The US House of Representatives approved a nonbinding resolution Thursday by a vote of 238-185 to block the Trump administration’s restrictions on transgender individuals serving in the military. The non-binding resolution seeks to block the Pentagon from implementing Trump’s policy to bar most transgender individuals from serving in the military. According to Congressman Joseph Kennedy [...]

US Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rand Paul (R-KY) and Representatives Justin Amash (R-MI) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced the Ending Mass Collection of Americans’ Phone Records Act on Thursday that would permanently prohibit the National Security Agency (NSA) from collecting phone records. Although Congress amended the PATRIOT Act in 2015, the NSA continued to collect phone records from American citizens. Some [...]

A federal judge on Thursday ruled that a public K-8 charter school in North Carolina’s dress code policy that requires girls to wear skirts and does not allow them to wear pants violates the Constitution. US District Judge Malcolm Howard ruled that the policy violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution because it subjects [...]

US Attorney General William Barr sent a letter Friday to Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R – SC) and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler (D – NY) with an update on the Mueller report. The letter acts to clarify the Attorney General’s summary letter released earlier this week. The new letter highlights that [...]

The European Commission criticized Romania on Friday for “backsliding on the rule of law.” Margaritis Schinas, Chief Spokesperson of the European Commission, expressed the Commission’s concern over Romania’s treatment of Laura Codruța Kövesi. Kövesi served as Romania’s chief prosecutor from 2013 to 2018 and is currently in the running to head the new European Public Prosecutor’s [...]

The Quebec government introduced legislation on Thursday that would ban public sector employees from wearing religious symbols while working. Religious clothing such as Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps, Catholic crosses and Sikh turbans would all be prohibited under the new legislation. Since its introduction, the bill has experienced much backlash and is accused of violating peoples [...]

Alaa Abdel Fattah, a leading Egyptian pro-democracy activist, was released from prison on Friday after serving a five-year sentence, according to his family and lawyer. Fattah was a leading voice among the uprising of young Egyptians in 2011, which ousted president Hosni Mubarak from power after a 30-year period of rule. A prominent blogger and [...]

The US Supreme Court on Thursday denied an application for stay of the order from a Michigan District Court refusing to block a ban on bump stocks. Bump stocks are used to turn semi-automatic weapons into machine guns by using the “gun’s recoil to bump its trigger.” The suit was brought by Gun Owners of [...]

US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced in a presidential memorandum that, “upon further reflection and review,” he is extending an additional 12-month “wind-down” period for Liberians living in the US. This policy change will affect about 4,000 Liberians who are Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) beneficiaries. Last year, Trump said that he would end the DED program [...]

LGBT group Equality Arizona on Thursday sued the Arizona government, alleging that the state’s HIV/AIDS instruction statute, ARS § 15-716(C), unconstitutionally discriminates against LGBTQ students and restricts their educational opportunities, violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The challenged statute prohibits HIV and AIDS instruction that “promotes a homosexual lifestyle.” Plaintiffs allege that the [...]