Timothy Kelly of the US District Court for the District of Columbia temporarily restored journalist Jim Acosta’s White House credentials on Friday. CNN filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against US President Donald Trump and others after the administration revoked Acosta’s credentials following an incident at a post-election press conference. Following a hearing on Wednesday, Kelly granted [...]
The Supreme Court of Kentucky on Thursday decided that the Medical Review Panel (MRP) Act violates the Kentucky Constitution. The MRP Act was enacted in 2017 by the Kentucky Legislature under Chapter 216C of the Kentucky Revised Statutes. The Act created three-person medical review panels to evaluate proposed malpractice complaints against healthcare providers. The panels [...]
The US Department of the Treasury on Thursday announced a set of economic sanctions against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in retaliation for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month. Khashoggi was a journalist who criticized the Royal House of Saud, allegedly prompting his assassination by Saudi agents in [...]
The Ohio House of Representatives approved a bill on Wednesday to eliminate a person’s duty to retreat before using force in self-defense. Currently, the Ohio Revised Code recognizes a duty to retreat unless a person is in his/her house or vehicle (an exception known as “the castle doctrine”). The new House bill would broaden this exception [...]
The European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that the repeated arrests of Russian lawyer and political activist Alexei Navalny were politically motivated and a violation of his rights. Navalny stated that he is happy with the outcome but expects Russia to ignore the ruling. Navalny is a political activist, anti-corruption advocate and blogger. The [...]
Rosmah Mansour, wife of ousted Malaysian prime Minister Najib Razak, was formally charged Wednesday, along with three others, on two counts of corruption at the Kuala Lampur Sessions Court. Early last month Mansour pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of corruption and money laundering. Her husband was charged with similar crimes in July. These charges [...]