The US Supreme Court stayed the Montana District Court’s vacatur and injunction of pipeline permits on Monday, except as applied to the Keystone XL pipeline. The Supreme Court did not issue a full explanation of its decision. Previously, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied the Trump Administration’s request to stay [...]

Hong Kong released more details Monday on China’s new national security law, which, among other things, will enable authorities to prevent people under investigation from leaving Hong Kong. Under the legislation, secession and sedition will be punishable by imprisonment up to life. Foreign and Taiwan political organizations and agents will be required to provide information [...]

In a report released on Tuesday, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Agnes Callamard claimed the US drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani and nine others violated international law. Callamard called the killing of Soleimani by a US drone strike an “arbitrary killing” that violates the UN Charter. Additionally, Callamard addressed the [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on Monday that the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) must shut down pending a review of its environmental impact. This ruling comes after Judge James Boasberg ruled in March that the US Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). [...]

Applicants to the Illinois Bar filed a petition with the Supreme Court of Illinois on Monday seeking admission by diploma privilege instead of taking a bar exam. The state of Illinois has put forth several measures to mitigate the harmful effects of COVID-19. In addition, the Illinois State Bar association has begun administering continuing legal [...]

In a statement to the House of Commons on Monday, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab introduced new sanctions on 49 human rights abusers. The new global human rights regime provides accountability for individuals and organizations, unlike typical sanctions regimes, which target nations. It aims to protect individuals’ rights. Encompassing both “the right to life,” and [...]

The US Supreme Court unanimously upheld states’ “faithless elector” laws on Monday, which either penalize or remove presidential electors who do not vote for the candidate they pledged to support. The court decided both challenges to “faithless elector” laws on the same grounds. Currently, 32 states and the District of Columbia have “faithless elector” laws. [...]

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Student Exchange and Visitor Program (SEVP) announced Monday that foreign students will not be allowed to remain in the country if they take entirely online classes during the fall semester. Foreign students who are attending schools operating entirely online will not be allowed to remain in the US. [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that an exception allowing robocalls to cell phones for government-debt collection is an impermissible exception to the law restricting nearly all other robocalls. The court was asked to decide whether the law was a content-based speech restriction, and if so, whether the government-debt exception could be severed from the [...]

A Turkish court on Friday convicted four human rights activists on terrorism charges. Among those convicted was Taner Kilic, a former chair of Amnesty International, an organization that fights for human rights. The prosecution argued that the four activists were actually members or assistants of the Fethullah Gülen terrorist organization. However, concerns have arisen about [...]