The Arkansas Supreme Court issued two opinions on Wednesday striking down a city ordinance that banned discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. Both decisions involved challenges to an ordinance, passed by the Fayetteville City Council and approved by the city in a referendum, to extend the protections of the federal Civil Rights Act and the Arkansas [...]
The Higher Administrative Court of the Rhineland-Palatinate ruled Wednesday that a church in Herxheim am Berg may continue to use a steeple bell dating back to the German Nationalist Socialist era. The bell featured a Nazi-era “swastika” along with the words, “Everything for the Fatherland – Adolf Hitler.” The bell hangs out of sight from most [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California on Wednesday filed a complaint against the Sacramento County Sheriff for blocking Black Lives Matter (BLM) leaders from his Facebook page. Tanya Faison and Sonia Lewis brought this complaint against Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, alleging violations of their freedom of speech rights under the First [...]
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Friday that the US will withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a nuclear arms control pact between the US and Russia established during the Cold War. The INF treaty “bans ground-launched missiles with a range between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.” Pompeo cited Russian noncompliance with the [...]
A Florida appeals court on Wednesday held that unregulated Bitcoin sales can be prosecuted. This decisions comes three years after a Miami-Dade circuit judge threw out the felony charges brought against Michell Espinoza, a web designer accused of selling $1,500 worth of bitcoins to undercover detectives. Circuit Judge Teresa Mary Pooler ruled that Espinoza could [...]
The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday that the Russian government must pay the Georgian government €10 million (USD $11.5 million) over the deportation of 1,500 Georgian nationals. The Georgian government accused Russia of implementing a “coordinated policy of arresting, detaining and expelling Georgian nationals” starting in the fall of 2006. Georgia stated that [...]
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Thursday that bankrupt oil and gas companies in Alberta must use funds to reclaim oil and gas well sites before paying debtors. The case, Orphan Well Association v. Grant Thornton Ltd, involved oil and gas company Redwater that went bankrupt in 2015. The trustee in the bankruptcy attempted [...]
Bipartisan US lawmakers introduced the Bicameral Congressional Trade Authority Act Wednesday to limit the president’s power to levy import tariffs under the guise of national security. The bill amends sections of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, specifically Section 232, which gives the president the ability to impose duties for national security concerns. In 2018 [...]
Lyft and Juno, two ride-sharing companies operating in New York City, have filed separate lawsuits against the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission to block a new rule proposed by the commission mandating a minimum wage per trip. The rule proposed by the commission creates a new minimum wage based on a per-trip formula. Drivers [...]
UN human rights expert Idriss Jazairy expressed concern Thursday over the impact on innocent Venezuelan citizens after the US imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s national oil company. The US imposed sanctions earlier in the week in an attempt to oust President Nicolás Maduro for Juan Guaidó, the leader of Venezuela’s National Assembly. By stopping the export [...]
