A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the US military can construct a base in Okinawa, Japan, despite environmental activists’ concerns over the base’s construction threatening the local dugong population. The activists filed suit under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). A panel of federal judges heard the case. The panel concluded that the base’s [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) dropped its charges Thursday against Michael Flynn, the former National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump, for falsifying statements to the FBI. The DOJ dropped the case after determining that Flynn’s statements were not “‘material’ to the underlying investigation.” Flynn made the statements during the FBI’s investigation of Russian [...]
The US Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously overturned the convictions of two former New Jersey politicians involved in the 2013 scheme to create a traffic-jam along the one of the nation’s busiest bridges, ultimately known as “Bridgegate.” Former Chief of Staff for Governor Chris Christie, Bridget Anne Kelly, and former Deputy Executive Director for the [...]
The US Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously vacated the Ninth Circuit’s decision in United States v. Sineneng-Smith, a case concerning a statute that criminalizes encouraging illegal immigration for financial gain. In 2010 a grand jury indicted Evelyn Sineneng-Smith for multiple violations of 8 USC § 1324. The law makes it a felony to “encourag or [...]
US President Donald Trump vetoed senate Joint Resolution 68, commonly known as the Iran War Powers resolution, on Wednesday. The resolution came in response to the assassination of Qassem Soleimani in early January. In a statement released by the White House, Trump called the resolution “insulting” and characterized it as a political attack by Congressional [...]
The US Department of Education issued final regulations on Wednesday impacting the ways in which schools covered under Title IX respond to incidents involving alleged sexual abuse and misconduct. The regulations significantly narrow the definition of sexual assault, require that all schools respond “promptly and supportively” to alleged victims of sexual harassment, and provide requirements [...]
The Supreme Court continued oral arguments by conference call on Wednesday, hearing both Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania and Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants Inc. The first case involves the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) birth control mandate, which requires employers to provide health insurance that includes [...]
The UN Network on Migration has released a guide suggesting states and relevant stakeholders “top new detentions of migrants for migration – or health-related reasons and introduce a moratorium on the use of immigration detention.” The Network released the 12-page guide as part of a series highlighting how the spread of COVID-19 affects migrants and [...]
The Second Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany ruled Tuesday that the European Central Bank’s (ECB) 2015 bond-buying program partially violates the German constitution. The court granted the ECB a three-month “transitional period” to prove the proportionality of its program before the Deutsche Bundesbank (central bank of Germany) may cease its participation. The [...]
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, along with attorneys from three of the state’s largest cities, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. claiming their misclassification of workers as independent contractors violates state law and places a burden on California taxpayers. The suit, filed by Becerra and city attorneys for San Francisco, [...]
