The Turkish parliament passed a legal amendment on Tuesday to release thousands of prisoners in an effort to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The bill was introduced by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party), as well as the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The same day that the law was [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Wednesday affirmed the denial of a Republican challenge to Michigan’s new independent commission that will re-draw legislative district boundaries. In an effort to combat gerrymandering, voters created the commission via ballot initiative in November 2018 with an amendment to the state’s constitution. The commission will [...]
The Polish Parliament began debating two controversial bills Wednesday amid an ongoing lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. One of the bills, titled “Stop Abortion” will, if passed, impose a near-total ban on abortion. Amnesty International has criticized the Polish government for choosing to debate these bills during the lockdown, accusing the Sejm (Polish parliament) [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Wednesday that the trial judge overseeing a massive set of cases involving the opioid crisis had violated the procedural rights of pharmacies who were defendants in the matter. In the case, Judge Dan Polster in the Northern District of Ohio had allowed Cuyahoga and Summit [...]
The Nanterre Court of Justice in France issued an order on Tuesday limiting the types of products Amazon France is allowed to ship for the next 30 days. The order comes in response to a complaint filed by a French trade union on April 8. The complaint accused Amazon France of continuing normal shipping operations [...]
During Wednesday’s press conference, US President Donald Trump threatened to use a little-known constitutional provision to force Congress to adjourn so he could then make recess appointments to the Cabinet and judiciary. The president spoke of the many vacancies both in executive agencies and on the federal bench and complained of “partisan obstruction” preventing nominees [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Idaho filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging a newly-passed Idaho law that bans women who are transgender or intersex from participating on women’s and girl’s school sports teams. The Idaho law provides that a student’s sex, if disputed, will have to be proven by a physical exam in which [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled Tuesday that Iowa’s Certificate of Need Law, which requires health care providers to obtain a permit before opening a new facility, does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. The court based its ruling on the Slaughter-House Cases and affirmed the lower court’s ruling. The case arose [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said on Tuesday that the US District Court for the District of Columbia could not hear a lawsuit by the families of American victims of of a 2002 suicide bombing. The circuit court found that the district court lacked personal jurisdiction. The families of [...]
Voting rights advocates filed a lawsuit in North Carolina’s Wake County Superior Court on Wednesday, challenging the implementation of the ExpressVote electronic voting machines in Mecklenburg County and several other counties. The ExpressVote machine has a touchscreen interface or movable keypad for voters to select their choice. Voters have to insert a piece of blank [...]
