Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed a bill into law that requires written parental consent for all minors having abortions and makes it a third-degree felony to violate the law. The bill was passed in February of this year after the state legislature voted 75-43 along party lines. Republican legislators argued that parents need to [...]

The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled 6-1 that a provision in the state’s appropriations bill that deprived Planned Parenthood of millions of dollars for medical services reimbursements, is unconstitutional. The suit challenged House Bill 2011, which was the Department of Social Services appropriations bill for 2019. The law states that “No funds shall be [...]

Judge Mitchell Turner issued a temporary injunction Tuesday blocking enforcement of an Iowa law requiring a 24-hour waiting period for abortions. The injunction was granted while the court hears arguments in a suit challenging the law brought by Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Iowa. Turner wrote that “This court is [...]

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in Beijing on Tuesday passed a new national security law (English) dramatically restricting freedom and autonomy within the region. The law remained unpublished until only an hour before it went into effect on Wednesday, and several arrests under the new regulations have already been made. Generally, the [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin won a referendum vote on Thursday, allowing him to stay in office through 2036. Putin’s constitutional amendments garnered close to 78 percent of the votes. Approximately 65 percent of voters turned out. The constitutional amendments in the referendum already cleared the national parliament in Moscow and were ratified by regional legislatures [...]

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves on Tuesday signed a bill into law removing the Confederate battle emblem from the Mississippi state flag. The state legislature fast-tracked House Bill No. 1796 over the weekend and forwarded it to the Governor’s office on Monday. With his signature, Reeves established a new Commission for the “sole purpose of developing, [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet stated Tuesday that the Human Rights Council should consider new accountability measures in the Philippines’ “war on drugs.” Bachelet said that the laws created to counter national security threats and illegal drugs severely impacted human rights, resulting in killings, detentions and vilification. Between 2015 and 2019, more [...]

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Tuesday that two lawsuits against Harvey Weinstein for sexual misconduct had been settled for $18.9 million. The settlement would resolve the 2018 Office of the Attorney General’s lawsuit against The Weinstein Company (TWC), Harvey Weinstein and Robert Weinstein. According to the 2018 lawsuit, Harvey Weinstein allegedly created a [...]

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld a number of Republican-authored voting restrictions in Wisconsin on Monday, reversing several lower court decisions. Judge Easterbrook explained in the opinion, in which Judges Kanne and Sykes joined, that the district court incorrectly held that the laws produced a disparate impact on [...]

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) held its first virtual hearing on Tuesday, addressing a territorial dispute between Guyana and Venezuela. Guyana is arguing that the boundary between the nations was clarified by the Arbitral Award of 1899, whereas Venezuela called the award an “Anglo-Russian conspiracy.” In taking the case to the ICJ, Guyana seeks [...]