The US Supreme Court held on Wednesday that under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) an ambiguous contract could not compel parties to submit to class arbitration. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court reversed the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Writing the opinion for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts stated that “arbitration is strictly a [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Mozambique on Thursday to investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute local officials who extort money and sexual favors from those seeking aid. In March Cylcone Idai devastated villages in the Manica, Sofala, and Zambezia regions of Mozambique and left more than 1.85 million civilians in need of aid. Despite the UN’s response, [...]

Federal prosecutors brought conspiracy and obstruction charges against a Massachusetts District Court judge and a court officer on Thursday for allegedly helping a man to evade federal immigration officials. The indictment, filed by the Department of Justice in the US District Court of Massachusetts,  accused Judge Shelley M. R. Joseph of conspiring to obstruct justice under 18 [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Indiana on Thursday filed a lawsuit challenging Indiana’s new abortion restrictions, which were signed into law by Governor Eric Holcomb on Tuesday. House Enrolled Act 1211 (the Enrolled Act) bans the dilation and evacuation procedure (D&E), which is the abortion procedure used in the vast majority of second [...]

Giffords, a nonprofit started by former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, on Wednesday filed a complaint against Federal Election Commission (FEC) under 52 USC § 30109(a)(8)(A), seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to compel the FEC to act on Giffords’ four administrative complaints regarding the National Rifle Association (NRA). Over the past nine months, Giffords complained that NRA the [...]

Iran’s parliament approved a law Tuesday pronouncing the US Army’s Central Command (CENTCOM) a terrorist organization. The bill was passed in reaction to the US labeling Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organization earlier in April. That was the first time in US history that the US has recognized another country’s military as a [...]

The US Supreme Court heard the last two arguments of the October 2018 term on Wednesday.  First, in Quarles v. United States, the court must decide at which point the intent to commit a crime requirement must be present in a burglary case. The petitioner was convicted under a state burglary offense that included situations where the defendant [...]

A panel for the Brazil Superior Court of Justice on Tuesday unanimously ruled to reduce former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s 12-year prison sentence to approximately nine years In deciding to reduce his sentence, the panel ruled that his sentence was excessively increased. Lula was convicted of bribery with a construction company in exchange [...]

The US government on Tuesday charged Rochester Drug Co-Operative (RDC), one of the largest pharma distribution companies in the US, and its former CEO Laurence Doud III and former Chief of Compliance Officer William Pietruszewski with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances oxycodone and fentanyl for non-medical reasons, conspiracy to defraud the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), [...]

A court in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu ruled Monday that a marriage between a cisgender man and a transgender woman is valid. The Madurai-based bench of the Madras High Court held the term “bride,” as used in Section 5 of India’s Hindu Marriage Act, to be inclusive of transgender women. State registration authorities [...]